IRON MAN

Downey trades business suit for iron suit.This weekends fast box office hit sets the tone for what is being considered the kickoff movie of the summer in 2008, “Iron Man”. Director Jon Favreau, casts Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a highly intelligent, wealthy playboy, and head of Stark Enterprises, a weapons manufacturing plant. After a driving into an ambush in the Afghan desert by insurgents Tony was not only injured by an exploding shrapnel from one of his own weapons, but was also held captive and forced to create a massive weapon in order to survive. With the help of fellow captive and Physicist, Yinsen (Shaun Toub) a magnetic chest plate was placed in Tony keeping him alive by not letting the shrapnel work its way towards his heart . Stark and Yinsen were then able to deceit their captures and devise a plan to escape, an iron suit. In his attempt to escape and at the cost of Yinsen’s life, Tony leaves the old Stark in the dark and explodes from the cave as his alter ego, Iron Man. Stark is rescued once again, by friend James Rhodes, (Terrence Howard) and flown back to safety where he immediately holds a press conference with cheeseburger in hand, announcing to the media as well as his surrogate father Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges)of his new vision for Stark Enterprises. With a change of heart, Tony puts the pedal to the metal and perfects Iron Man, wins the heart of his long time assistant Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow), battles both internal and external demons, and finds his new mission in life, “stopping his own missiles from hurting innocent people.” Both Marvel and director Favreau crossed over to both comic and non comic book fans by casting Downey and humanizing the film . Similar to his super hero counterpart, Tony Stark, Downey struggled with a fast paced life involving addictions, near death experiences, and life altering events giving the viewers a sense of morality or of good triumphing over evil. The film flies through Iron Man’s narrative, booms through the rising action, electrifies you towards the climax , freezes you at the resolution, and throws a bunch of A-list actors such as Robert Downey Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow ,and Terrance Howard in the mix. Not only does two-hour action packed film plan to “avenge” its preceeding Marvel films with huge box office hits, special effects, big gadgets, innovative CGI ,and villainous battles, but teases the audience by both divulging and S.H.I.E.LD (ing) just enough information to keep Marvel fans, new and old ,wanting more.