Iron Man

Iron Man is facing an identity crisis. Is it a fun, kid-friendly film about a superhero who could double as a Transformer, or is its protagonist a dark, tortured soul who faces life with a bottle in one hand and a rocket launcher in the other? The selection of Robert Downey Jr. seems to indicate that it’s the latter, but considering that his darkest moment is making his assistant (blandly portrayed by Gwyneth Paltrow) handle the dry cleaning for his one-night stand, the aim seems more to make him a hero that can be easily merchandised.

That’s a shame, because Downey is excellent as Tony Stark, a multi-billionaire corporate CEO with a knack for technology. Downey gives Stark as much edge as he can; yes, his corporation sells weapons, mostly to the U.S. government, and that plus Downey’s off-screen reputation is supposed to suffice as far as a dark side goes. Our modern distrust of arms corporations does play into a certain moral ambivalence that Downey tries to embody.

But this is a film of redemption, and by halfway through Stark will have atoned for all his sins and turned into a new man—the Incredible Gadget, whose dark past has nothing on his bright future. Of course, there are villains to fight, and part of Stark’s redemption is to fight Obadiah Stone (Jeff Bridges), the bad seed hidden inside Stark’s corporation. But Stone, far from being a more twisted version of Stark’s psyche, serves more to exonerate Stark of any possible guilt—true, Stark’s corporation was making money by selling to both sides, but that’s the bad guy’s fault, not Stark’s own.

Yes, there are enjoyable moments in the film, especially during the sequence in which Stark and his fellow prisoner Yinsen (Shaun Toub) create the Iron Man costume while being held captive in Afghanistan. And, back in L.A., living the life of a playboy billionaire can be fun.

But there is a seed of a much more compelling idea in Iron Man, and that is where the movie falls short. The comic series was written during Vietnam, at first as a go-gettem attack on the commies, but then more as a reflection on the conflicted soldiers and conflicted nation. Once again we are in a morally complicated war, and there are a lot of difficult questions that can be asked and not answered by Truth, Justice, and the American Way. A more honest film wouldn’t have begun in Afghanistan, the modern war still enjoying popular support, but in Iraq, where the real soul-searching turmoil is occurring today, even for the most gung-ho.

But of course that might lose the family audience. The film climaxes with a scene between two robot creatures, one good, one bad. We are told they have humans inside, but unlike most of our modern movies about superheroes, we can’t see people, we can only see the machines. It makes the final fight a depressing affair, full of hollow clanking.

Staring at those big, metal monsters, I began to wonder whether there was anything inside at all.

                                                           Edward Einhorn