Big Picture Big Sound

The Stark Knight

This is the story of a billionaire playboy who, after a life-altering tragedy, constructs a superhero suit for use in an obsessive quest to fight for justice. No, this isn't another reworking of the "Batman" franchise (Christopher Nolan's 2005 version will do quite nicely, thank you). This is "Iron Man" - Marvel Comics' distant, more well-armed cousin. And aside from the above description, "Iron Man" couldn't be more different from the story of the legendary Caped Crusader.

For starters, Tony Stark is no Bruce Wayne. Played in a fit of inspired casting by Robert Downey Jr., Stark wastes no time brooding about the three months he spends held captive in an Afghanistan prison camp. He isn't even all that miffed about the battery-powered electromagnet installed in his chest (to keep shrapnel from entering his heart...or something). Under the not-so-watchful eyes of some wildly uninquisitive terrorists, Stark concocts a plan of escape: he builds an armed, metal exoskeleton and blasts his way out of the mountain cave. Once back on U.S. soil, he upends the weapons manufacturing business which made him his billions, and dedicates himself to dismantling all the weapons that made it into the wrong hands - in, it should be noted, an upgraded and much sleeker Iron Man suit. Naturally, there are those who would stop Stark. And if you think his friend and longtime business partner Obadiah Stane (played gleefully by Jeff Bridges with a shaved head and bearded chin) is the loyal confidant he appears to be, then you clearly didn't look at that head/beard combo.

As directed by Jon Favreau, "Iron Man" is all bright colors and explosions (the film opens with an Army convoy riding through the desert to the strains of AC/DC's "Back in Black"). Saddled with a fairly typical superhero "origin story", as well as the daunting task of bringing a Marvel character to the screen for the first time, Mr. Favreau compensates by pumping up the volume and keeping the pace as fast as possible. The film has great fun setting up Stark's playboy lifestyle (private jets with stripper poles, artificially-intelligent "droids" in the lab, a "smart house" that would have Bill Gates drooling), though it tones down the alcoholism from the comics. Mr. Downey plays each scene with swaggering bravado to spare, and he's never at a loss for the kind of quick, tossed-off wisecrack that sells this type of character. None other than Gwyneth Paltrow plays the improbably-named-even-for-a-comic Pepper Potts, Stark's loyal-to-a-fault sidekick. Ms. Paltrow, in a selection of sensible business suits, has great fun bouncing one-liners off her co-star (and cashing a sizable paycheck, no doubt).

The script is credited to four writers (Art Marcum, Matt Holloway, Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby), two of whom, Mr. Fergus and Mr. Ostby, wrote "Children of Men". Still, as fans of the comics will see, the film only scratches the surface of the Iron Man mythology; there's plenty left to do with the character, and the film, as is typical, isn't shy about setting up possible sequels. Terrence Howard plays Stark's long-time friend, Jim Rhodes, who will eventually go on to inhabit the suit (or one similar to it). And the covert military agency S.H.I.E.L.D. is given only a cursory subplot (and a new acronym). But what's fascinating about "Iron Man" is how seamlessly the story is updated from its mid-60s beginnings. Aside from transplanting Stark's headquarters from New York to Los Angeles (in a tribute to the character's Howard Hughes-inspired roots) and placing the weapons in the clutches of an unnamed sect of insurgents in the Middle East, not much has changed in 50 years. The Iron Man origin story holds up. Yet another thing it has in common with Batman.