Iron Man

In a scene clichéd of superhero films, the villain, about to kill our hero, goes closer and says, ‘Just because it’s your idea, doesn’t mean it belongs to you.’ The setting may be clichéd, the idea is not, the story of Iron Man may seem just like that of any other, but it is not. For, as the line above aptly sums up, the main villain in the movie is ruthless capitalism, and the main hero is the personal morality of the man behind Iron Man.

Of course, most movie goers will miss this not so obvious point. They will see some kick ass action, some great special effects, some extremely witty and hilarious situations and dialogues, and they will go home satisfied that they got value for their money. But the discerning movie buff will see much more. Will hear between the lines, see between the images, and will come back much more fulfilled from Iron Man than others.

Everyday, each one of us, is confronted with the option of doing the easy thing vs doing the right thing. Most of us choose to do what is expedient, for the right way is often difficult. Hence, those that indeed do what is right are heroes. And if those heroes develop or have special powers, they become superhero… Moses, Jesus, Ram, Mohammed, Batman and now… Iron Man.

Tony Shark is a flamboyant skirt chasing tycoon without a thought for the death and destruction caused by weapons his company manufactures. He is a patriot and actually believes he is serving the interest of America, and even helping make the world a better, peaceful place. However, he is almost killed by his own weapons in Afghanistan, but survives thanks to a doctor and a battery powered instrument that keeps a shrapnel from piercing his heart. He solves his first problem of carrying a heavy battery all around, by building himself an alternate power source for his heart, one that will also propel his future transformation to Iron Man.

So, symbolically, he loses his real heart, but gains a truer, nobler heart, a soul, and his voice of conscience. Right now however, he is forced to make a weapon by his captors. Instead, he builds himself an iron armour laced with weapons, and thanks to a sacrifice, escapes captivity.

Back in America he heads straight to a press conference where he denounces the weapons made by his own company to the horror of everyone, especially his right hand man, Obadiah Stane, who had worked with his father and now takes care of Stark Industries. He advices Tony to lay low. Tony does, but an awakened man cannot passively take the injustice of the world, and so he spends his time perfecting his iron armour, lacing it up with different features and armament. Finally, the Iron Man is born. Despite its predictability, the rest of the story has some interesting twists and turns. The last scene of the film, however, assures you that this is a different superhero, the type whose next instalment you eagerly await.

What many discerning audiences will like (and others hate) about Iron Man is its lack of melodrama (Spiderman) or sermonising (X-Men, Daredevil), or personal conflict (Superman), or the needless and witless attempts at being ultra cool and in tune with the times (the forgettable Fantastic Four series). Instead, there’s wit, humour, attention to detail, and innovative suit and lot of special effects.

The acting is mostly ordinary, even the otherwise brilliant Robert Downey Jr. (Remember ‘Chaplin’), though is witty and charming, does not have much scope for acting. However, one man shines through - Jeff Bridges who gets into the skin of this ruthless capitalist man, who’d resort to any means to get what he wants. The beautiful Gwyneth Paltrow plays the hesitant love interest of Iron Man, but does not have a meaty enough role. She will, in the next instalment.

The special effects are expectedly good, especially the one with the fighter planes, and audiences in countries with an interval are advised to come back early or risk missing the scene of Iron Man wearing his fully developed armour for the first time. The attention to detail gives the special effects in the movie its edge. Tech freaks will have a blast of a time with computer endowed with AI, and other peripheral gadgets. The film has incredibly witty dialogues, puns, satires and innuendoes – those things that Hollywood was popular for in its golden days of the 1930’s to the 50’s, but got mostly lost in the din of special effects.

Yet, what sets this film apart from other superhero films, are its subplots and its indictment of capitalism, especially the American version of it, which by tearing up and dividing the world has become the new face of evil – perhaps even worse than Communism. A capitalism embodied in that evil desire to make that extra buck at any cost, without thought of consequence an without an ounce of integrity. And while the villain is a representation of this poison, Iron Man represents its antidote, personal morality.

Iron Man, is a superhero not because of his armour, or because of his genius. He is a superhero because of his morality. Because he received wisdom to shut up, to keep his morality aside from business like many of us do. But he fights what he believes is wrong. Thus he is truly a iron man with a will and determination of iron who will stand up to truth and justice, no matter how dangerous the personal consequences.

There are many things that set Iron Man apart from a legion of superheroes. Unlike Superman or most of the X-Men, he was not born one, unlike Spiderman, Hulk and Fantastic four he did not accidentally become one only to be forced to discover and control his super powers, and neither has he any superpower enforced upon him like Wolverine or Captain America. He belongs to that breed of self-made superheroes born out of their own genius, paralysed by a moral conflict over the helplessness of humanity and its rampant injustice. He belongs to the league of Batman - as a man who makes a moral choice to fight injustice when it is not really necessary for him to do so, a man whose superpower is a moral response to the tyranny and injustice of the world. And unlike most superheroes, playing one is no fun and games or a happy process of discovering some internal powers, but is a constant struggle, an effort, a pain which he endures for the greater good. Where Iron Man goes a notch higher than even the great Batman, is unlike the dark knight, he is not driven by mere personal reasons. His parents were not the victims of injustice. Indeed, though misfortune strikes him, he has the choice to ignore it and stay in safety for he survives it. But in refusing to turn a blind eye to the conflicts of the world, in acknowledging and searching for a purpose to his miraculous survival, he emerges a hero.

Iron Man has no greatness thrust upon him, but he choose his greatness. He is like the superheroes of antiquity, like Moses, Jesus, Ram, Mohammed… like Robinhood, like the Mahatma Gandhi each one of whom was a moral response to the injustice around, and on deeper analysis does not one realise that their true genius lay in their great morality, in their refusal to accept existing moral codes, in their breaking free of their personal comforts and thrusting themselves into the heart of conflict and horror, when they had a choice not to. It is not superpowers, but choice that makes heroes of men and women. That is the message of all true superheroes, in history, and in Iron Man.

Also while other superheroes were relegated to their locality, fighting local goons, Iron Man is the product of injustice at a global level, an American held captive in Afghanistan (in the comic book it was Vietnam). When instead of fighting car thieves or bank robbers in his back alley, he dashes off to Afghanistan to save a village, he resonates the birth of a new, global superhero. He is one who’ll play a greater role in the scheme of the fictional world he inhabits. He is not your friendly neighbourhood Spiderman, he is your friendly global Iron Man.

When the makers of Superman, wanted to give the superhero a makeover few years back, this is the point they missed, that of a superhero’s role in the global order. Of course, there is a fear that the creators of Iron Man too shall walk the popular, safe and oft trodden path of having him deliver mere local justice and fighting powerful monsters with no symbolisms attached to them, one hopes that if they are smart enough, which they seem to be, Iron Man could well be on his way to making his fictional world a better place, rather than just his neighbourhood, by fighting greater foes, like he symbolically does in this movie – Capitalism.

So, to guide the sequel writers, here are a few thoughts. Have Iron Man fight the rising militarism of the world. Have him save an entire country, rather than just a neighbourhood. Have him save Afghanistan in the sequel, fighting the oppressive forces of both the Taliban as well as the American military and have him give the freedom of Afghans back to them.

In the sequel of the sequel, this mix of Terminator and the Predator can do something similar for a country in Africa, fighting local militia, and their hunger and disease, and in the movie after that, he can make the entire continent of Africa a better place, throwing out local goons, as much as he will throw out the foreigners out to oppress the continent under the hood of capitalism. Maybe in one of the movies, he can even take on American forces in Iraq. He could even prevent a nuclear catastrophe. The window is wide open. The possibilities are endless. One only hopes that they do not walk the clichéd path countless other superheroes have walked before, and destroy a franchisee that has tremendous potential in an increasing intolerant and conflicting world.