Iron Man -- Fanboy Eye Candy or Political Allegory?

As far as superhero movies go -- I have an intense love/hate relationship with them. Inevitably the casting is all wrong, the mythology has been bastardized, there's never enough of the costumed hero and the movie just drags on far too long under the weight of clunky dialogue and over zealous CGI. That having been said, I still yearn to see them in hopes the movie gets some element right. Iron Man comes closer than most recent efforts to actually firing on all rockets.

The story of weapons titan Tony Stark, played with impeccable timing and nuance by Robert Downey jr, who winds up being gravely wounded by his own invention is as straightforward in its man versus machine conflict as they come. Stark is rescued by the very Afghan terrorists who assaulted him, forced to make a weapon of mass destruction. Instead of complying Stark secretly constructs a super suit echoing the knights of the crusades and blasts his way to freedom, vowing to destroy the very weapon stockpiles he has created.

Eye candy for 30-something fanboys still living in their mom's basement? Plenty of it fellas -- come get. Cool flight and fight scenes, awesome technology, hot babes dancing suggestively, plus the red and gold suit with enough tricked out gear to take out years of pent up aggression on the playground bullies all here for you.

But the notion of this movie having a strong undercurrent of political allegory is as nagging as that glowing donut-sized power generator implanted in Stark's chest. Is America's over reaching quest of global democracy for all catching up with us? Liberal Hollywood notwithstanding, you can't help but feel that there's more to the stories of our troops being fired upon with the very weapons American military companies have sold and by the very people our own soldiers have trained.

Tony Stark's wounding caused a change of heart, no pun intended, yet what will it take for America to realize that political freedom doesn't have to be as costly as we make it out to be. To quote another superhero franchise 'with great power comes great responsibility.'

To that end, the responsibility to our nation's people and for the future generations to come has been shirked on an all too regular basis. From the fabricated motivations to wage war in the middle east, to the devastatingly inept recovery efforts in New Orleans, to the blind acceptance of recent genocide in the cradle of civilization our responsibility to leave this world better than how we found it has been brushed off by America's leaders.

Perhaps the moral here is that even though as a country we can suit up as Iron Man to deflect the verbal, and physical, slings and arrows of our allies and enemies -- underneath the armor beats an all too human heart which wants to do what is right despite opposition. That's what makes a true hero.