Iron Man - Pure (Red and) Gold

They did it.

They actually did it.

They made it NOT suck.

I went out and caught the long-awaited (by many of us) Iron Man movie with a big group of friends Saturday night, and we sat through it in a sold-out theater. The fact that it was sold-out was reflected in entertainment headlines Sunday morning, talking about the film’s $100m opening weekend, the second-biggest non-sequel opening for a film in history, only behind the first Spider-Man film. There are a lot of movies that come close to that kind of money when they open. But the big difference? A lot of those movies SUCK. People rush to see them, due to all their hype, without ever thinking to glance at a review, and are surprised when they walk out in what I like to call the “daze of suckness” – that feeling of confusion in the movie-going mind that says, “But…the trailers made it look good…and all the commercials made me feel like I’d be a big loser if I DIDN’T see it…” Boned by Hollywood again, and fed another Pirates sequel. Tsk tsk.

The difference with the Iron Man movie? The reviews were in the day before it hit theaters, and it quickly became (and I quote) “the best-reviewed film of 2008”. Yes, I know, “You Don’t Mess with the Zohan” is still pending, but so far, so good. In other words? It did not suck. It did, in fact, rock. In all the right ways.

I’m a super-hero fan. Always have been. And I’ve always been a big fan of Iron Man, ever since I started reading super-hero comics. As the big super-icons go, he’s really not all that well-known. Everyone knows your Superman, your Batman, your Spider-Man… But Marvel’s Iron Man character has really never hit the big “household name” board. But for me, reading those comics as a kid? He was the COOLest. Why? Well, a couple of reasons. The main one was that the guys like Superman and Spider-Man had super-powers. To be like them, I’d either have to be an alien or get bit by a radioactive spider. Batman didn’t have powers, true, but he did have years of martial arts and other such cool training. But Iron Man? He wore a suit. He wore a suit of powered armor, one that let him fly and be super-strong and all kinds of other cool stuff. And that meant if *I* put on that same suit, *I* could have all those powers – and I’d still be just me! This made being a super-hero not some fanciful dream, but an option (assuming someone built a suit like that…it could happen…). Not being from Krypton and not having my parents murdered in front of me, I connected with this much more. Plus, even as a kid, I understood that Tony Stark, the man in the suit, was no Clark Kent. He was an imperfect guy. I know, people talk about the human side of other supers. Peter Parker has to keep a job and try to have a love life just like the rest of us! Bruce Wayne has all kinds of parental issues he still hasn’t gotten over after, like, 30 years! Okay, Tony Stark was an ALCOHOLIC, dude. That was not something you saw in your typical comic book super-hero. Which was what made him so cool. He was a flawed hero in a much more real-world kind of flawed. Not many of us know people trying to avenge their parents’ murders. Most of us have at least one alcoholic in the family. The combination of technology (instead of fantasy) and identifiable humanity made him, and his world, much more real to me. And, yes, with me growing up a poor kid, reading about a guy who’s a billionaire playboy was pretty damned appealing guy escapism, too.

They’ve been trying to make this film for years, a film I’ve both coveted and feared. Digging Iron Man as I always have, I’ve envisioned so many ways that they could screw up a film adaptation. Bad effects would be one, for sure (which is what made it such a good thing that the film wasn’t made ten or twenty years ago). Another would be casting. I had naturally assumed that Hollywood would be sadly predictable and stick some pretty-boy O.C. reject actor in the Tony Stark role. Suddenly, Tony would become 21-years old, a bratty prince of industry with no aspirations beyond his Hiltonesque front-page social life, a disappointment to his wealthy father (who, in this retelling of the origin, would still be alive and tiredly disappointed in his son)…until his father is murdered, see, and Tony designs an armored suit to avenge him! Yeah! Ugh. I knew they would completely ignore the real origin and try to make something more “in tune” with the TRL generation. And it would make a lot of money. Yet, it would blow. Blow like Dizzy Gellespie at Carnegie Hall.

So when I heard one was finally coming, I prepared for the worst. But then, to my amazement, I heard that they’d pulled Jon Favreau to direct it. Wait…say WHAT? Did they mean MY boy Favreau? He and I go way back (though he doesn’t know that). I’ve been a fan of his since his first real hit on the radar when he wrote, produced and starred in “Swingers”. And then after writing and directing “Made” (a film that apparently only I, as one of his best friends (though he doesn’t know that), loved), he created and hosted the single greatest talk show in television history, “Dinner for Five” on IFC. He went on to slightly more commercial success in a couple of directorial offerings (neither of which I saw, oddly, but as his friend, I’m just going to assume they were good), “Elf” and “Zathura”. You put all this together, and it does NOT spell “hand him Iron Man!”. And yet they did. And I couldn’t have been happier. I immediately thought of “Bourne Identity”, an action/spy movie that, for no good reason, they handed to “Swingers” director Doug Liman. And Dougie NAILED it, and brought such a wonderful indie film sensibility to what could have been an assembly-line action film that it rose above its genre and became something unique and wonderful (and managed to do justice to one of my all-time favorite novels). I immediately started seeing Jon doing the same.

And then came the casting news. Comic fans have always had this game they play – you grow up debating with your friends over who the best actor would be to play Captain America or Green Lantern. But in the age of comic movies actually getting made (and actually getting real stars in them), the debate has become much more relevant. Many Iron fans over the years have cast their vote (amongst their peers and on message boards) about who could play the best Tony Stark. I don’t, however, ever remember someone jumping up and excitedly blurting out “Robert Downey Jr.! He’d be perfect!” No one saw that coming. And I like to think most long-time fans of the I.M. had the same reaction I did. Their brain first went “Huh?” and started mounting its defense and counter-proposal. But then it paused, and pondered, and realized two important things – first, that he was perfect for the role, and second (and most importantly), that they (Marvel) were going to take this film seriously. And that’s all comic-to-film fans ever ask.

I’m not going to get into the whole “he’s a recovering addict and Tony Stark’s an alcoholic!” thing because, frankly, I’m thinking Robert Downey is so sick of hearing that the past couple of years that he’s probably started using again just to spite us. Let’s just say, instead, that they decided to choose a seasoned, amazing and versatile actor, and one of a post-MTV age group to my complete surprise, and immediately added credibility and a sense of “real” to the film. That’s the secret of fantastical films. Yes, you’re telling stories about some far-fetched stuff, but if you inject enough reality into it, it makes it so much more real for people. Good actors being life to films. Good directors make them do it even better. So now, I knew I had both a lead actor and a director that I knew, respected and loved, coming into a film I’ve been waiting to see since the late 70s. I was pretty psyched – but cautiously. We’ve all been screwed on deals like this before. I’m not mentioning names here, but GEORGE LUCAS (cough, cough), excuse me. There are some things that you THINK are a sure thing, that no one could possibly screw up. Again, no names (cough), but some creators have shown us that even in situations where it seems you have to go out of your way and work REALLY hard to screw up, it can happen. So I was hopeful, but nervous.

Wait’s over, and it was one that was so worth it.

In spirit of my spoiler-free lifestyle (see my previous post if you’re not sure what a “spoiler” is), I’m not going to sit here and summarize the film for you. I’m just going to tell you how I felt about it, and why I think you’ll feel the same. They did, in fact, take it seriously. They did not inject it with the expected cheese that seems to permeate most every comic film (biff! Socko! Pow!), and they did not make it for kids. And yet, it’s a movie that kids can totally enjoy. Several people I went with brought their kids to our viewing, and all ages had a great time. This is what George Lucas managed to forget in his senility. Kids are going to see the films ANYway. There’s lasers and explosions and crap in them! Of course they will! So why not NOT alienate half your audience and try to make something that adults can enjoy? Dumbing down insults everyone, grown-ups and kids alike.

And Favreau did not dumb it down. He made it entertaining, suspenseful, and witty instead of “wacky”. He gave us a lot of action, but he actually took his time with the film and didn’t panic every time there was a scene with no missiles or bullets in it. I found myself loving the relaxed pace, which I know probably made a few (very few, based on the reviews) viewers whine about wanting him to “get to the action!”. Not me. I felt like he invited me into the world of this film and took his time showing me around instead of rushing me from room to room, opening door after door and letting me peek in, then slamming them shut and hurrying me to the next one. I really like a film that knows how to take its time. Not drag, mind you. There’s a difference. The difference is understanding how pacing works and using it properly. Favreau did.

The rumors are true – Robert Downey owned this movie, and it’s now near impossible imagining anyone else being Tony Stark. He played cockiness without becoming a prick, he handled the comedic moments like he was (masterfully) playing a piano whose keys produced laughs, knowing just when to tone it down and when to hit the crescendos, and he brought a child-like vulnerability to a middle-aged character coming to terms with the face in the mirror and his place in the world. You believed him. You understood Tony Stark. And he made you want to BE Tony Stark.

The technology being used in the movie was JUST slightly over-the-top – some of it obviously not QUITE there with our current tech, but, really, not that far off, either. Most of it didn’t seem too out of this world. It all made sense. It interested me, in other words, instead of insulting me. It made me think “cool!” instead of “yeah, right”. As Iron Man is heavily a tech-based mythos, this had to be handled properly, and they obviously put a lot of work into making that happen. Well done.

The whole cast worked great together, from major characters down to minor ones. Putting Jeff Bridges in the film really upped its cred for me, too, as I’ve been a huge fan of that guy for many years. Gwyneth really did a fine job, and I’ll admit, she had me nervous, mostly after seeing her befuddled performance in “Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow”. Everyone else in that film seemed to be having a great time playing on a green-screen set, whereas she just looked lost and not sure where to look. She did a fine job as Tony’s assistant “Pepper” (I can’t believe they actually stuck to the old Iron Man comic name of “Pepper Potts”. I thought for sure they’d change it, but guess they gave it up for the fans). She was a lot of fun. And I have to admit, I really had NO idea who Terrance Howard was, the guy who ended up cast as one of the coolest Iron Man mythos characters ever, Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes. I pulled him up on IMDB and realized I’d somehow managed to miss pretty much EVERY film he’s ever been in – and there have been some pretty big ones (“Crash”, “Hustle and Flow”, “Ray”, “Idlewild”), so I figured they probably cast him for a reason. They sure did. Great job, pulled off a great Rhodey…and that’s coming from an old-school Rhodey fan.

What really made this film happen was what happened behind the scenes, and I don’t think a lot of people knew this. This was the first film from Marvel Studios. Until now, all films of Marvel’s characters have been made through the bigger studios. And this has always meant that the studio has had creative control. What happens when the studio gets control is things like the Batman franchise. It started off pretty cool. And then the downward spiral happened, with more studio demands and their insistence on some terrible casting choices, awful writers and directors, and, with the final one of the Joel Schumacher era, “Batman and Robin”, we saw ultimate price of money-minded morons making creative decisions. A big, silly, horrible mess. More recently, we saw this with the Fantastic Four movies. Fun? Kind of, some people would argue. They weren’t as bad as Joel Schumacher Batman movies, but they still were pretty far from great (or even good, frankly). Studios do not care about the characters. They don’t care about the fans of the characters that have been around for decades. They want to make something as loud and colorful and explosive as possible and throw enough hype around it to get folks to crowd the theaters all summer to find out, for themselves, how badly the whole thing got jacked.

With the introduction of Marvel Studios, Marvel is now making their own films – and therefore, all their own choices – with their catalogue of characters. Iron Man is the perfect representation of why this works. Marvel actually cares about their characters, believe it or not. And, apparently, they listen to their fans, as they very much did during the creation of the Iron Man movie. Jon Favreau had a MySpace page up where he invited input from fans, and believe me, he got plenty of it. And Marvel, in turn, listened to it, and the result ended up being what is, so far – and by Rotten Tomatoes rating standards – the best-reviewed super-hero movie ever. They were able to put people behind the project that really loved and respected Iron Man, and it clearly showed in the end result. And instead of a big mess, they made a film that not only is critically-praised and loved by audiences, but is making a HUGE load of money. Everybody wins. All it took was getting the studio hands off of it. Instead of a Daredevil, Electra, Punisher or (ugh) Ghost Rider, they created a film that people love, and are going to love seeing again and again. And they created a franchise that’s going to last a long time. You just watch what’s going to happen when Iron Man 2 hits the theaters in 2010 (and it’s now going to). Box office numbers that are going to make the studios green (like a Goblin) with envy.

And the results have already borne fruit. The announcement came down just today. Marvel is now going to be making not only the Iron Man sequel, but their own Thor, Captain America and Avengers movies over the next four years. There’s no guarantee, of course, that they’re going to be a great as Iron Man, but their announcement of Matthew Vaughn, director of the heralded “Layer Cake”, as the director of the “Thor” film is a fantastic sign, and a promise from Marvel that they’re going to do their best to make films that make big cash AND do justice to their properties. It’s a great time to be a geek, let me tell you.

So yes, if you haven’t, get out there and try Iron Man, the hands-down best summer movie thus far and the one all the rest will be judged by, this summer and for summers to come. It’s a hell of a ride, a hell of a good time, and will make you want to strap on a metal suit and go out flying over Malibu yourself. Thanks Jon. Thanks Robert. And thanks, Marvel, for hearing us. We plan to show our gratitude, believe me. With our love AND our coin.