I just saw Iron Man at the theater. You’ll read some of my criticisms here, but all in all it was a fun and exhilarating cinematic ride. Oh yeah… minimal spoilers, so relax (in case you don’t read comic books)!
The Acting
This was a pure gem for Robert Downey Jr. as he masterfully filled the shoes of our metallic hero. With all the problems Downey has had in the past it’s easy to approach his performance skeptically… until the movie starts. The ease and comfort with which he fell into the role of Tony Stark (Iron Man) is nearly dizzying, as was his command of the camera and fellow actors.
Stark is a complex character who’s unbridled and energetic approach to women and engineering (a winning combination tantamount to chocolate and peanut butter) would leave both the geekiest slacker-geniuses and the smoothest lady-killers equally schooled. Downey fit the part like a glove.
Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow also rise to the acting occasion to round out the cast of conflicted characters. Bridges was excellent and sold the corporate suited Obadiah Stane. Paltrow, looking better than ever, deftly portrayed a demure yet savvy “Pepper” Potts (Stark’s assistant) including near-perpetual nonchalance at Stark’s antics.
The Physics
Being an engineer I always have a hard spot for bad science (especially physics) in movies. By “bad” I don’t mean things like light sabers or warp drive… I mean science that violates known and common laws of physics.
Now, it’s believable that some super-armor can absorb severe impacts by missiles and bullets… but if you’re inside the suit you still will feel the full forces from your sudden changes in velocity. In Iron Man there are times when Stark’s body undergoes accelerations and decelerations that would near-liquefy his brain, yet he easily survives.
At other times Stark lands (on his feet) onto both hard and soft surfaces from incredible speeds and without leaving much of an imprint… yet in one part of the movie just gently setting down his suit feet-first onto a concrete structure caused it to collapse – under his weight, I guess – and then collapse through an additional floor of the house down into the basement.
The Undertone
My biggest gripe, being a former soldier and perpetual patriot, is the goofy take on national defense and military weaponry that the story partially took. Stark is the mastermind behind his father’s business, the powerful weapons development and manufacturing company Stark Industries. After Stark’s ordeal at the beginning of the movie he starts to rethink the morality of creating weaponry after seeing his weapons used by the bad guys to hurt innocent people.
Hollywood frequently interjects leftism into its movies, and I’ve become numb to their depiction of the US military as a shoot-first outfit. Iron Man was a little better at not doing this. But the annoying thing is that the inevitable conclusion to Stark’s moral crisis would have to have been: making good weapons for ourselves leads to bad people using them for evil so I should stop making good weapons for ourselves. As if our enemies would no longer have any weapons? As if the mere existence of the weapons coerces people to do evil things?
Now, I work for Lockheed Martin (but don’t speak for them in any way construed or misconstrued) and our fighter jets (or any of our weapon systems) don’t find their way into terrorists hands regardless of what Hollywood says. America’s defense technology is kept under such tight export controls that it’s a wonder sometimes even our staunchest allies can get hold of it.
And speaking of… did anybody besides me notice that Stark Industries was a completely un-subtle spoof of Lockheed Martin Corporation, the United States’ biggest defense contractor? Not only does the Stark Industries logo (complete with bold-italic capitals and elongated angle-point) look strikingly like Lockheed Martin’s, but they even make the same F-22 Raptor fighter jets!? [see photo]
The Movie
Despite my bellyaching I highly recommend this flick for any lover of action and acting. I thoroughly enjoyed it and anticipate a sequel, because what’s a comic book story without lots of sequels? 
I'm a Christ-follower, compelled by my faith toward reason, which points directly toward conservatism. This world's daily onslaught of lunacy offends my intellect and senses, so this is my venue to blow off steam.
First, sorry I missed the show on Friday. My plans were locked in before I knew you were going to be playing. Toth apparently knew that HMT was the act but didn’t mention that to me and he didn’t know you were playing at all.
Second, the new site look is fantastic. Nuff said.
Third, Iron Man. Saw it. Liked it. Tony’s knee-jerk reaction to see what looked like enough Stark weaponry to fill that warehouse where they stored the Ark of the Covenant sitting around in a terrorist camp was kind of goofy, admittedly. But I thought the later direction pointed more toward stopping that than stopping weapons all together. I’d have to watch it again to make sure I understand what he’s really after.
Also, whilst I think there was a knock on US policy and the defense industry, I didn’t think the soliders, themselves, were portrayed negatively. I’m trying to remember what the Airforce pilots were up to. They may have been a little more eager to shoot at stuff.
For the record, I was also bothered by the abuse Tony Stark’s body should have taken inside the suit. I’ve seen a number of car accidents where the car was clearly banged up but hadn’t pinched in half crushing the driver, yet the driver was a goner. Just having an invulnerable exterior isn’t enough. Just ask Dale Earnhardt, Sr. NASCAR cars are built like tanks. So the one thing that can absorb the energy of impact is a nice soft human body.
I love how I hear the inflection of your voice as you write. The “!?” is totally you.
I work for Lockheed Martin now and found the same resemblance in the merchandise featured in the film as well as the company logo. My only question is, when will LM start making my super suit? haha. Great movie btw. Would recommend it to anyone.
Thank God for our country and it’s heroes.
@john
1 – No problem.
2 – Thanks.
3 – I think the cliché with the military was the Air Force commanding officer who was insistent on shooting down an unidentified “object”… that also happened to kill some enemies. I don’t know for sure, but I don’t think that’s protocol for them.
I think what bothered me the most was the goofy way Stark was saying that instead of building weapons that are just used to hurt innocent people, let’s actually do something that “helps people”. I’d really like to see how they play his roel in Stark Industries in the sequel… whether or not they keep making those sweet aircraft and whatever.
@Rachel
I tend to type like I speak… so sometimes people who know me can actually hear the words rollin’ off my tongue.
I’m glad you like it.
@Dustin
Oh yes… I imagine you and I weren’t the only LM employees whose eyes opened wide when they saw a strangely familiar logo on those missile boxes at the beginning… and later on that big F-22 statue in front of the company building.
Sweet movie, loved it all the way. The leftism, though it was there, was subtle enough for me to just glance over and ignore, because the action was so much bigger. One thing though, is that the leftism involved isn’t a clear cut “all weapons are evil” idea. If that other guy (I don’t want to be spoiling stuff too much) hadn’t been conducting business illegally, the terrorists would never have gotten those weapons. Now that Stark has gotten a better grasp on his company’s dealings, it won’t happen again. It might have been more of a knock on big business than weapons.
I saw the movie Twice… great movie. In defence of the air force commanding officer he was eager to shut down the “UFO” because it just destroyed an f-22, maybe he was TOO eager but that kind of attitude only makes him kind of trigger-happy….
yes you are all right about the physics, he should have been “tony pudding” after he got shut down by a tank…(appears on trailer) but then again you all have to consider is based on a comic where ironman is practically invincible… hes the hero so he CANT get hurt, so on those parts i just “looked away”…
We are PW employees, and build the F22 engines… we also have an F22 statue in front of our building (well, we used to have it in Fl., but now it’s in Ct.). We did the same double take when we saw the statue… thought it might even be the one in front of our building! Where were they shooting in that scene?
GREAT MOVIE!!
The resemblance of Stark Industries to the Lockheed Martin Logo? I realized that first hand in 1.5 seconds the moment I saw it on the premiere, and I thought, made sense. What would be the best “spoof” to make the fictitious Stark Industries logo? The best and the world-reknowned defense contractor in the United States, Lockheed Martin.
@John3Sobieski
Yeah, probably just a knock on big business. I’m mellowing to the whole thing. Great movie, though.
@Javier
A few “look away” parts, indeed… but I agree, it wasn’t too much and made for a great movie.
@Deb
That’s cool about the statue. I didn’t know PW made the engines (I knew you made big engines, though). Who knows… they might have “borrowed” the statue for the scene… or based a replica off of it. That means that PW and Northrup Grumman get a little sprinkling of influence in there with LM.
@Vernard Mercader
Well spoken! One company… one team. Can-do. Mission success! [singing] Oh-oh say can you seeeeeee….
Hi, please, I’d like to know where can I take a picture of the stark jet (not the air force airplane, the private jet). I’m trying to find but I can’t find it. So, please, if you know where can I take it, I thank you.
Its [crap] like u who work for evil corporations that profit from making weapons of murder that make me lose hope int he human race. I am an Aerospace Engineer and I would never use my knowledge to develope weapons no matter what the causes are bad guys, protecting our selves etc etc those are all terms to justify murder. Have fun sleeping at night knowing that sometimes the missles you develope have some errors in its flight path and goes down and kills innocent civillians. I only that one day u suffer the same thing or your family so you can know the magnitutde of what you do you piece of [crap].
[edits made by the admin]
Iron man 2 will be coming out soon. Should be a great sequal. I think Robert Downey Jr has done well to come back into the industry after all the scandals around him in the last few years.
Another doughebag movie with awesome 3d-animation.
I was a fan of marvel comics but all of them are
more or less US propaganda.
@DB – Not a very good follower of the comics then my friend… They may be a lot of US propaganda, but, except a few slight chnages, they follow the comics pretty good.
I personally can’t wait for the sequel.
I’ve heard off me mate that there will be an iron man 3?
The resemblance of Stark Industries to the Lockheed Martin Logo? I realized that first hand in 1.5 seconds the moment I saw it on the premiere, and I thought, made sense.
well… after reading how the poor right wingers were so picked on in this film…… i figured id tell you guys…. everything isnt about YEW!!!!!! although your thinking it was, was pretty telling………….
it was about ANTI-CORPORATISM… not anti militarism… the soldiers were heroic in trying to protect tony stark… the commanders were simply doing what they had been programmed to by the military congressional industrial complex…following protocol. if you are in the military and DONT do that, you dont become a senior officer… thats the reality of it. again.. it wasnt about the weapons getting into the hands of terrorists.. it was about ONE MAN BEING A BAD MAN and putting them there…..mr. stain. it was about greed and corporate profiteering no matter what the human cost…. those who would finance both sides of a conflict…. to make the money……. anti-consciouslessness in capitalism and corporatism. he wasnt stopping making weapons to help the good guys… he was taking over their job…to make up for the bad he had helped do, through.. mr. stain…..
im surprised you righties missed that…it was anti corporate greed …not anti military..they were just doing what they were told……it was anti greed and corporatism….it was a big huge scary metal monster of doom… that the smaller guy… they smarter guy won over, because of heart…. (tony’s best friend is a fucking airforce colonel!!!) but…. nuance isnt your mental strongsuit…..and being reactionary is what makes you all you…. probably why you voted for a simpleton who spoke in bumperstickers, like bush.
exceptional movies… both one and two….(i got to this review late)
thanks for playing.
I watch this movie a couple of times because my little brother is a great fan of Iron man. This movie is great, the latest one has a big impact in the movie industries…
First of all, I have to say that Lockheed Martin is the most innovative and cutting edge company ever, (not to mention the most bad-a). And it was always my opinion that the Stark Industries logo/persona was meant to be a tribute to the genius they create.
Regarding your observation of how sometimes Stark’s suit barely cracks the ground and other times crashes through floors, I actually have an answer. It was hard to catch, but the suit that broke the house was the Mark II, and it was made of a different material. After the icing scene, Tony changes the design to the gold/titanium alloy to alleviate the weight issue. The suit after this scene is the Mark III and is the painted Red/Gold that we all know.
As for the leftism of the movie, I do have to say that I think it was meant to be more of a commentary on big-business rather than the military. Though I agree that the soldiers were well respected and honored (thank god). I also think that an emphisis the writers wanted to present was that Tony could ignore all of the frustrating red tape that, as a honorable nation, we must adhere to. And sometimes it really gets infuriating, and Iron Man allowed us a vent to kind of stick it to the protocols.
Also as you mentioned Tony Stark is a complex, and impulsive character. As a result of the enormous eye-opening shock (and growing up) for Tony he did overreact, though did we expect anything else from the genius playboy?
He was overwhelmed with all of the new info, so he shut everything down in order to straighten things out. We all knew he wouldn’t leave his military hanging though.
He eventually calmed, and took better stock of the situation.
But overall, the movie was an amazing and deeply intuitive well written piece. And one that we should concede a bit of creative licensing to as towards the physics, but otherwise was very realistic in nature.
Finally, I have to gush once more about Lockheed and say that I’m pretty sure every single technological engineering genius that has been produced in the last 40 years has all been from Lockheed Martin, keep up the amazing work guys!
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