Tropophilia

[Warning: Here be spoilers, mateys.]

The moment I heard that TechCrunch was sponsoring a pre-screening of Iron Man, I knew it was a must-see. Tropophilia-favorite blog Gizmodo lovingly titled its review of the film “126 Minutes of Gadget Porn“. I saw it on Saturday night, and I’m afraid that I too was filled with a deep technolust. What self-respecting geek wouldn’t want a suit of armor that enabled him to fly and kill bad guys? I mean, come on.

If you had trouble following some of the concepts I was talking about when I wrote about augmented reality a few months ago, you need look no further than the “heads-up display” inside Iron Man’s helmet. Check out this short clip from the movie. Imagine looking at anything, anywhere, and seeing computer-fed, real-time information layered on top of and around it. It’s coming - first to our vehicles, and later to our glasses. There’s too much other gadgety goodness to mention, but pay special attention to the technology around Stark’s home. All of it is believable to this geek’s eye. Well done, Industrial Light & Magic. Well done.

For the most part, Iron Man was able to avoid following a too-familiar formula in recreating the Marvel comic on the big screen. Robert Downey, Jr. was a brilliant choice for Tony Stark, both of them being somewhat cocky rich dudes who head down the road of reform after nearly getting themselves killed. I liked that even though he decides to consult his moral compass and do battle on the side of good, Stark loses neither his snarky sense of humor nor his arrogance. Sometimes his disregard for the opinions of everyone else becomes annoying, but mostly it helps to keep him from becoming the overly-dramatic “with great power comes great responsibility” stereotype that he could easily have become.

Jeff Bridges was also excellent as the mentor-turned-nemesis, Obadiah Stane. Bridges amps up his drunk-guy-being-escorted-out-of-a-bar voice so much that you feel like you can smell the bourbon on his breath as he somehow achieves that marriage of gravelly mumbling and eloquence of which mere mortals are incapable. The only qualm I had with his character was his handling of Pepper Potts in a scene where she is obviously pilfering through his computer files. This is a dude who sells weapons to the government and to terrorists, who almost kills a soccer mom and her kids in a mini-van as “collateral damage”… and he doesn’t even kick the mouse to turn off the screen saver and see if she’s stealing something? And what’s worse, he just huffs after her and watches her leave with it from a balcony? Dude. You’re more evil than that. At least call security?

I thought Terrence Howard was only mediocre as Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes. It was good that he didn’t steal any scenes, but I also thought he lacked a little pizazz. With the obvious nods towards a sequel, hopefully he’ll step more fully into the bigger part he is sure to play.

Gwyneth Paltrow is beautiful and talented and was perfect for the lovely Ms. Pepper Potts. The sexual tension between her and Stark is agonizing. That is all.

If you haven’t seen the movie yet, or plan on seeing it again, make sure you stay past the credits for a teaser clip. I won’t give it away, but I don’t know how I feel about the actor choice there, because I can’t really look at him without laughing anymore.

So, see Iron Man. And wait to Netflix the new Indiana Jones, because man was that disappointing.