A long-time booster of superhero productions (I wrote a book in 2003 called The Encyclopedia of Superheroes on Film & Television; soon coming out in an updated second edition...), I had nonetheless grown decidedly glum of late about the genre's future prospects.
Why? Well, just consider titles such as Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand. These were big (Marvel) franchise films scuttled by their own grandiose pretensions; films that couldn't muster much energy, intelligence or heart the third time around. Not that they were Catwoman-awful or anything, just that the perhaps-inevitable "creep" of sequel-itis had infected their DNA...making the would-be "event" films feel overstuffed, shallow and lacking in thrills, not to mention originality. Even new Marvel film franchises such as Ghost Rider seemed to be running on empty, re-telling the same "origin" story we'd seen a million times before; with all the perfunctory bells and whistles we'd come to expect in this age of big-budget "superheroes triumphant," The genuine high of the original Spider-Man (2002) or DC's brilliant Batman Begins (2005) seemed absent from all of these highly-anticipated releases, and so I pinned my dwindling hopes on this summer's The Dark Knight.
Turns out I don't have to wait that long...
Jon Favreau's Iron Man (2008) is a boisterous and fun-filled roller coaster ride, an intelligent yet jaunty shot in the arm for a waning genre, and more so, one of the finest superhero films ever crafted. I still count Superman: The Movie (1978) as the very best, but Iron Man rockets to the upper echelons of my "top ten" list; vaulting itself over Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and even the amazing Batman Begins.
Iron Man's screenplay by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby is a surprisingly sturdy (and witty) foundation for this franchise, but the film soars due to the inspired and electric lead performance by Robert Downey Jr., an actor I normally like, but don't love. I have enjoyed (at least intellectually...) Downey's work in films such as The Singing Detective, but I never felt the actor was really engaged with the material he was given. In other words, in some films, I felt Downey was above the material -- quirky, and out to amuse himself but not always the audience. However, this flaw is - amazingly - not at all the case in Iron Man.
With his staccato, whip-smart delivery, dynamic physical presence and deep, wounded eyes (which speak of a thousand heart-breaks), Downey totally inhabits the role of millionaire genius Tony Stark. It is an engaging performance, to say the least, and Downey's final line reading (the one that climaxes the film), is a burst of manic energy and humor so potent, so unexpected, so irrationally exuberant, you leave the theater riding a natural high. His enjoyment of the work here is positively infectious. I know the Academy doesn't consider superhero films serious business, but Downey has done the virtually impossible here: forged a multi-faceted, three dimensional character while vetting a crowd-pleasing, mainstream blockbuster. Someone nominate this guy for an Oscar. Seriously.
Why? Well, just consider titles such as Blade: Trinity, Spider-Man 3 and X-Men: The Last Stand. These were big (Marvel) franchise films scuttled by their own grandiose pretensions; films that couldn't muster much energy, intelligence or heart the third time around. Not that they were Catwoman-awful or anything, just that the perhaps-inevitable "creep" of sequel-itis had infected their DNA...making the would-be "event" films feel overstuffed, shallow and lacking in thrills, not to mention originality. Even new Marvel film franchises such as Ghost Rider seemed to be running on empty, re-telling the same "origin" story we'd seen a million times before; with all the perfunctory bells and whistles we'd come to expect in this age of big-budget "superheroes triumphant," The genuine high of the original Spider-Man (2002) or DC's brilliant Batman Begins (2005) seemed absent from all of these highly-anticipated releases, and so I pinned my dwindling hopes on this summer's The Dark Knight.
Turns out I don't have to wait that long...
Jon Favreau's Iron Man (2008) is a boisterous and fun-filled roller coaster ride, an intelligent yet jaunty shot in the arm for a waning genre, and more so, one of the finest superhero films ever crafted. I still count Superman: The Movie (1978) as the very best, but Iron Man rockets to the upper echelons of my "top ten" list; vaulting itself over Spider-Man, Spider-Man 2 and even the amazing Batman Begins.
Iron Man's screenplay by Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby is a surprisingly sturdy (and witty) foundation for this franchise, but the film soars due to the inspired and electric lead performance by Robert Downey Jr., an actor I normally like, but don't love. I have enjoyed (at least intellectually...) Downey's work in films such as The Singing Detective, but I never felt the actor was really engaged with the material he was given. In other words, in some films, I felt Downey was above the material -- quirky, and out to amuse himself but not always the audience. However, this flaw is - amazingly - not at all the case in Iron Man.
With his staccato, whip-smart delivery, dynamic physical presence and deep, wounded eyes (which speak of a thousand heart-breaks), Downey totally inhabits the role of millionaire genius Tony Stark. It is an engaging performance, to say the least, and Downey's final line reading (the one that climaxes the film), is a burst of manic energy and humor so potent, so unexpected, so irrationally exuberant, you leave the theater riding a natural high. His enjoyment of the work here is positively infectious. I know the Academy doesn't consider superhero films serious business, but Downey has done the virtually impossible here: forged a multi-faceted, three dimensional character while vetting a crowd-pleasing, mainstream blockbuster. Someone nominate this guy for an Oscar. Seriously.
I realize that Iron Man/Tony is a different brand of hero from Bruce Wayne or Peter Parker, but at this point in superhero film history, it's a sigh of relief to encounter a hero who isn't overtly down-in-the-mouth, taciturn and angsty. Stark has his various and sundry pains, of course, (which he buries in drink and...other vices), but he's not a constant mope. It's clear he's "turned on" by the possibilities of life (whether sexy women, sporty cars, or the chance to develop the latest body armor) and that's a distinction worth noting. I hate how these days everyone with super powers or super resources mopes around like a loser, so sad at the "burden" they bear. Bruce Wayne might be a playboy millionaire, but next to Downey's Tony Stark, he's a lugubrious poser.
In fact, Iron Man's big theme ties directly into Stark's feisty persona: it's about taking personal responsibility for one's irresponsible actions (or even a lifetime of irresponsible actions); for making good when you've done bad, or have been just plain thoughtless because you were busy screwing around. Looking at Downey (and knowing his history with drink and drug addiction), you can guess the actor understands something about that notion. But Iron Man also isn't a straight-up vigilante like Batman is these days, and nor is the film about an abstract platitude, like "with great power comes great responsibility" (courtesy of your friendly neighborhood Spider-Man). On the contrary, Iron Man feels so real vibrant, so alive, so relevant, because the film's thrust is more "shit, I fucked up, now I gotta do something about it." I find that approach refreshing and more authentic to human nature than what we've seen in some recent superhero flicks. Iron Man wants to do good, but he's also having a hell of a time...
It's tempting to turn this review into a (very long) laundry list of all the things that Iron Man gets absolutely right. In terms of presentation, it deploys picture-perfect CGI to create its armor-plated heroes (and you all know how I hate CGI, but I've never seen better...). The film is truly exhilarating in the action scenes, and some of the Iron Man flight scenes are jaw dropping. Additionally, Gwyneth Paltrow and Robert Downey Jr. share great romantic chemistry and their moments together crackle with energy.
Delightfully, Iron Man isn't overstuffed with over-the-top villains either (again, see Spider-Man 3), and Jeff Bridges is impressive as the primary antagonist. There's also some great social commentary about America's role in the War on Terror world. It's not heavy-handed, it's not mindlessly dark, and it is surprisingly even-handed, not overtly liberal or conservative on its face. On this front, it champions unilateralism but - unlike our current Administration - responsible unilateralism. Tony Stark's desire to do right emerges not from ideology or politics, but from his human heart (ironic, no?) and his connection to other human beings, some of whom he has harmed through his utter thoughtlessness. Stark has grown wealthy by making and selling weapons of destruction, but he's been so busy acting the playboy he never saw the real lives those weapons destroyed. Until now. Given this set-up, Iron Man is a story of redemption.
The best superhero films are those that speak to their times in a potent way. Superman: The Movie commented on Watergate, most notably in Superman's line to Lois Lane that he would never "lie" to her. It also served as a Christ metaphor, speaking to the secular 1970s' longing for a messiah..someone to save the disco decade American citizen from such looming crises as the Energy Crisis, Watergate, Vietnam, Inflation, etc. I believe Iron Man will similarly stand the test of time, because it examines the uneasy and double-edged sword of American military and technological might in this post-911 world. In Gulmira (a town in the Middle East), Iron Man is indeed greeted like a liberator. He frees the people there from brutal warlords. But at the same time time, Iron Man's Halliburton-like company is selling WMDs to terrorists who would oppress the very same poor and the weak people of Gulmira. Iron Man ultimately decides to clean house at home, as well as internationally, but that's a step America hasn't yet taken. Instead, that internal cleansing is coming in November 2008. Whether we install Obama or McCain in the White House after the election, millionaire Darth Cheney with his unsavory connection to Big Oil, Halliburton and the craven Neo-Cons will be history. He is the corrupt, craven "stain" (the Obidiah Stane?) America must cleanse as we navigate our role in a complex world.
Going further, Iron Man suggests something interesting about the state of modern technological warfare. The flow and development of weaponry in the post-911 Age has been towards less and less direct human involvement. Today we have pilot-less flying drones dropping bombs on cities with "shock and awe." We have cruise missiles launched at cities from distant ships at sea. There's a widening disconnect between the man who controls the weapon and the decision to kill, even the kill point. But most importantly, the man who presses the button isn't up close and personal to see the victims; to judge the results of his actions. Now, these technological advancements have saved American lives - a very noble cause - but they have also made warfare infinitely easier and cleaner. And ultimately, that's a terrible thing, because war should be the last available option, right?
Iron Man comments on this trend beautifully because Tony Stark's invention - a titanium, flying mechanical suit - puts man front and center again, in control of the technology and present on the field of battle. And as soon as man is back in war face-plate to face-plate...he sees the horrors of war for what they are, and realizes it should not be engaged in lightly. Iron Man is simultaneously pro-American and anti-war, and it identifies two potent enemies of our age: those dictators who would oppress the weak (Middle Eastern here...), and those bastards in big-business, in the military-industrial complex, who would profit by selling destructive weapons to those self-same dictators.
Of late, even the best superhero movies have veered off track in the third and final act. Even the laudable Batman Begins turns to a confusing mess in its busy, loud, overlong climax. Iron Man avoids this pitfall, and with Downey as the master of ceremonies in this particular circus, that means the film is a wild, enjoyable ride from start to finish. Iron Man never missteps and so - when Downey memorably utters his final, giddy line and the end credits roll, you feel jazzed and inspired instead of beaten down. Iron Man is a great superhero film, a great time at the movies, and one hell of a summer ride.
Right on, John. Downey is on fire. The harrowing emotional journey of Tony Stark is written all over his face. And unlike the grating megalomaniacal supervillains we've grown used to, Jeff Bridges was refreshingly subtle as Obediah Stane(the pizza scene), yet undeniably menacing during the later moments of the film. Flynn becomes Dillinger? And the final line is perhaps the most audacious move in a superhero film I have ever seen. "Next time, baby!" Oh hell yes! Good review, man.
ReplyDeleteGlad to see we're agreeing again! Actually, it's a film like this that invalidates some of my defense of Transformers. This is the same kind of big-budget "robots" fighting in the street kind of flick on the surface, but possesses all that Transformers lacked. Kevin and I went to see it last night. This was actually the second time I saw it in the last week, which really speaks to how fun it is on the big screen. I also really wanted to share the experience of turning to a friend at the end of the movie and saying, "see, wasn't that awesome?!" I love Batman Begins, but like you I think the last climax on the train is convoluted. Iron Man doesn't succumb to that same fate, which has placed it at the #1 spot in my superhero heart.
ReplyDeleteWe just saw this last night and I have to say I was falling in love all over again with Robert Downey Jr. Like another handsome actor I know, he emotes through his big brown eyes, and it's utterly captivating. I'm glad they stayed away from the WB A-list for this one; I can't imagine anyone else in this role now.
ReplyDeleteAnd as much as I loathe CG in the hands of Hollywood, this was nicely and seamlessly done. It didn't intrude and was used only when necessary. You could still 'see' the actor inside the armor.
They've raised the bar...can the next set of hero films live up to this?
Let me say right now-I loved Iron Man, and hope that the sequel goes even further in depicting the universe of the original comic book.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, there are some dissenting views about the movie, running counter to what you've said:
Irony Man
by Nick Turse and Tom Engelhardt
Back in the mid-1990s, in my book, The End of Victory Culture, I wrote the following about the adventure films of my childhood (and those of earlier decades):
"For the nonwhite, annihilation was built not just into the on-screen Hollywood spectacle but into its casting structures. Available to the Other were only four roles: the invisible, the evil, the dependent, and the expendable…. When the inhabitants of these borderlands emerged from their oases, ravines, huts, or teepees, they found that there was but one role in which a nonwhite (usually played by a white actor) was likely to come out on top, and that was the villain with his fanatical speeches and propensity for odd tortures. Only as a repository for evil could the nonwhite momentarily triumph. Whether an Indian chief, a Mexican bandit leader, or an Oriental despot, his pre-World War II essence was the same. Set against his shiny pate or silken voice, his hard eyes or false laugh, no white could look anything but good."
Having spent a recent evening in my local multiplex watching the latest superhero blockbuster, Iron Man, all I can say is: such traditions obviously die hard (even in the age of Barack Obama). The Afghans and assorted terrorists of the film, when not falling into that "invisible" category – as backdrops for the heroics or evil acts of the real actors – are out of central casting from a playbook of the 1930s filled with images of Fu Manchu or Ming the Merciless: Right down to that shiny bald pate, the silken voice, the hard eyes, and that propensity for "odd tortures."
It's lucky, then, that, in the real world, the Bush administration has made the decision to expand our no-charges, no-recourse, no-courts, no-lawyers prison network in Afghanistan to hold such monsters. Give Eric Schmitt and Tim Golden of the New York Times credit for their recent front-page scoop: "The Pentagon is moving forward with plans to build a new, 40-acre detention complex on the main American military base in Afghanistan, officials said, in a stark acknowledgment that the United States is likely to continue to hold prisoners overseas for years to come … [the new prison will be] a more modern and humane detention center that would usually accommodate about 600 detainees – or as many as 1,100 in a surge – and cost more than $60 million." The real money quote in the piece, however, lay buried inside the fold. The reporters quote an anonymous Pentagon official speaking of the infamous older American prison at Bagram Air Base where some of those "odd tortures" have taken place: "It's just not suitable. At some point, you have to say, 'That's it. This place was not made to keep people there indefinitely.'"
So, the new prison, then, is apparently for holding people "indefinitely." Lurking in that word, of course, is the logical thought that we'll just have to stay in Afghanistan indefinitely, too. Otherwise, who's going to do the necessary imprisoning? Perhaps it's worth noting as well that, at this moment, the Pentagon is also expanding its major prison in Iraq, Camp Bucca, already stuffed with up to 20,000 prisoners, to hold another 10,000, assumedly in case a future prisoner "surge" comes along, and assumedly once again "indefinitely." In fact, when it comes to prisons, the Pentagon and its contractors are the busiest of beavers. After all, they've been expanding Guantanamo in Cuba, too, while Bush administration officials talk idly about shutting that prison down. Even kids aren't immune. A recent report claims that the U.S. now holds at least 500 "juveniles," mainly in Iraq, but also in Afghanistan, and perhaps elsewhere as "imperative threats to security." (Guantanamo evidently now has no juveniles only because two prisoners have been held there long enough to grow into adulthood.)
These are expansive American facts on the ground in two occupied countries where, you might say (though you wouldn't know it from Iron Man), imprisonment is our middle name and "odd tortures" what we've built our rep on. Of course, at a time when the U.S. is hemorrhaging real jobs, Americans have made quite a living from building and expanding prisons and prison populations at home, too.
Once upon a time, there was an all-American superhero who fought for "truth, justice, and the American way." But that's passé today. As a nation, we're not much into justice anymore; what we're into is incarceration, punishment, and those "odd tortures." It's increasingly our métier, our truth, the American way. So maybe Iron Man, an arms dealer by day, is, as Nick Turse, author of the superb exposé of the new Pentagon, The Complex, indicates, exactly the right superhero to illuminate our American moment. Tom
Torturing Iron Man
The strange reversals of a Pentagon blockbuster
by Nick Turse
"Liberal Hollywood" is a favorite whipping-boy of right-wingers who suppose the town and its signature industry are ever-at-work undermining the U.S. military. In reality, the military has been deeply involved with the film industry since the Silent Era. Today, however, the ad hoc arrangements of the past have been replaced by a full-scale one-stop shop, occupying a floor of a Los Angeles office building. There, the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and the Department of Defense itself have established entertainment liaison offices to help ensure that Hollywood makes movies the military way.
What they have to trade, especially when it comes to blockbuster films, is access to high-tech, taxpayer funded, otherwise unavailable gear. What they get in return is usually the right to alter or shape scripts to suit their needs. If you want to see the fruits of this relationship in action, all you need to do is head down to your local multiplex. Chances are that Iron Man – the latest military-entertainment masterpiece – is playing on a couple of screens.
For the past three weeks, Iron Man –a film produced by its comic-book parent Marvel and distributed by Paramount Pictures – has cleaned up at the box office, taking in a staggering $222.5 million in the U.S. and $428.5 million worldwide. The movie, which opened with "the tenth biggest weekend box office performance of all time" and the second biggest for a non-sequel, has the added distinction of being the "best-reviewed movie of 2008 so far." For instance, in the New York Times, movie reviewer A.O. Scott called Iron Man "an unusually good superhero picture," while Roger Ebert wrote: "The world needs another comic book movie like it needs another Bush administration … [but] if we must have one more … Iron Man is a swell one to have." There has even been nascent Oscar buzz.
Robert Downey Jr. has been nearly universally praised for a winning performance as playboy-billionaire-merchant-of-death-genius-inventor Tony Stark, head of Stark Industries, a fictional version of Lockheed or Boeing. In the film, Stark travels to Afghanistan to showcase a new weapon of massive destruction to American military commanders occupying that country. On a Humvee journey through the Afghan backlands, his military convoy is caught up in a deadly ambush by al-Qaeda stand-ins, who capture him and promptly subject him to what Vice President Dick Cheney once dubbed "a dunk in the water," but used to be known as "the Water Torture." The object is to force him to build his Jericho weapons system, one of his "masterpieces of death," in their Tora Bora-like mountain cave complex.
As practically everyone in the world already knows, Stark instead builds a prototype metal super-suit and busts out of his cave of confinement, slaughtering his terrorist captors as he goes. Back in the U.S., a born-again Stark announces that his company needs to get out of the weapons game, claiming he has "more to offer the world than making things blow up." Yet, what he proceeds to build is, of course, a souped-up model of the suit he designed in the Afghan cave. Back inside it, as Iron Man, he then uses it to "blow up" bad guys in Afghanistan, taking on the role of a kind of (super-) human-rights vigilante. He even tangles with U.S. forces in the skies over that occupied land, but when the Air Force's sleek, ultra high-tech, F-22A Raptors try to shoot him down, he refrains from using his awesome powers of invention to blow them away. This isn't the only free pass doled out to the U.S. military in the film.
Just as America's wars in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to bring various Vietnam analogies to mind, Iron Man has its own Vietnam pedigree. Before Tony Stark landed in Afghanistan in 2008, he first lumbered forth in Vietnam in the 1960s. That was, of course, when he was still just the clunky hero of the comic book series on which the film is based. Marvel's metal man then battled that era's American enemies of choice: not al-Qaeda-style terrorists, but communists in Southeast Asia.
Versions of the stereotypical evil Asians of Iron Man's comic book world would appear almost unaltered on the big screen in 1978 in another movie punctuated by gunfire and explosions that also garnered great reviews. The Deer Hunter, an epic of loss and horror in Vietnam, eventually took home four Academy Awards, including Best Picture honors. Then, and since, however, the movie has been excoriated by antiwar critics for the way it turned history on its head in its use of reversed iconic images that seemingly placed all guilt for death and destruction in Vietnam on America's enemies.
Most famously, it appropriated a then-unforgettable Pulitzer prize-winning photo of Lt. Colonel Nguyen Ngoc Loan, South Vietnam's national police chief, executing an unarmed, bound prisoner during the Tet Offensive with a point blank pistol shot to the head. In the film, however, it was the evil enemy which made American prisoners do the same to themselves as they were forced to play Russian Roulette for the amusement of their sadistic Vietnamese captors (something that had no basis in reality).
The film Iron Man is replete with such reversals, starting with the obvious fact that, in Afghanistan, it is Americans who have imprisoned captured members of al-Qaeda and the Taliban (as well as untold innocents) in exceedingly grim conditions, not vice-versa. It is they who, like Tony Stark, have been subjected to the Bush administration's signature "harsh interrogation technique." While a few reviewers have offhandedly alluded to the eeriness of this screen choice, Iron Man has suffered no serious criticism for taking the imprisonment practices, and most infamous torture, of the Bush years and superimposing it onto America's favorite evildoers. Nor have critics generally thought to point out that, while, in the film, the nefarious Obadiah Stane, Stark's right hand man, is a double-dealing arms dealer who is selling high-tech weapons systems to the terrorists in Afghanistan (and trying to kill Stark as well), two decades ago the U.S. government played just that role. For years, it sent advanced weapons systems – including Stinger missiles, one of the most high-tech weapons of that moment – to jihadis in Afghanistan so they could make war on one infidel superpower (the Soviet Union), before setting their sights on another (the United States). And while this took place way back in the 1980s, it shouldn't be too hard for film critics to recall – since it was lionized in last year's celebrated Tom Hanks film Charlie Wilson's War.
In the cinematic Marvel Universe, however, the U.S. military, which runs the notorious prison at Bagram Air Base in Afghanistan where so many have been imprisoned, abused, and, in some cases, have even died, receives a veritable get out of jail free card. And you don't need to look very closely to understand why – or why the sleek U.S. aircraft in the film get a similar free pass from Iron Man, even when they attack him, or why terrorists and arms dealers take the fall for what the U.S. has done in the real world.
If they didn't, you can be sure that Iron Man wouldn't be involved in a blue-skies ballet with F-22A Raptors in the movie's signature scene and that the filmmakers would never have been able to shoot at Edwards Air Force base – a prospect which could have all but grounded Iron Man, since, as director Jon Favreau put it, Edwards was "the best back lot you could ever have." Favreau, in fact, minced no words in his ardent praise for the way working with the Air Force gave him access to the "best stuff" and how filming on the base brought "a certain prestige to the film." Perhaps in exchange for the U.S. Air Force's collaboration, there was an additional small return favor: Iron Man's confidant, sidekick, and military liaison, Lt. Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes – another hero of the film – is now an Air Force man, not the Marine he was in the comic.
With the box office numbers still pouring in and the announcement of sequels to come, the arrangement has obviously worked out well for Favreau, Marvel, Paramount – and the U.S. Air Force. Before the movie was released, Master Sergeant Larry Belen, the superintendent of technical support for the Air Force Test Pilot School and one of many airmen who auditioned for a spot in the movie, outlined his motivation to aid the film: "I want people to walk away from this movie with a really good impression of the Air Force, like they got about the Navy seeing Top Gun."
Air Force captain Christian Hodge, the Defense Department's project officer for Iron Man, may have put it best, however, when he predicted that, once the film appeared, the "Air Force is going to come off looking like rock stars." Maybe the Air Force hasn't hit the Top Gun-style jackpot with Iron Man, but there can be no question that, in an American world in which war-fighting doesn't exactly have the glitz of yesteryear, Iron Man is certainly a military triumph. As Chuck Vinch noted in a review published in the Air Force Times, "The script … will surely have the flyboy brass back at the Pentagon trading high fives – especially the scene in which Iron Man dogfights in the high clouds with two F-22 Raptors."
Coming on the heels of last year's military-aided mega-spectacular Transformers, the Pentagon is managing to keep a steady stream of pro-military blockbusters in front of young eyes during two dismally unsuccessful foreign occupations that grind on without end. In his Iron Man review, Roger Ebert called the pre-transformation Tony Stark, "the embodiment of the military-industrial complex that President Eisenhower warned against in 1961 – a financial superhero for whom war is good business, and whose business interests guarantee there will always be a market for war."
Here's the irony that Ebert missed: What the film Iron Man actually catches is the spirit of the successor "complex," which has leapt not only into the cinematic world of superheroes, but also into the civilian sphere of our world in a huge way. Today, almost everywhere you look, whether at the latest blockbuster on the big screen or what's on much smaller screens in your own home – likely made by a defense contractor like Sony, Samsung, Panasonic, or Toshiba – you'll find the Pentagon or its corporate partners. In fact, from the companies that make your computer to those that produce your favorite soft drink, many of the products in your home are made by Defense Department contractors – and, if you look carefully, you don't even need the glowing eyes of an advanced "cybernetic helmet," like Iron Man's, to see them.
Nick Turse is the associate editor and research director of TomDispatch.com. He has written for the Los Angeles Times, the San Francisco Chronicle, Adbusters, the Nation, and regularly for Tomdispatch.com. His first book, The Complex, an exploration of the new military-corporate complex in America, was recently published in the American Empire Project series by Metropolitan Books.
Copyright 2008 Nick Turse
http://www.antiwar.com/engelhardt/?articleid=12878