After a year of really bad movies depicting war between terrorists and Americans, finally a Hollywood way to make us jump for joy from our theatre seats! Send in – to the middle east – an unlikely superhero called “Iron Man” played by Robert Downey Jr, a billionaire inventor with a conscience. The story opens with Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) an MIT grad, part Bill Gates part Sumner Redstone, total playboy, kidnapped in Afghanistan by the very terrorists who purchase his Stark weapons. Incapable of being responsible (in other words rich and spoiled) Stark has a cathartic moment that transforms him. This is expected when you’re beaten up, and dragged into a dungeon with a bag over your head at gun point. While held in captivity for enough time to make him think about his factory-made weapons of mass destruction, Tony Stark evolves. Back home his best friend Colonel Rhodes (Terrence Howard) is running the air force, while Stark’s partner, Mr. Stane (Jeff Bridges) is supposedly running the company. Stane’s mission: Make money on arms. But that’s not what Stark wants anymore. And then there’s Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) Stark’s assistant/love interest whose red locks and blue eyes (and tilted camera angle) feel like a generic version of Kirsten Dunst’s Spiderman girlfriend. Nonetheless, the story works. And works really well. Downey Jr. has the energy, charisma and the right dose of wise guy attitude to carry off this character long into the franchise sunset. He’s a super hero with a heart. He’s a super hero who’s middle-aged. He’s a superhero with flaws. And for us Americans sitting in the audience, it’s actually a bit of a dreamy stretch to see a machine like “Iron Man” go in and wipe out the Bin Laden wannabes. This is Super Hero meets Patriotism. And “Iron Man” is George Bush’s answer on how to solve the war on terrorism. Four tiaras
