Go, Iron Man

I admit I was pleased that Iron Man squashed Speed Racer. While I have not seen the latter movie, its previews are boring, and I loved Iron Man.

I wasn’t going to watch Iron Man, either, but it got good reviews, and one reviewer said it’s pro-America. It is. It has three main things going for it.

1. The film’s message is that defending America is good, while doing business with terrorists is bad. Iron Man unapologetically blasts terrorists.

2. Iron Man is self-made, and he’s proud of who he is. Unlike Spider Man, Iron Man creates his super powers. Unlike Batman, he does so not because of childhood psychosis, but because he needs the powers to kick ass and save his life and legacy. I never thought Robert Downey, Jr., was super-hero material, but I was wrong. He is brilliant as the haughty yet charming man behind the mask. It’s nice to see a super-hero have fun.

3. Iron Man is pro-science. Unlike Bruce Wayne, Tony Stark does not just buy himself a bunch of fancy gear; he engineers and builds it himself.

The movie does have a couple of problems. First, the idea that a power generator keeps shrapnel out of his heart is silly — though I did love the idea of the miniature power generator. Second, the movie seems like it’s split into two parts. In the first part, Iron Man fights terrorists in the Middle East; in the second, he fights a U.S. traitor (you don’t need three guesses who, given the poster art). The stories are tied together but not very tightly.

Still, this is a good movie, and the fact that American audiences are rewarding it says something good about the audiences.