#406: Iron Man (2008)

Director: Jon Favreau

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow & Jeff Bridges

Tony Stark is a genius, engineering all of the top weaponry used in the US military forces. And he's not even a nerd! When not working in his underground laboratory in his Malibu mansion, he's mackin' it with the ladies. This routine takes a major hit, however, when he is abducted by terrorists in Afghanistan. The terrorists demand that he builds one of his killer gadgets (in a literal sense). Instead, Stark secretly builds a suit of robotic armor with the aid of a fellow hostage. He escapes the cavern prison, but his armor is destroyed in the process. After his rescue, he builds another suit. When Stark learns that his company has been supplying the terrorists with weapons without his knowledge, Stark puts his new toy to good use, jetting to Afghanistan to disarm the enemy.

One moment stuck out to me in this movie more than anything, and it happens to be the very last line. So if you haven't see it, prepare yourself for a spoiler right off the bat. As Stark prepares for a press conference, his personal assistant and love interest Pepper Potts gives all the information Stark needs to know about his false alibi to keep his identity as the Iron Man a secret. When he goes out there, however, he gives up the pretense and says bluntly "I'm Iron Man."

This departs from every other comic hero that has been brought to the screen. Being so forward about it makes Stark way more bad-ass than any other superhero to date. While Batman and Spiderman continue their with their emo behavior, Superman is simply an alien who just wants to be a dork. And while the X-Men are publicly known, they are all assisting each other in gang-like fashion. Stark is all alone (Stark Naked to the elements?? Yuk yuk yuk...), and he simply doesn't give a damn.

Aside from that, the film is just a great time. While it can be classified as just-another-blockbuster, it was 100% bad ass.

Fun Trivia (Stolen from IMDB):

• The script was not completely prepared when filming began, since the filmmakers were more focused on the story and the action, so the dialogue was mostly ad-libbed throughout filming; Jon Favreau acknowledged this made the film feel more natural. Some scenes were shot with two cameras to capture lines improvised on the spot; Robert Downey Jr. would ask for many takes of one scene since he wanted to try something new.Gwyneth Paltrow, on the other hand, had a difficult time trying to match Downey with a suitable line, as she never knew what he would say.
• During the highway battle with Iron Monger, a building can be seen in the background with a Roxxon logo. In the Marvel Universe, Roxxon is a notorious conglomerate known for illegal activities, agents of which were responsible of the death of Stark's parents.
• According to Paul Bettany, he did not know which film he was working on; he merely did the job as a favor for Jon Favreau, whom he worked with on Wimbledon (2004).