Iron Man

Quote of the day:
“White criminals commit the biggest crimes. A brother might rob a bank. A white man will rob a pension fund. The brother is going to get ten to fifteen years because he had a gun. The white guy will get a Congressional hearing because he had a job and a nice suit.”
--Wanda Sykes

“Iron Man” is not what you’d expect. Yes, it’s a movie based on a comic book. But the movie is much more than that.

Watching the first ten minutes makes you think this is a story about the war in Afghanistan. Really. There’s not a tinge of goofy setup in it.

Robert Downey Jr. is terrific. He takes the tongue-in-cheek self-awareness of George Clooney’s Batman about ten steps further. There are plenty of laugh-out-loud (LOL) moments that are not just for kids. Unlike Trix.

Jeff Bridges is perfectly cast, and clearly relishes what he’s doing.

The director is Jon Favreau, who made and starred in the now-classic “Swingers.” He does something that’s hard to find in the movies. He integrates future technology in a way that is both fascinating and realistic.

I had a lot of fun watching such things as Downey manipulating an interactive holographic image. I don’t know how that technology will work for us in the future, but it’s reasonable to think we’ll see it someday. Indeed, it may already be happening somewhere.

Technology is a full-fledged character in this film, and it’s a very entertaining one. How many movies can you say that about? Usually technology is used as a platform to demonstrate the talents of the filmmaker and thus it winds up being over-the-top-whiz-bang-wowee-give-me-a-headache.

Not here. Favreau has shown a knowing and deft touch with all the dozens of advanced devices.

It all makes “Iron Man” a good time at the movies.

Note: when you go see it, be sure to stay until after the credits. There’s another scene there.

Don’t worry, you don’t have to read all 300 names in the credits. Whew, an awful lot of people worked on this!