Iron Man's New Heart

"I will give them one heart, and a new spirit I will put within them. I will remove the heart of stone from their flesh and give them a heart of flesh," (Ezekiel 11:19)

Like most people, Tony Stark's first priority was himself. However the combined force of nearly dying and then benefiting from another man's self-sacrifice inspires Him to start risking his life for other people.

During one fateful trip into Afghanistan, terrorists attack Stark's Humvee caravan and take him prisoner. In the process, one of His own weapons explodes near him, embedding a handful of shrapnel into his torso. This shrapnel should have killed Stark as it traveled through his blood stream to his heart, however a kindhearted doctor rigs together a magnetic devise that augments his heart while keeping the shrapnel away. Thus Tony the chance to create another, less cumbersome devise that he inserts directly into his chest (where his heart should be) to power and protect his blood flow indefinitely. Tony's "new heart" is symbolic of a monumental change in his life direction.

As Tony and his doctor friend are escaping from the terrorists' cave, the doctor sacrifices himself for Stark's sake. The doctor's last words are, "Don't waste your life." This as well as the realization that his his weapons are supporting gross injustice inspire Tony to use his engineering skills to defend the people he had (unknowingly) been oppressing.

Changing from self-centered to others-centered requires a monumental change of heart. Most people would even admit that spending one's life in the service of others is a good thing, but they still won't live like this because it is too unnatural. Transitioning to an other-centered lifestyle requires drastic heart-transformation.

Take Tony Stark, for example: only after being blasted by one of his own missiles did he start caring about other people. He wasn't perfect, obviously, but his general life-direction had turned around 180 degrees from before. As long Tony Stark and people like him maintain their others-centered momentum, they will inevitably work out the rest of their distracting little flaws.

Iron Man, by the way, is an awesome super-hero flick. It stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark (who is also Iron Man), Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes (Stark's military liaison), Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane (the deceitful chairman of Stark Industries) and Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia 'Pepper' Potts (Stark's assistant).

9 comments:

Anonymous said...

What a great review ! Tony's
human side is what makes this
movie work. There is heart behind
the machine. He finds the good
in himself, and shares it by
helping others ! Your site is
FANTASTIC by the way... I will
be back soon for another awesome
read !

Anonymous said...

Yeah that was poignant moment for me when he told Stark not to waste his life.

Chasness said...

Well done review.

Anonymous said...

Seriously one of my fave movies, ever! I love RDJ. Nice review.

Ezanee said...

Hi Patrick,
Hate to nitpick, but the terrorists were in Afghanistan, not the Middle East per se. Otherwise, I agree that the movie was indeed awesome.

I like how your blog is decidedly quite focused in a certain direction, it gives your posts a level of cohesion. While we're probably of different faiths, I admire your sense of perspective. It's cool, and unique, and mainstream accessible, which is a good thing.

Anonymous said...

changed it thx

Jacstev said...

I like this movie but i still prefer "Spider-man" as the best superhero movie ever made. Anyway, i really like your review, well done.

Farzan said...

Enjoyed the movie and thought it was great. Good review, I gave it a B in my review.

Michelle said...

Where is the balance? Being others-centric can lead some people to giving their all until drained with no more left to give; and there are selfish people out there who will happily take all you have to give and walk away from you once you are completely spent.

Where to draw the balance between caring for oneself and caring for others?