Iron Man

Mike expressed hope about the new Iron Man movie starring Robert Downey Jr. So being the good sort I high tailed it to a nearby cinema to experience this movie.

First I will clear the underbrush so to speak and cleanse my system of all the annoying things I saw in the movie. A C-17 Globemaster III with a red tailband that says Bagram? No such animal. M998/1014s were totally clean with no extra gear on them, the M-2's lacked any armor plating for the gunners, the one long shot of one vehicle showed it marked 1CAV, but everyone inside was Air Force in ABUs. Stark Industry peddles weapons everywhere, but the Air Force people have M-16s. We later see terrorists armed with Stark weapons that are actually the H&K modular M-8 that never entered service. As Rhodes is rushing to where Stark is, after leaving the PAVE Hawk, we see a US flag velcro'd to his helmet cover - at least the stars were leading.

Now to the good stuff. This movie rocked. It is a very sad day for Hollywood when I have to go see a Marvel comic super hero movie to experience a literate script where there is some depth to the main characters. First we got Tony, boy genius who is used to getting his way. As he is pitching the Jericho missile to military brass somewhere in Afghanistan, he is so blase about it he might as well be selling Perrier. Then Tony sees his whole world literally taken from him and he becomes a captive to some very unsavory people. Tony is forced to build Jericho for them, after they waterboard him. He has one helper with the technical expertise and this dignified man becomes Tony's ally as well as interpreter. Seeing how well stocked these murders are with his company's weapons and to honor his friend, this is the point where the scales fall off Tony's eyes and he realizes things have to change. Naturally some people do not like what Tony proposes once he is rescued. We also see the evolution of the relationship between Tony and his right hand lady Pepper Pots, by the end of the movie Tony is thinking Pepper might be the woman for him while Pepper, after seeing Tony's conquests - she describes cleaning these messes up as 'taking out the garbage,' is a little bit restrained about it. Then there is Obadiah, the man who became Tony's father after his real father, the great man who was part of the Manhattan Project, died. We see the Obadiah emerge bit by bit from this genial man who is happy at all Tony achieves to this bitter jealous man who thinks Tony should show him gratitude for all the years Obidiah ran the company for Tony. The shock on Tony's face when Obidiah tells him who truly lead the move to oust Tony from his own company, Downey carried it off very nicely. As Tony sets about building his suit, he is assisted by his house's AI Jarvis and some limited AI robots. Tony is always confident of his abilities and he almost pays for it when testing the thrusters in his basement lab. He thinks 10% thrust is safe, we are treated to Tony face-planting the concrete wall high up. One of the funniest scenes is when Tony is testing the flight capabilities of the suit and he lands on the roof. He promptly falls through the roof and first floor to land atop his 427 Cobra, crushing it. Before the flight Tony had told one robot not to spray him with CO2 this time or it will be sent to a technical college. As Tony is laying there in his armor atop the Cobra, this robot does spray him down. And one of the 'awww' moments came as Tony staggers into his lab to retrieve the power supply he cobbled together in Afghanistan before he dies. Its just in reach as Tony collapses to the floor, one of the robots reaches up to grab the power supply and gives it to Tony. When Rhodes looks at the prototype of Tony's red and gold suit he vows to get one also. So stay tuned for a sequel. For the climatic fight scene, it is a proper crescendo of action, malice, and sacrifice. Iron Man getting run over by the SUV he rescued from Iron Monger is priceless. And when you think they can't top it, they have Tony Stark in front of reporters all set to deny any crazy rumours that he is the guy in the suit. He just looks up and at all the reporters and says 'I am Iron Man.' Then fade to credits and the song Iron Man.

And Stan Lee makes another appearance in a movie based on one of his comics. This time Tony calls him Hugh as in Hugh Hefner. And there is Stan in a purple smoking jacket with pipe in mouth, surrounded by a bevy of female beauties.