Jeff Bridges: 5 Awesome Performances And 5 That Sucked
4. Obadiah Stane - Iron Man
There's a lot to recommend Marvel's first successful foray into producing their own comic book adaptations. Robert Downey Jr shines in the title role, to the point that we can't imagine anybody else playing superheroic billionaire Tony Stark; for once Gwyneth Paltrow is not just bearable but downright likeable as Stark's long-suffering assistant/love interest Pepper Potts; and Clark Gregg made enough of an impression in his blink-and-you'll-miss-them scenes as SHIELD Agent Coulson that it paved the way for the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe. Amongst all those great performances, awesome special effects and a banging soundtrack, however, there is one negative that sticks out like a sore thumb. And it sticks out all the more because it's such a surprise. Jeff Bridges plays Obadiah Stane, the villain of the piece, Tony's mentor and colleague at Stark Industries who doesn't take kindly to this punk kid cutting out the weapons arm of the company, losing them billions in revenue. To that end he, well, acts exactly like a comic book supervillain: slightly murky motivation, not really sure what his end goal is, he builds himself a bigger form of the original armour Tony built and dubs himself Iron Monger as the pair come to blows in a CGI-heavy scrap across a city. We appreciate the sacrifice Bridges made in shaving off his trademark long locks for the role, but he needn't have bothered - the character is a one-note, one-dimensional bad guy without any depth or, really, anything else that necessitated an actor of Bridges' stature playing him.
Tom Baker is the Comics Editor at WhatCulture! He's heard all the Doctor Who jokes, but not many about Randall and Hopkirk. He also blogs at http://communibearsilostate.wordpress.com/
