Iron Man vs Lord Of War

I keep hearing about Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man being perfect casting. Part of it is complimentary, because seriously, Downey is perfect in the role. But there’s this tone, in the media and among my friends, that Downey finally got a role that suited his particular talents, or that he finally got his act together long enough to make a decent movie. Wrong. Rent Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, or Zodiac, or Good Night and Good Luck. Rent Wonder Boys or Two Girls and a Guy. Rent Chaplin or even Home for the Holidays. I challenge you to find a movie with Robert Downey Jr. that doesn’t seem like perfect casting. Hell, find some movies without him, and imagine him making them better.

But I digress. There have been so many comic book movies that at this point, it’s no big deal to find one that pushes the boundaries at bit, and it seems once a year I’m declaring one the best ever. Iron Man is the first I can think of, however, that exists as a satire, social commentary, black comedy, romantic comedy and character study before it ever enters the realm of its comic book origins. And once it does, look out, cause it’s a crazy good time. He’s a flying robot, you guys.

Robert Downey Jr. stars (in big, fat, sparkly letters) as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist lady-killer war-profiteer who makes his living building missiles that only need to be fired once, but then go on to give birth to about a dozen other missiles mid-flight and rain down explosions on the enemy. Even in a Humvee, he’s having a drink, and he’s always completely bespoke and dressed up and ready for the photo-op. He’s in Afghanistan, promoting his latest line of killing machines, and also conveniently increasing his celebrity. Shit blows up huge, and Tony is taken hostage by terrorists who have commandeered his weapons. Dick Cheney’s gonna have major wood during the opening sequences of this movie.

And then, a cold shower. Because during his captivity, Tony, who is supposed to be building more weapons, instead builds an armored suit for himself, and escapes, having changed his philosophy from profiting over death to doing his best to prevent death in the first place. He’s gonna be a hero.

Back home, Stark explains his new outlook to the press, shocking them and his number 2, Obidiah, played by my very good friend, Mr. Jeff Bridges. And while everyone scrambles to figure out what this means for Tony’s company, Tony’s in the basement of his amazing house, building a sleeker, more powerful version of his escape armor, learning to fly, and making time for casual, funny, sexy banter with his assistant, Pepper Pots, played by an absolutely luminous Gwyneth Paltrow. I’ve been a fan of Paltrow’s for some time now, but man. If there’s anything “best ever” about Iron Man, it’s the damsel in distress. Paltrow trumps them all, looking like a million bucks, being dryly funny, and wearing some seriously tall shoes.

Eventually (although things in Iron Man move briskly, and the test-runs and experimental Iron Man stuff are every bit as riveting as the action sequences), Iron Man is a hero, and not just on the West Coast. Tony returns to the village in which he was held hostage, and kicks ass all over, starting fires and tossing terrorists around like rag dolls. It’s funny, there has been so much talk about all the 9-11 and Iraq War movies that have failed, and here we have one of the sneakiest movies of all time. Iron Man flies in under the guise of action figures and Happy Meals and so on, but right here we are with the first true modern blockbuster war movie. And it was directed by the guy who brought us Elf.

I have no idea who was in line in front of Jon Favreau to direct Iron Man, but they picked the right guy. The various moods and storylines mesh brilliantly, and the action is handled way less choppily and poorly-lit than this sort of movie usually gets. There’s some muddled fighting towards the end, when Iron Man has dissolved into just fighting, but mostly Iron Man lingers on camera, even when flying at top speeds, because Favreau knows this is what we came to see, and maybe because he wants a little credit for making it happen. Granted.

There are several places to go from here. Most likely, you’ll just go home and rewatch those great trailers for The Dark Knight and the new Indiana Jones movie. When you’re ready for a follow-up, I think a nice contrast is Lord of War, which has a character almost identical to Tony Stark, but without the conscience, the suit, or the top-shelf costars. Wait, why are you watching that again? Stick with me here. It’s a pretty good black comedy (my friend Veronica has pointed out that the better Nicolas Cage movies tend to be the ones he narrates, as he does here), and it’s as stylish and wittily edited as Three Kings. Cage plays Yuri Orlov, an international arms dealer, for whom a bad day at work is when a country calls off a war. Yuri will supply arms to anyone, as long as the checks clear. He does all business in a suit, and keeps a hot girlfriend (Bridget Moynahan) and a luxurious apartment warm in the United States . Things get more complicated when Yuri’s brother (Jared Leto) enters the picture, as well as an agent trying to take them down, played by Ethan Hawke. The stakes, dollars and violence are raised, and for me, Lord of War begins to slip a little, turning more emotional and sentimental. The tonal shift is subtle enough that you’ll see Lord of War through to the end. But once Lord of War turns softer, it would have helped things along some, if, like Tony Stark, Uri Orlov was, you know, a flying robot. Is that too much to ask?

Iron Man: A

Lord of War: B-