Lit to Flick features reviews of up-coming movies that are based on books. We tell you whether the book holds true to the movie, the movie is any good, and which is better, the movie or the book.
Alright, it’s cheesy. But it’s fine cheese.
Attacked en route to a weapon’s demonstration, weapons mogul Tony Stark awakens in pain to discover that shrapnel near his heart is only being held back by a big, rusty magnet. Being a genius and all, Tony simply replaces the magnet with a new reactor he’s invented, and then figures he might as well build a whole new iron suit while he’s at it.
Meet Iron Man.
Iron Man continues to fight America’s enemies. In the comic books, “commies” were the threat. Not anymore. The Iron Man of today is not fighting Vietcong war lords, evil geniuses, or alien androids: he fights transnational terrorists. Like his old nemeses, these evil doers are bloodthirsty fiends bent upon reeking death and destruction. Iron Man takes them down.
The original Tony Stark was far more Clark Gable-like than the film’s choice of Robert Downey, Jr. Yet, unlike the original comic book character, Downey is funny. Downey’s self-assured smart aleck allows us to somehow forgive the otherwise unfathomable disconnect between cocky playboy and the inventor who happens to be genius enough to manufacture a super hero suit from spare parts in a cave.
Downey’s Tony Stark is balanced by his cautious and more grounded friends, his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and trusted military liason Rhodey (Terrence Howard), who spend most of the movie warning Tony not to do whatever his next big plan is and then helping him clean up the mess since he went ahead and did it anyway. Jeff Bridges steps in to play Tony's CEO colleague (and hidden nemesis) Obadiah Stane.
The movie manages to tell a story true to the spirit of the original comic.
If you want to read the original comics, purists say that the only way to go is to scour EBay for the originals, but not all of us have so much time or money. Marvel Comics has done you the favor of compiling them into books for their Essential series. Start out by picking up Essential Iron Man Vol. 1.
Bit-o-Lit.com contains material that is derived in whole or in part from material supplied by Bit o' Lit and other publishing sources, and is protected by U.S. and international copyright and trademark laws. No material may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, transmitted, or distributed in any way without the express written consent of Bit o' Lit and associated publishers. ©2008 Bit o' Lit, Inc.
IRON MAN - The Movie 
