Wednesday, August 20, 2008

Iron Man blasts his repulsors at Batman!

We watched Charlie Bartlett on the weekend. A pretty good flick overall, but what I really liked in it was Robert Downey Jr. The guy makes sitting in a chair running a remote controlled boat fascinating. Then I happened across this interview where he takes some potshots at The Dark Knight. Sez R2D2:
"My whole thing is that that I saw 'The Dark Knight'. I feel like I'm dumb because I feel like I don't get how many things that are so smart. It's like a Ferrari engine of storytelling and script writing and I'm like, 'That's not my idea of what I want to see in a movie.' I loved 'The Prestige' but didn't understand 'The Dark Knight'. Didn't get it, still can't tell you what happened in the movie, what happened to the character and in the end they need him to be a bad guy. I'm like, 'I get it. This is so high brow and so f--king smart, I clearly need a college education to understand this movie.' You know what? F-ck DC comics. That's all I have to say and that's where I'm really coming from."

Now, if anyone can get away with sass like that, it's him. As much as I thrilled at TDK (and thrilled even more anticipating it), there's no question in my mind that R2D2 & Jon Favreau's Iron Man was a vastly superior movie. In the same interview, Downey credits Iron Man's success to it being what he calls "a very simple movie." Yeah, but most of all it was a boatload of fun. TDK has a lot going for it, it's a nearly operatic melodrama draped in gravitas and explosions--and really, is just as accurate a representation of where Batman comics are these days (ie, take themselves dreadfully serious) as Adam West's joyous Batman was in the 1960s. But Iron Man captured the magic of thrillpower with an infectious glee.
What's really got me psyched about the Moviehole interview, though is R2D2's comments on his upcoming Sherlock Holmes flick:
"He's a bare knuckle boxer, a martial artist and a complete weirdo which is why I said I'd love to do this."

HUZZAH!

mp3: "Dollar Signs" by Snailhouse

No comments: