FYI, this post contains minor spoilers.
I continue to see superhero movies, comic book movies, and action movies, even though I'm just not the right audience for them. Last night I saw Iron Man with Jen and, as usual, thought it was slightly less amazing than everyone else in the world. I liked it, I just don't feel the need to coo about it the way every one I know and every review I read is doing.
My issues with these movies is both twofold and consistent. First, I get really bored, really fast with the action. I just feel a little like, dude, I get it: they're beating each other up. Watching the drawn out, increasingly silly ways these brawls plays out tends to be something of a snooze fest for me. Iron Man was actually fairly light on these scenes comparatively, so in that regard I have no complaints. But there were just enough of my other issue: advantage taken of my willing suspension of disbelief. I go into these movies happy to believe that Peter Parker gets bit by a spider and can suddenly cling to the sides of buildings or Tony Stark can build a metal suit and fire blast his way out of a cave in Afghanistan. So the big conceit I'm ok with. But I have a hard time when I'm then supposed to believe that despite said success is said Afghani cave, Stark has comical problems getting the details just right on his new and improved suit built with every computer known to man and geek. Or that Jeff Bridges--in any metal suit whatsoever--could fall from outer space and then get up again to pull an Annie Wilkes, one-last-scare kind of maneuver. Willingly suspending my disbelief is not the same as checking my brain at the door, but I often feel like that's what these movies ask you to do.
I know I'm in the minority here, so I'm going to end on a high note so that you all don't tell me how wrong I am on every single point--at least we'll (I think) agree with this one. The performances were pretty damn good. Robert Downey, Jr. was especially wonderful.
Sunday, May 11, 2008
Iron Man
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6 comments:
"dude, I get it: they're beating each other up."
That pretty much encapsulates my feelings for 95% of action films out there. One great exception is The French Connection--nothing a good old fashion chase scene on the subway.
I'm going to break down and have to see Iron Man. At this point, there's been so much talk, I feel I have to weigh in, even if belatedly and even if it really just doesn't sound all that appealing to me.
Watching the drawn out, increasingly silly ways these brawls plays out tends to be something of a snooze fest for me.
Okay, you knew I'd have to weigh in here, right? I'd like to claim that my love of action sequences is born of my stage combat training and my resultant better-than-average understanding of what goes into a sequence like that... and when we're talking about Tony Ja kicking ass for ten minutes straight on an uninterrupted steady-cam shot, certainly my own difficulty learning three simple phrases makes me that much more impressed. But a) I've always enjoyed a good action film, and b) there's so much CGI in the average superhero action sequence, that it bears no resemblance to stage combat.
All that being said, my understanding of this Bored By Action phenomenon is strictly intellectual.
Or that Jeff Bridges--in any metal suit whatsoever--could fall from outer space and then get up again to pull an Annie Wilkes, one-last-scare kind of maneuver.
I can't really fault you for being annoyed by this one. I was slightly irritated every time a character dropped from the sky and only took a few minor lumps. However, I think as a comic book reader and fan of these sorts of movies, I may be more inured than you to this particular comic book/action movie conceit, and have simply come to accept it as part of the larger conceit.
But I have a hard time when I'm then supposed to believe that despite said success is said Afghani cave, Stark has comical problems getting the details just right on his new and improved suit built with every computer known to man and geek.
Okay, your other gripes I don't necessarily share, but can understand.
I get what you're saying here, but it's not like the suit he made in a cave was terribly good. I mean, it served its purpose, but one of his arms got messed up, the flight activation button almost didn't work and when it did work, the flight was totally uncontrolled and ended with a free fall into the desert.
The suit he eventually dons near the end of the film is much, much more refined. Besides which, I can't think of terribly many issues he had during its creation. The icing issue which was really just born of his own machismo. Refining the flight, which... okay, yes, he should have been able to do the math to figure out what kind of force he'd be getting out of those jet thingies... but given the character I'm willing to believe that he said, "Make it really powerful--great, now let's test it," without doing all the boring math. The only other issue I can think of was when he had some problems getting out of it after the flight to/from Afghanistan, but that suit took such a beating that I'd be more prone to complain if it had come off too easily.
Possibly I'm so enamored with Iron Man (and I am very enamored right now) that my subconscious is keeping me from remembering other issues he had, but this point I have to disagree with this complaint, at least pending further discussion.
tee hee. I cross-posted my above reply on my own blog, and now I must share my friend Gamsby's reply.
Refining the flight, which... okay, yes, he should have been able to do the math to figure out what kind of force he'd be getting out of those jet thingies... but given the character I'm willing to believe that he said, "Make it really powerful--great, now let's test it," without doing all the boring math.
I think the process went more like "Ok, let's figure out the math for the flight thrusters... What's the square root of vodka?"
'Cause another thing he didn't have in Afghanistan, but had copious amounts of throughout the rest of the film, was booze.
Ok, your friend Gamsby's reply is the best explanation I've heard. He clearly did have a love for booze, so that's a rationale I can get behind. What I specifically meant was how he'd try his suit out in his basement office (I'm sorry, but don't trillionaires have better offices so they don't have to test out their new iron man suits next to their three zillion dollar cars?) he'd get way too much thrust, be thrown totally up and out of control, hit his head/face/body into the wall, and then bounce back up as if that wouldn't break his nose, some bones, and the like. I guess it's this whole comic book thing you're talking about, but when a person gets thrown around that much, they get hurt. The idea that he's a real man with a conscience, weaknesses (for Pepper Potts, alcohol, whatever), and other flaws is undermined when they present him as physically cartoonish.
Okay, yeah, that particular accident was all comedy and no logic. As for the office situation if you've got a fully functional lab in your basement (that maybe doubles as a garage/shop for your way expensive cars) and you're trying to keep a project super secret... it seems like the fully functional lab in your basement is the way to go. I mean, he certainly couldn't have gone to corporate headquarters for that kind of work.
I'm not disputing that he'd have a work space at home. I'm just surprised that as a gazillionaire a single space would ever have to pull double duty, in this case as both a garage and an office. He wakes up to in-window monitors telling him the surfing conditions, but he doesn't have a dedicated garage? It was all for comedy, which is fine, but it doesn't make sense.
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