Stark secretly develops the Iron Man suit after being captured by Middle Eastern fighters who demand he build them a bomb. With the help of a fellow prisoner (Shaun Toub)—who’s promptly dispatched and forgotten about as soon as he’s served his purpose in the tale—Stark dons a crude prototype of the Iron Man suit, guns down the bad guys and uses the jet propulsion to fly away.

Having seen the destructive power of his weapons, Stark vows to change the mission of his company. He perfects the technology behind Iron Man, makes a sleeker suit, and plots a return to the Middle East to ensure that his weaponry will no longer be used by the warlords who imprisoned him.

A romantic subplot in which Stark develops serious feelings for his assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), sparks to life, but the other supporting work is sub-par. Bridges’ glowering can’t make Stane a very interesting villain. Terrence Howard, as Stark’s trusted friend in the Pentagon, is wasted, and the dignified Shaun Toub, who makes the early portion of Iron Man more interesting than it would have been otherwise, disappears from the film much too early.

Scenes of Stark perfecting his new technology are punctuated with humorous experiments gone awry, but the buildup to the unveiling of the streamlined Iron Man drags out. The second half of the film has Iron Man righting various wrongs, playing cat-and-mouse games with jet fighters, and taking on an imposing competitor. But Downey’s acting during that portion of the film consists of little more than reaction shots from inside his metal suit, while the supporting cast does little more than react to the special-effects-driven battle royal that concludes the film.

A few lines of dialogue hint at more provocative themes for a potential sequel. What do we do when we discover our purpose in life, and how public should we be about that purpose? Stark, a reformed playboy, tells Pepper, “I shouldn’t be alive—unless it was for a reason. I finally know what I have to do.” The film’s ending declaration leaves us wanting another chapter in the Iron Man saga, despite the drawbacks associated with this first attempt.

Questions? Comments? Contact the writer at crosswalkchristian@earthlink.net.

CAUTIONS:

• Language/Profanity:  Lord’s name taken in vain; foul language.
• Drugs/Alcohol:  Frequent alcohol consumption early in the film; reference to Stark being drunk during a conference.
• Sex/Nudity:  Stark is said to have slept with all 12 Maxim cover girls during a year; he flirts with women while gambling and beds a reporter; the woman wakes up the next day, covered by a sheet; a joke about a “lovely lady” who was actually a man.
• Gambling:  Stark gambles heavily.
• Violence:  Gunfire; bombs; a car bomb; blood soaks through a bulletproof vest and onto a shirt; victims of gunfire and car bombing are shown; a man performs surgery on himself; a prisoner is tortured and threatened with being burned; experiments gone awry end with Stark thrown against a wall and otherwise abused; a man is threatened in front of his children; a device renders people motionless for 15 minutes.