Iron Man (12A)

Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, Leslie Bibb

Review by Carol Allen

The latest of the Marvel Comics franchises to be turned into a movie,"Iron Man starts off with a more realistic and intelligent premise than most. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is the billionaire head of the US Government's chief armaments supply firm. A genius inventor and a carefree playboy, boozing, wenching and gambling his way through life, when not developing weapons of war. His life changes when he is overseeing a weapons test with the military in Afghanistan (formerly Vietnam in the '60s original comic and television series). He is trapped in an ambush, injured by one of the weapons he himself has created and taken hostage by a group of insurgents, whom one assumes are Taliban. Their leader (Faran Tahir) forces him to build one of his own killer weapons, but with the help of fellow prisoner Dr Yinsen (Shaun Toub), Stark instead builds a high-tech suit of armour, which makes him look like a cross between Robocop and Ned Kelly and which enables him to effect a spectacular escape.

As a result of his experience Stark is a changed man. He turns his back on armaments' development and buries himself in his workshop, refining the suit of armour that will enable him to become the Iron Man of the title, flying like Superman and fighting to protect the world and right its injustices – as one does.

The film benefits from three strong star actors. Downey Jr. looks devilishly handsome with a cute little beard as the playboy Stark and suitably earnest and determined once he's "found his heart", as the film's makers describe the movie's theme. It's also a bit of a pun, as the device Stark uses to power Iron Man's technology is also one which protects his weakened heart from the shrapnel now floating round in his body. Bridges is Obadiah Stane, Stark's mentor and partner in the business, who objects to the policy change for his own reasons. In spite of his genial air one suspects him of villainy from the start due to the shaven head and bushy beard, which totally transform this normally dishy actor. Paltrow has the rather unrewarding role of Stark's loyal assistant Pepper Potts, though she makes the most of some good lines when she has them. Terrence Howard has very little to do as Stark's military buddy Rhodey. There's also some fun to be had from Stark's robot assistant in the building of his Iron Man, who has an (uncredited) English accent and a dry sense of humour.

The actors do though have to fight to make themselves heard against the roar of loud music, explosions, rocket power and special effects, not helped by the fact that Downey, good actor though he is, has a tendency to mumble in a way, that makes Marlon Brando look like a graduate of RADA. One of the few dramatically tense scenes is a very quiet one between Bridges and Paltrow, where she is covertly downloading information from the master computer and they both get a chance to do a bit of real acting. Otherwise when the Iron Man action is underway, it feels a lot like a video game with a few actors caught up in it. The battle between actors trying to be characters and the high concept spectacle is an interesting one, but no contest. Spectacle is the undisputed victor.