Iron Ban (Jon Favreau, 2008) - B+
Very good -- really. If I'm not creaming myself like some other folks, it's because the action never quite reaches Raimi levels of transcendence, and because the movie indulges in a few too many winks to the comic book fanboys that just play like enormous red herrings to the rest of us. (I gather that the Clark Gregg character is somehow significant to the Iron Man mythos, but I had no idea what the hell he was talking about or why he kept showing up.) At its best, though, it's actually quite moving: if Spider-Man and its sequels have been about heroism and responsibility, Iron Man is about conscience, and holding on to it even if the System would have you throw it in a ditch. Downey's ceaseless sarcasm masks a touching fragility, and the screenplay gives the protagonist time to bloom -- his conversion from cynical arms dealer to justice-seeker is about as convincing as superhero character development gets. And I'm immensely grateful for the ending, which is note-perfect and brilliantly ties together the movie's theme while setting up a sequel. Well-played.
1 comment:
languishing...well I learn something everytime I visit your site. I always wondered why there are so few comments here. My best guess was that your readers, myself included, are in agreement with your views most of the sime. Your articles are a fine guide when it comes to deciding how to spend my precious time in front of a screen. This kind of trust emerges from the comfortable knowledge of your humanitarian and well tempered (I would like to believe these words fit)approach to a movie. So why argue over the little things, when I know that the grade is justified and I would personally raise or reduce it just due to my preferences for genre or topic?
Anyway, the writing for Cinematical seems to be important for you though I will have to invest some time to get an understanding why that is. It pleases me in a way that the ocean, and distance in general, still needs an effort to overcome.
Thanks for now
and kind regards,
JB
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