Minor Spoilers

This movie is best described as a fanboy’s wet dream. There are plenty of not so subtle references for Iron Fans to pick up on, clever dialog to keep the audience actively listening, and it’s a stunning spectacle. Call Iron Man what you will, but don’t call it boring. It’s a great way to kick off the summer. I, for one, was ‘ooh-ing’ and ‘awe-ing’ along with the rest of the audience at the niftiness that is Iron Man.

Bravo to Jon Favreau for using as little CGI as possible. During some parts of the movie I kept trying to figure out whether or not they used it. In some parts computer intervention is reasonably obvious, but mainly because the possibility of achieving the various superheroic acts would be slim without the construction of an actual suit of powered armor.

Sometimes the camera felt too shaky for a movie about highly advanced technology. I understand that some of that is probably because of the location it was shot in. And further to the filmmaker’s credit the shaky-cam is rarely noticeable. Most of it occurred while Tony Stark was in Afghanistan and they may have wanted to use that raw feel to increase the tension of the situation.

The wit in this movie is astounding. Everything from visual jokes to one-liners to witty banter is employed here. Tony Stark’s rich playboy savoir-faire more than contributes to the comedy. The characters around him succumb to his cleverness and charm and it keeps us, the audience, in stitches. Stark’s comedic rapport with his slightly dimwitted seemingly empathic robotic machinery is hilarious. Don’t worry. His relationship with his armor is strictly professional.

The most satisfying aspect of the film is Robert Downey Jr.’s performance. He captures all that is Tony Stark and gives it to us on an iron platter. He’s electrifying. A lot of “comic book” Tony Stark’s charisma that is successfully interpreted to film, I think, can in large part be credited to Robert Downey Jr.’s own charm. This is probably one of the best cast movies I’ve seen in a while. It’s hard to go wrong with Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow. Though Obadiah Stane is far from likeable, he is an interesting villain due to the friendliness that is present in Bridges’ voice, which makes some of his other roles, like the Dude in The Big Lebowski, lovable. As Pepper Potts, Paltrow is able to match Tony Stark’s charisma and be influenced by it while still maintaining her better judgment… for the most part.

There is an obvious pushing of social commentary in its anti-war theme. I don’t mind the theme, but I think it’s force fed to the audience on a nearly constant basis. The film opens with Tony Stark being captured by terrorists who use illegally acquired weapons made by Stark Industries and after his escape Tony decides that weapons of war are morally wrong. The motivation of Stark is pushed as if it is the essential point the filmmakers are wanting the audience to leave with, but the theme conflicts with the plot. A weapons maker stops making weapons for the military and decides to wage his own war using his weapon specifically designed for personal use. It makes sense why he does it. The only way to destroy the weapons is by making a weapon that can destroy them, but he also uses the suit to fight people. It’s unavoidable. So, essentially the movie presents two themes “War is bad” and “If you want peace prepare for war.” I almost thought this was a flaw, but I’m not so sure. I think it’s an interesting bit of irony. Superheroes often swim in ideals and are faced with situations where they have to decide what is morally straight. Usually the hero’s own morality is held up as the standard, but the innocent hypocrisy adds something to this movie.

The narrative is driven more by circumstance than it is by plot, but personally I didn’t care much. The plot ties together enough that it doesn’t feel random which made for a good time. There is a week point where the question of “why?” isn’t addressed. The answer could be left up to the disorganization of terrorist and guerilla warfare, but I figured I’d give you guys something to gnaw on. Also, there is a little needless non-sensible misdirection of the audience to throw us off the trail of something that we already knew would happen, but it’s hardly noticeable.

The story can feel disjointed at times. It focuses most on the construction of the armor, and how it’s affecting Stark’s life. The movie immediately immerses its viewers into action. It’s an assault to the senses that I’m not entirely sure is welcome, but it is effective none the less. From there it backtracks and rebuilds to the point when Tony is then captured by predominantly Afghani terrorists and is forced to build for them his newest weapon, the Jericho Missile. As is easily expected he deceives them and builds a super suit to break out of captivity. Then we have plot lines involving the stages of construction of the red and gold armor, and the making of Iron Monger.

Though nothing has been greenlit yet, there are talks of a sequel and maybe even a trilogy. Most of the main characters are signed on for three movies; so, the only thing that could put a damper in the future of the franchise is a poor box office reception, but as we very well know that’s not a problem.

If you go see this movie, I promise you, you won’t regret it.

-Vince

Just this morning PC World confirmed that a new Mortal Kombat game slated for this fall will combine its classic characters with another set of classic characters– from the DC Universe. As bizarre as it sounds, it’s no joke. Batman and Superman are both definitely in but no word yet on who else might be added.

This isn’t horribly surprising to me– it’s another of a long line of crossover fighting games, like Marvel Vs. Capcom and X-Men Vs. Street Fighter. The real difference, and I think the thing that will give this game a lot of hype, is that it’s Mortal Kombat, a game known for it’s excessive violence. It seems like a weird move on DC’s part to allow their characters to be featured in a such a dark arena… until, of course, you read any of DC’s most recent books. Comics aren’t necessarily for kids anymore and after reading recent issues of Batman: Confidential and the trade of Infinite Crisis, this almost looks like a logical step for DC. A lot of readers who like dark comics (myself included) probably also like dark video games.

What’s going to hurt this game, though, is that the trademark fatalities are gone. In fact, it’s probably less violent all around since it won’t be including the M for Mature label. It seems that while the comic world has gotten dark enough to envision a MK/DC game, the DC characters are too iconic and well-known for the producers to allow it to get that violent. A part of me really appreciates this, especially since I consider Batman and Superman among the most legendary characters that our 20th and 21st century mythologies have to offer. And at the same time… if you’re going to do something, you really should do it. Maybe the problem is the title: Mortal Kombat Vs. the DC Universe. If it were a game that had the MK characters mixed with DC, maybe even mixed with some other fighting game characters (I’m probably the only one but Batman Vs. Virtua Fighter sounds REALLY appealing to me) and just called it something else, you could probably get away with it. But a lot of die-hard MK fans are going to have a hard time wrapping their heads around a less-violent game, just for the sake of DC characters.

Looking at the trailer, it certainly looks pretty violent to me… but for some reason the lack of blood is a going to be a problem for a lot of fans.

It’ll be available in the fall for the XBox 360 and PS3.

LLAP

-Cap’n Logan