Most importantly, they did so many things right. You can go off the rails in a film like this so easily and wind up in Clichétown. But pretty much every time this film got close to that territory, director Jon Favreau zagged where others have zigged, and it was worth it. Oh, here come the Bad Guys, and the Girl is alone – here we go with the hostage situation! (beat) Oh. They didn’t do it. Every time it was a breath of less stale air. And of course it didn’t hurt that at the heart of this action film, it was a human story, and Favreau set up the lead character as a metaphor that worked perfectly.
I’m sure the success of this film won’t be lost on the Hollywood Suits. I just hope they get the right message – Iron Man isn’t just successful because it featured a superhero or a lot of INCREDIBLE action. It’s successful because it worked, and it worked because the filmmakers worked hard, kept the story human and avoided most of the clichés that plague the genre.
