Coming in to the sure-to-be-blockbuster Iron Man, I had very little knowledge beforehand of the story. After doing a bit of research of the Marvel comics, I became quite familiar with the character of Iron Man but was curious to find out whether the movie would do the vintage comic character justice. I’d rather not ruin the story line for those persistent movie goers and comic fans, but the movie, directed Jon Favreau, focused highly upon the development of Iron Man and his journey for good.
The first half of the two-hour film was quite uninteresting in my opinion; it sequenced the events that led up to the creation of Iron Man–interesting in the theory of recapturing Iron Man’s life before he became “Iron Man” but completely uninteresting, practically speaking. The beginning of the storyline portrays the eccentric life of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), the man who would become known as Iron Man. After being taken hostage for three months, Tony Stark re-enters American society and discovers he had been stabbed in the back by his own partner at Stark Industries. With a past of life-threatening events, Tony references a past invention to end a ongoing war involving Stark Industries. The storyline begins to pick up, with action-packed situations and occurrences that Stark gets into as he attempts to “right his company’s wrong”. With the solitary support of his personal assistant Pepper Potts, played by Gwenyth Paltrow, Stark deals with a near-fatal wound that drastically imperils his life. As Stark adapts to his new identity of Iron Man, he begins to fight for what he believes is right and getting a twisted sort of revenge on those who had held him captive.
A slow and purposeful beginning develops into a fast-paced climax and ending. The CGI graphics of the film definitely rated as an “A+” for they appeared real and not computer generated. The suit that Iron Man wears is a prime example of the graphics, for it is nearly impossible for the viewers to differentiate from a prop to a CG suit. The overall acting of the film was rated an “A;” most of the actors chosen for the film fit the characters properly and did the comic justice. Though the story had a few minor pitfalls, the overall storyline would be rated a “B-“, with much action, instances of comedic relief and several occasions of seriousness.
For those parents who are deliberating on whether or not to let their children see this film should take into consideration the lifestyle of Tony Stark, the true-life references of guerilla terrorism and visual concepts of a disturbing manner. Tony Stark’s lifestyle is that of a promiscuous nature with a career of weapons development, all of which may be inappropriate for a younger audience. However, Stark’s troubles with alcoholism that appears in the comics isn’t present in the film. In the beginning, Tony Stark is taken captive in a Middle Eastern country and references are made recent past hostage videos in pop culture. The majority of violence is found within the first 45 minutes of the film, with scenes depicting torture, killings and terrorism. There are very few instances within the movie that contain crude language.
There are occasional sexual references as well as adult content. The film was rated PG-13 which is an appropriate rating, audiences younger than 13 may not be mature enough for this film, but parental guidance may be warranted.
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