The Allure of Complicated (Bakit Astig si Iron Man)

It has been almost five months since I watched a movie. That is a personal record, I think. A bit sad too actually, for a movie buff like me. But the long hiatus officially ended yesterday. I watched Iron Man with Futsal friends (RyanG, Dex, and Badette) and I could not still get over how I thoroughly enjoyed watching it.

Complicated is alluring in so many ways. Tony Stark is a complicated man - an effortlessly complicated, overwhelmingly sexy man. It could be the looks, yes. Robert Downey, Jr. did a Johnny Depp in the latter’s rendition of Jack Sparrow in Pirates of the Carribean. Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark is so astig in that funny, cool, sarcastic, vain, and selfishly unselfish way.

I guess that the man’s character would totally reflect the hero he would eventually become. Iron Man is not exactly the simplest (super)hero to evolve. I mean, whew, all that genius and effort to create the suit makes it even more complicated than the other heroes I know. Superman was born strong and Spiderman was bitten by a genetically modified spider. They had it easy. The powers came and the suits followed. And theirs were such light suits compared with Tony Stark’s crude invention in the cave.

The suit, however, evolved with the hero. With high technology and gadgetry…and the help of robotics, Stark came up with an uber-cool suit that is quite a weapon in itself. The man and the suit thus merged. And one complicated hero emerged.

Complicated is strong. Complicated is powerful. But behind the strength and the power are equally magnetic appeals. Complicated is misunderstood. Complicated is enigmatic. And most times, it is scary for those who fail to marry the complexities and facets that complete the Complicated.

A man with everything but also has nothing was how Stark’s friend in the cave described him. Sad, if true, but nothing is not exactly a permanent state. Everything changes. Judging by Stark’s transformation into a hero, I am taking away fluidity and choice as thought-provoking lessons from this movie.

Other takeaways:

• Nostalgic is not soft. If Pepper Potts was not nostalgic, Stark would not have a backup “heart”. Nostalgic is good.
• Running low on power is no reason to slow down or stop. Rather, it is in that moment when there is almost nothing left that giving your everything will define the outcome of the battle.