May 2, 2008

'Iron' Wrinkles

By: James Poulos

Ann Hornaday doesn’t really like Iron Man:

Toggling between Stark’s impish goatee and Iron Man’s full-metal body condom, and amid so many generic fireballs, kill shots and earsplitting thumps, bumps and crunches, the film finally collapses under its own weight. It’s possible to see a decent franchise in “Iron Man” with Downey at its troubled center; the key is getting rid of the scrap metal.

Well, I don’t like that condom reference. The cover blurb to Hornaday’s review is a big improvement:

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) uses wealth and inventive genius to battle evil in “Iron Man.”

These things, not love, are the secret to world peace. They’re also the secret to an eternity of planetary slavery under the iron rule of immortal quasi-corporeal scientists, but – priorities, people.

(Image courtesy of Flickr user Orbitgal)