FINALLY (Spoilers for Iron Man)
I FINALLY got to see Iron Man. I know, I know. But anyway, I really enjoy it.
And if you're like me and haven't seen it this late in the game, well:
(Spoiler Warning)
Heck, they managed to make Pepper Potts likeable. And she's my least favorite part of 60s Iron Man. I HATED the little twit. But she was tolerable here.
Actually she was badass. I'm a bit annoyed by the feminist critiques of her that I've read, really, claiming that she didn't do anything but push buttons that Tony told her to. I disagree with that. Certainly Pepper's no technical genius, but if anything, she's ALFRED. And you're not going to dismiss Alfred for his domestic god abilities damnit.
I remember reading someone somewhere criticizing the "taking out the trash" comment as misogynistic. But honestly, the bitch started it. And I could only wish to respond as coolly as Pepper did. And I say this all as someone who on average really doesn't like Gwyneth Paltrow.
Mostly though, I liked how they got rid of the parts that seemed so incredibly stupid about 60s Iron Man: Namely the secret identity. We already knew Pepper and Happy would follow Tony to the ends of the Earth. Knowing he's Iron Man wouldn't change anything. And it was just plain rude to keep it from the Avengers when he knew half of their identities as well.
"Bodyguard" was an implausible excuse and I was amused to see the movie make fun of that. But also, I like the nice clean way they cut through the crap. Everyone knows! Yay!
RDJ was perfect. Admittedly, I thought he was pretty much playing himself. But still he's charming and likeable. I also liked how even with the stupid bodyguard story excised, they still managed to retain some of Tony's innate moronicness.
Seriously man, if you're going to test BOOT THRUSTERS wear a FUCKING HELMET. Especially after the FIRST time you wham headfirst into a wall. Twit.
It does make me want a young twenty-something Steve Rogers though, just to see RDJ's Tony corrupt the poor thing.
Even though I meant to look for it, I still totally missed Cap's shield. I wonder if it was during one of those scenes where I was busy going "HELMET, YOU IDIOT"
I won't say the movie didn't have problems or wasn't a bit predictable (I mean, ultimately, let's face it it's fairly hard to make a comic movie truly unpredictable anyway) but I really did enjoy it. Not as much as I enjoyed Dark Knight, but pretty high up there. It's a good year for comic movies. :-)
And if you're like me and haven't seen it this late in the game, well:
(Spoiler Warning)
Heck, they managed to make Pepper Potts likeable. And she's my least favorite part of 60s Iron Man. I HATED the little twit. But she was tolerable here.
Actually she was badass. I'm a bit annoyed by the feminist critiques of her that I've read, really, claiming that she didn't do anything but push buttons that Tony told her to. I disagree with that. Certainly Pepper's no technical genius, but if anything, she's ALFRED. And you're not going to dismiss Alfred for his domestic god abilities damnit.
I remember reading someone somewhere criticizing the "taking out the trash" comment as misogynistic. But honestly, the bitch started it. And I could only wish to respond as coolly as Pepper did. And I say this all as someone who on average really doesn't like Gwyneth Paltrow.
Mostly though, I liked how they got rid of the parts that seemed so incredibly stupid about 60s Iron Man: Namely the secret identity. We already knew Pepper and Happy would follow Tony to the ends of the Earth. Knowing he's Iron Man wouldn't change anything. And it was just plain rude to keep it from the Avengers when he knew half of their identities as well.
"Bodyguard" was an implausible excuse and I was amused to see the movie make fun of that. But also, I like the nice clean way they cut through the crap. Everyone knows! Yay!
RDJ was perfect. Admittedly, I thought he was pretty much playing himself. But still he's charming and likeable. I also liked how even with the stupid bodyguard story excised, they still managed to retain some of Tony's innate moronicness.
Seriously man, if you're going to test BOOT THRUSTERS wear a FUCKING HELMET. Especially after the FIRST time you wham headfirst into a wall. Twit.
It does make me want a young twenty-something Steve Rogers though, just to see RDJ's Tony corrupt the poor thing.
Even though I meant to look for it, I still totally missed Cap's shield. I wonder if it was during one of those scenes where I was busy going "HELMET, YOU IDIOT"
I won't say the movie didn't have problems or wasn't a bit predictable (I mean, ultimately, let's face it it's fairly hard to make a comic movie truly unpredictable anyway) but I really did enjoy it. Not as much as I enjoyed Dark Knight, but pretty high up there. It's a good year for comic movies. :-)
posted by kalinara @ 12:55 AM
3 Comments:
At August 06, 2008 1:45 AM,
LurkerWithout said…
The main advantage to the Iron Man secret id? You can do Armor Wars and other stories where Tony "fires" Iron Man.
At August 06, 2008 3:02 AM,
Anna said…
Glad you got to see it finally!
At August 06, 2008 8:23 AM,
Jer said…
Pepper was good. I liked that they threw a head-fake in there that made you think "oh no, here's where she gets captured by the bad guy and Iron Man has to come and rescue her" and then ... not so much. Pepper came off as extremely competent and very level-headed - unlike Tony who comes across as, well, Tony Stark.
I liked Jarvis too - I didn't have that spoiled before I went in so it was a real treat when he showed up.
The lack of a secret identity does eliminate the whole "plausible deniability" for Tony if Iron Man needs to do things that the government/public doesn't approve of (as in, as lurkerwithout suggested, Armor Wars), but since they were going to have SHIELD already know his ID by the end of the movie anyway (since they're setting up Avengers), revealing it to the public is not really that big a deal.
I enjoyed it. And, although The Dark Knight is clearly a better movie, I thought Iron Man was a much more fun movie. At least for me. Iron Man is one of those movies I'll pop in the DVD player on a rainy day when I'm looking for something fun (like The Mummy, my current "I'm bored" go-to movie), while Dark Knight is one that will probably only get played when I specifically want to watch it again.
Post a Comment
<< Home