allegory & irony, man

It all starts with an explosion in the deserts of Afghanistan.

Summer is a-nigh. Time for bikini's, snarky tees, bare feet, music fests and superheroes. Blasting the door over for the sun to come in and annihilating the wintry doldrums is the somewhat unlikely Ironman.  Despite the CGI ammo and Oscar A-list artillery of a cast, this could have been easily just another summer cheese platter from the big studio craft service. Much to everyone's surprise the fanboy also-ran (except for the hard-core ones, natch), grossed over the 100-million mark domestically and as the last of the credits roll, the geek in everyone gets awakened and wriggling for sequel.

Perhaps it is of  little faith to ever doubt an actor's actor like Robert Downey Jr. who, according to Zodiac costar Jake Gyllenhall, has a 100 & 1 different ways to approach a scene. He so engulfs the role that even after the snazzy CGI armor comes to fore, his presence still pretty much takes over through the virtual Titanium.  The analogies to Downey's real-life persona may help but his Tony Stark is a glib, bacchanal, unapologetic yet downright charismatic, campy brat ("Press conference. Cheeseburger first") who's claim to superhumanity are merely acing MIT and a trust fund-- a quasiatom of Gates & Jobs and Paris & Nicky. Taking a lesson from the Fantastic 4 fluff care of Jessica Alba, Jon Favreau  puts his Swinger ethos to good use using the ably nuanced Paltrow as stoic and even-keeled Virginia "Pepper" Potts who provides more veritas than just being able to sprint in escape from a killer robot in strappy stiletto Louboutins over iron grates. Terence Howard poses a heroic and heretofore portentous figure to eventually fill in the iron suit and then War Machine. As father figure and nemesis, Obadia Stane, Jeff Bridges is both reassuring and menacing--the Dude transmogrified as evil capitalist. The horror.

The critics, the fanboys and the random audience talk about the makings of this superhero and the criticism of America's wars. I read in one Yahoo review, complaints about using AC/DC in the opening as a little cliche which pretty much is representative of certain points that escape the American movie-goer. On the get-go Tony Stark is introduced as somewhat of a dick. With due respect, what can be more fitting soundtrack than Back in Black, the theme song of the all-American dickhead? Seriously. In its pivotal points the film flings popcorn, albeit lovingly and glossily, at not just the American war but the American way which most superheroes or superhero films protect, uphold and concentrate on:

1. In his first attempt Ironman doesn't rescue a blonde or red-head in distress falling from a skyscraper or a family in perilous car trouble in Iowa but an Afghan family in some obscure village on the verge of being torn apart by the devastating crossfires of bullies with big guns.

2. The usual hangouts of Stark are in Vegas, Malibu, & LA--superficial wonderlands of lights, cars, mansions and easy women. The only reference to NYC, the city of the world, is by a Box of Ray's Pizza flown in by private jet.

3. In a press conference, Burger King in hand, Stark looks back on the loss of promising American lives with MySpace pages and witnessing firsthand the havoc of  the American system of "zero accountability". 

4. By the way, Tony Stark in the comic book world is a Republican.

Watch out for the fallout from the Red State-folks, once there is a lull in the election coverage. Or the point may just go over people's heads which is well, quite ironic.