acquired taste

Iron Man 2

So unpleasant and egotistical is the ‘hero’ that one almost cheers for the villain when he makes his appearance.

Ajit Duara | 12 May, 2010

So unpleasant and egotistical is the ‘hero’ that one almost cheers for the villain when he makes his appearance.

Iron Man is a suit of armour and not a character, and this takes a little getting used to. The man who owns and designs the shining metal plates is Tony Stark and he is a one-man Military Industrial Complex, an arms dealer who has privatised the arms race.

First of all you have to like the guy to accept him as a hero. This is tough. Unlike Superman and Spiderman, he is not altruistic. He has not turned up to save the world; he is around to own the world. He believes that by being 20 years ahead of conventional arms technology, he can make all competition redundant and his own government obligated to him for defence of the homeland.

Stark (Downey Jr) is a vain, egotistical multi-millionaire who knows money can buy everything. Not for him the modesty of a gentle alter ego like Clark Kent. So unpleasant is this hero that you actually cheer for the opposition when the villain turns up.

The maverick actor Mickey Rourke plays the bad guy, Ivan Vanko. To the shock of the US government, he proves that Stark was bullshitting when he claimed that his weapons technology was 20 years ahead of its time. Vanko has the technology right now and does a demo on the Formula One track at the Monaco Grand Prix to prove it.

This is the best scene in Iron Man 2 and almost worth the price of a movie ticket. Monaco becomes The Colosseum, Vanko and Stark the gladiators and the racing cars the obstacles flung at the fighters.

What is interesting is that the gladiatorial metaphors of ancient Rome are often used in the movie. At one point, Stark explains that his Iron Man suit is ‘a shield and not a sword’.

The imagery of language and picture notwithstanding, Iron Man 2 has a lot of talk, some glittering action with knights in flying armour and a soundtrack that deafens you. A genre-specific movie for an acquired taste in metal.