Monday, May 5, 2008

And sometimes when he comes through the window he's not wearing any pants...

Anticipation is a great thing. In fact it’s often the best part of life, in a way. Days of looking forward to a big occasion, for instance, probably add up to more happiness than the occasion itself. Similarly in the wonderful world of anticipation there’s (not yet) any disappointment or failure. When you’re only looking forward to something it can be perfect.

Which brings me onto Iron Man. I saw the movie at the weekend – while doped up to the gills on cold and flu meds – and days later I’m still not entirely sure what I think of it. Before I went to see it I mentioned as much to someone or other and they said they too were planning to see it in a hope-it’s-so-bad-it’s-good kind of way and all I could think was ‘hey it’s going to be so good it’s good, bitch’.

And that, right there, is my problem, I think: I expect too much. Bloody anticipation, eh? I knew there must be a drawback.

Because my problem is that I love superheroes and I always have. My brother and I used to record the X-Men cartoons every day as, er, youngsters (I hope) so we could watch them after school. Not only do I have a comic book collection I may or may not have tried to write MY OWN COMIC as a teenager about a group of crime fighting mutants who had come back in time to…. Ahem, aannnyway... I might also have died of pleasure when I heard there was going to be an X-Men movie and I even saw (god help me) Spiderman TWICE at the movies. I am, then, what scientists call (so far as I know) a dorkus maximus.

I also love, love – as has been well documented on this blog – Robert Downey Junior. I yearn for him. I pine for him. I dream of him flying through my window at night. I occasionally fantasise about his arrest however many years ago, driving naked down Sunset Boulevard with a gun and a stash of heroin and cocaine. He is, as some might say, a stone fox.

Put together this love of superhero movies and a love of RDJ and what do you get? Well unfortunately you get a little bit of disappointment. I think. Maybe. I’m not sure. Andy loved it, and he’s not as prone as me to a fit of the RDJ’s and the reviews I’ve read are pretty much the same. The thing is I really enjoyed it too. I thought it was a genuinely well put together, well crafted and funny movie. It’s certainly the best superhero movie I’ve seen since… um, frick, probably X-Men. RDJ was brilliant in it. And yet. I don’t know. I don’t know what I expected. I remain confused. Is it the meds? Possibly.

This isn’t to say you should see it – you should. You should go right now just to line RDJ’s pockets, that he might snort them up his nostrils and/or claim the position among Hollywood royalty that he so richly deserves. Just come and talk to me about it afterwards – we can workshop it and you can tell me what to think. I’ll bring the comics.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Same here Kate...I can't make up my mind if I liked it or loved it. It was good entertainment and I think it was one of the best 'superhero' movies of recent years...cept for Batman Begins (and watch out for The Dark Knight) which really captured the essence of the comic books.

And...ahm yea, I still have my X-Men taped videos at home...my grand plan was to someday 'digitize' them and save them from the black casing...even back then I was a futurist!

Iron Man was good. Brad Pitt's ex still got it!

Anonymous said...

RDJ? He's no MJF.

my name is kate said...

Ooh which anon are you that still has X-Men on video? That is AWESOME. And yeah I quite liked Polly whatsherface - she's got some gams on her.

And yup cb I too used to go weak at the knees for MJF despite the fact he's about 2ft 3 on a good day.

Anonymous said...

So he's about your height then? ;-)

my name is kate said...

Cheeky monkey

Anonymous said...

On comic nerds, Batman is nearly out - hopefully it won't dissapoint.