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May 2, 2008

11:14 am | 2 recommendations | 4 comments

Iron Man and Genre Respect

| posted by Kevin Ohannessian

Last night I saw an early preview of Iron Man. I am not going to say much more than it was a solid film that will appeal to a wide audience. And that is an accomplishment.

Every since the Lord of the Rings films, what has been called genre films (fantasy, sci-fi, horror) have been getting more respect. As our article Rebel Alliance discussed, those who respect such material produce something of real quality that becomes a hit with more than geeks. Iron Man is no exception. A talented cast and crew have created a great movie.

Over the next 12 months, the blockbuster films that will be released reveal a continuing respect for genre material, if not out-right adoration. Consider July's The Dark Knight (Christian Bale and Christopher Nolan continuing on with a psychotic Joker by the late Heath Ledger), the next Harry Potter in November (based on the sixth novel and with the same excellent cast as before), and from 300 director Zack Snyder we are getting Watchmen -- often called the greatest work of the superhero genre every written -- in March 2009.

Iron Man is kicking off what looks like a great summer of movies, and another year of innovative approaches to genre films. I can't recommend the movie anymore and hope you all get to the multiplex this weekend.

P.S. -- Stay for the epilogue after Iron Man's credits finish. You won't regret it.

Tags: Innovation, Work/Life, Film, Iron Man
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Comments | 4

May 2, 2008 at 11:57am

David Grossman

Iron Man was always one of my favorite Marvel comics growing up... Still, it's hard to imagine Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark - I always imagined him more like a geeky Tom Selleck.

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May 3, 2008 at 10:50am

Howard Freeman

I think the upcoming Speed Racer movie also exemplifies the cartoons-of-the-60s-and-70s genre that I grew up with.
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May 4, 2008 at 7:54am

Chandesh Parekh

I watched this a couple of nights ago and really enjoyed it. I'm a fan of comic book heroes but wasn't sure how Iron man would pan out - great movie (and a pretty rocking soundtrack to boot!). Awaiting The Dark Knight...

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May 5, 2008 at 9:19am

Mark Zorro

Knowing that I had most of Marvel's No.1 editions makes this much more difficult to personally dwell upon - for how did my parents know that I had amassed a small fortune by the age of 12, before they dumped all my comics in the mid-70's in the loving and caring act to assist me in the act of "growing up". Today I prefer Iron Man as a collective as a part of the Avengers rather than as a standalone character. After all shouldn't we be promoting team based cultures in the 21st Century rather than the heroic standalone, (or at least how am I ever going to mortally meld into the curated connected collective?) I can however see that our collective childhoods have at least contributing to creating a littany of top grossing movies (even if I don't want to be reminded about the thousands of dollars so starkly extinguished in a dumpster 30 years ago), and in that regard I don't know whether Nietzsche or Rabbi Simcha would be more open to provide an explanation for the creation of this ubermensch culture or our fascination with our childhood preoccupations. Whatever the explanation, it sure looks like Thor and Hawkeye are not being lined up as the next cinematic blockbuster anytime soon - to promote that team-based culture, and man, I still do think of Iron Man as a team member of the Avengers, which is what made them so as a totality, always diverse but quite great......M.

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