Iron Man
May 15, 2008 by Jonathan Brink
I finally got to see Iron Man last night. And it surprised me how good the movie was for several different reasons. One, it was really funny. I thought Robert Downey Jr was hilarious in his quest to create the Iron Man suit. He was somewhat the anti-hero. Sure it stretched bounds at times but who cares. Two, the movie creates a really good sense of jeopardy that seems to be missing from so many films. I loved it.
But what I found fascinating was the underlining social commentary about war and terrorism. This was the first movie that really painted the United States in a darker hue. We were the war mongers as much as anyone. Iron Man’s quest was against people from the United States. Even the terrorists were supplied by us. This movie would have been considered communist if created in the 50’s.
I loved that it really looked at the cost of war on humans. It essentially asks, “What are we doing?” The scenes with the refugee families being separated was strikingly deep. This movie really took the popcorn action flick and turned it on its ear.
I”ve seen “Iron”Man” three times already, and it worked
every time for. It’s entertraining and very funny and I also
agree that it shows the federal goverment’s war mongering
in its true, ugly light.
Neither myself nor the six other people I saw it with thought it was anything more than mediocre. I thought the film failed to suspend my disbelief enough to avoid my noticeing all the plot holes. Perhaps there is something about this movie that just “plugs into” American culture more than Australian culture or something.
Adam, I think it’s a very American movie.