100.The Iron Giant

 

I actually cannot think of a better movie to be my 100th review.

This has been my favourite animated movie since early in my childhood. It makes me sob like a baby every single time, but I love it regardless. So when I saw it was coming back to the cinema there was no way I was going to miss it! 

The Iron Giant is simultaneously the most terrifying and most adorable movie which lives rent free in my mind. Let me explain myself... terrifying in a way that if I was Hogarth Hughes and a giant metal robot started walking towards me I honestly think I'd pass out. Adorable in that the Giant and Hogarth become fast friends and this is their story.

This movie follows 8 year old Hogarth Hughes as he deals with life within the civil war while being looked after by his single mother who is working all the shifts she can to make ends meet. 

The young boy is lonely, which is obvious from the opening scene of the movie where he tries to keep a squirrel as a pet. So it is no surprise that when an unlikely friend literally falls from the sky, he jumps at the chance to get to know them.

Hogarth is home alone one night and the TV cuts out, his fearless nature kicks in and he goes to investigate, being led into the forest and to the nearby powerstation where a giant robot marches past him in order to feast on all the metal conducting the electricity before them. The Giant mistakenly grabs a live unit and is shocked, stumbling back into the electricity wires overhead, electrocuting him.

Hogarth as the only witness watches in awe as the giant screams and begins to lose consciousness, his better nature overrides his fear and he jumps into action, shutting off the power to the station and thus the town in order to save the giant. The Giant collapses allowing for Hogarth to get a closer look and as he is right up beside the robot, the metal being wakes back up forcing the boy to flee. 

I can't help but wonder what I would do in this situation. As a kid I would 100% have done the same as Hogarth and saved the Giant, then probably have gotten a closer look and wet myself in fear as the giant metal man woke back up and gave chase. As an adult, I'm starting to think I would have run away or simply watched as the Giant electrocuted itself. I'm not sure fear would allow me to act, isn't it strange how we impose such limitations on ourselves as we grow up?

Having slept off his fear, Hogarth decides he wants to capture proof of the giant so that someone believes his tall tale. All fear gone, he heads off into the forest with some corrugated iron as a snacky snack for the Giant, in order to capture a photo of the being. Hours pass and Hogarth falls asleep, waking only to see the iron is gone and instead right next to him. He jumps, then realises the giant is behind him, trapping him as he attempts to flee.

I honestly think my heart would have given out. Something about the angle that allows us to see the full might of the Giant as he approaches Hogarth during the first part of the movie gives me anxiety. I fear the Giant as much as Hogarth does in this moment. We see the robot in it's true terrifying glory in these opening scenes and it isn't until we get to know him that we start to relax, just like Hogarth, and see a softer side to the Giant and his animation.

The Giant shows himself to be friendly and Hogarth is forced to take him back home following a little accident involving a train... It is at this point that nosey army advisor/investigator Kent Mansley shows up at the Hughes residence asking awkward questions and not taking no for an answer. He is suspicious of Hogarth and makes it his mission to catch the kid out, forcing both Hogarth and his new friend Dean to get creative in how to hide the Giant from the man.

After a few near misses and some good memories made, Dean comes to realise that the Giant isn't as sweet and childlike as initially thought. It was the extended version shown at the cinema and I had no idea before that the Giant transmitted his bad dream about being a gun to Dean's tv but it explains so much and how Dean was able to watch out for the laser beams that the giant fired at Hogarth in retaliation to the toy gun pointed at him. It turns out the Giant has an ability to transform into a weapon which is able to destroy anything in its path and this was very nearly Hogarth.

After being absolutely terrified into what he just did to his friend, the Giant runs away, isolating himself as he doesn't want to be a weapon after being inspired by the young boy. The Giant is exposed to humanity through Hogarth and as such evolves into more than just the weapon he was meant to be. 

Dean and Hogarth follow the giant as it begins to snow, but an accident forces the Giant to become known to the townsfolk as he leaps in to save the day. Unfortunately, Mansley who had already called the army sees the Giant and strikes, again forcing the Giant to flee but this time with Hogarth in his hands.

The Giant is struck down and believing himself to have killed Hogarth in the fall, he allows his grief to consume him and turns into the very weapon he never wanted to be. Going into battle with the Army, the Giant fights and it is down to Dean to try and defuse the situation. Hogarth wakes, approaches the Giant and manages to reverse the situation, but Mansley launches a missile targeted at the Giant which will wipe out the town and kill everyone. As the climax defuses, it is the Giant who mimics Superman in this moment who saves the townsfolk and sacrifices himself in the process.

The movie ends with Hogarth releasing the screw from the Giant's jaw as it makes its way back to the Giant's location so that he can rebuild himself. Hope is restored as the robot is not dead after all, and a bittersweet ending is given to us despite me already being in floods of tears.

I absolutely adore this movie for so many reasons, but I've found that I notice more things the older I get especially as I rewatch it as a treat every few years. Take for example Dean flirting with Annie in the diner when he first meets Hogarth, or the missing scene which is in the extended version, that was my first time seeing about the Giant's nightmare and although only adding on about a minute to the overall film, it explained so much.

I love the relationships forged throughout this movie. Annie is a widow but it is never mentioned, I only realised Hogarth has a photo of his father who was clearly in the war on his nightstand during this viewing. She then falls for Dean and vise versa and thus they get together following the events of the movie. 

You then have Hogarth and Dean. Dean is both a beatnik artist and a scrapyard owner, but he immediately jumps to the defence of anyone who is treated like an outcast and this indicates why he accepts the Giant so quickly and without much questioning. He supports Hogarth from the get go and is laid back and a good role model. The fact he so easily slipped in with Hogarth helped to create such a natural family dynamic which also helped Hogarth grow as a person. At the end of the movie, now having a complete family again, we see the once hectic and energetic boy now calm and overall happy despite him missing his cool gigantic friend.

You then have the ultimate friendship between the Giant and Hogarth. This is a relationship that abolishes fear and is upheld by complete trust. Hogarth trusts Giant to keep him safe, he rides in the palm of his hand, he stands boldly beneath his vaporization ray trusting the Giant wont use it against him. Giant trusts Hogarth to keep him safe and guide him through this unknown world. He accepts his teachings and by doing this he learns how to be a child as he is seeing things through a child. This is a completely pure and innocent friendship and I honestly think that if the Giant had come across anyone else he would have turned into that weapon. It was sheer luck and the Giant's curiosity that prevented that, Hogarth inspired him to be better, he gave him his soul.

I absolutely cannot believe that this movie bombed at the box office when it first came out. It 100% deserves its cult classic status and I am pleased it is so loved today. Hands down a better movie than a lot of Disney films, in fact I'm not sure there is another movie out there which can emotionally manipulate me in the same way that this one can. It has body, it has feeling, it has a bloody point! So many films churn out pointless emotions and stories that are forgotten by the next scene, this was coherent and meaningful, The Iron Giant is peak cinema.

Overall then, I give The Iron Giant a 10/10. You may call me bias but I don't care. This film terrifies me, makes me cry, but on the other hand it inspires me to enjoy life and be childish, it encourages me to think about my own actions too. Not only is this movie a lesson on life, but it's a comfort blanket, and if you read the story of the creation of the novel then it's even more prominent. For context, Ted Hughes wrote the story for his children to comfort them following their mother's suicide. The overwhelming theme of comfort and grief but being able to overcome it is what this whole movie is about. This is why it's one of my favourites, there is meaning on top of the meaning. True emotive cinema.

Have you seen The Iron Giant? What do you think? Leave a comment on my socials!