Iron Man by Jon Favreau (2008)
3 May 2008I had been greatly looking forward to this film for some time, not only because of the excellent looking trailers, but because Iron Man was one of the main comic books that I read for many, many years, and that has not served me well in the past. An example being the Spiderman films, which I didn’t enjoy in the least, having been the very first comic book that I ever read. So I did go into the theater with great trepidation, though I did go to the Arclight theater which had the films Audi and Iron Man’s armor from the film to check out. And I must say for once they have done right. Not only does this film feel true to the original comic book (though updated for modern times), but it is just a great summer popcorn film, with a good story, great cast, and amazing effects. This is the best movie of the year so far, and most likely the best Super Hero movie ever made, even topping the recent Batman film (though I was a much bigger fan of Marvel comics than DC to begin with). This is just a great film all the way around, really an absolute must see. And make sure to stay through the credits to see an extra scene and a great cameo that will link this film to the rest of the Marvel lineup now that Marvel is producing all their own films. If this is how good there self produced films will be, I am looking forward to the rest, and certainly hope that Robert Downey Jr. plays Iron Man in the Avengers film! RUSH, DON’T WALK TO SEE THIS FILM!
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a billionaire industrialist making advanced weaponry for the military with his Stark Industries, with little regard for what his weapons are used for. He not only runs the company, but is also the chief technologist. On a trip to Afghanistan to show off his newest missile system his convoy is hit by terrorists using his own weapons, and Stark is taken prisoner, but he has shrapnel in his chest, closing on his heart that will kill him if he doesn’t do something. The terrorists, run by a man called Raza (Faran Tahir) want him to build weapons for them, and he is given the help of another prisoner a Dr. Yinesen (Shaun Toub). The Doctor has done surgery on Stark and has wired up a magnet into his chest to hold back the metal fragments, but he is currently hooked up to a car battery to keep the magnets charged. Stark explains his plans to build armor to the Doctor, and builds an advanced power supply that they wire into his body, and then they build a suit of powered armor powered by the device, for which to escape, but they need more time to start the Armor, so Yinesen gives his life, and Stark powers the suite and manages to escape, crashing into the desert next to a US Patrol led by his friend Lt. Colonel Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), but the broken armor is left, and Raza is able to recover it.
REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS…
Stark returns to the US a changed man, and at a press conference announces that Stark Industries will be changing it’s focus and no longer making weapons for the Military Industrial Complex, much to the chagrin of his second of his command at the company Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), who shortly thereafter informs him that he has been stopped by the board even though he owns over 50% of the company.
Stark then exiles himself from public life, even keeping away from his beautiful and smitten assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) while he works on a new design for his power armor, working on it’s flight capabilities using his newly designed repulsor technology which is also an offensive weapon.
At his first public appearance at a Stark event he sees photos of the newest Stark weapons in the hands of the terrorists and he dons his suite of armor and heads to Afghanistan to destroy them, though he draws the attention of the US Air Force, and has to call on his friend Jim Rhodes to call them off so he doesn’t have to kill or get killed by friends.
Tony sends Pepper into the company to hack his computer and find the records of the weapons shipments, but also finds evidence that Stane is the one that gave Stark to the terrorists, but wanted him dead, and they kept him when the realized who he was, because they could use them. She also finds that Stane has gotten the Mark 1 armor from Raza and has seriously upgraded it, only needing a power supply. Stane almost stops her, but she manages to get away and get to a new government defense organization, so Stane heads to Starks and steals his power supply and heads out to get his suit. Stark goes and finds his initial arc reactor, which had saved him in Afghanistan, but wasn’t designed to power the Mark 3 Armor he now heads, and goes to stop Stane.
Pepper goes with the Government agents to try and stop Stane, but he pops up in the armor, and almost gets Pepper, but Stark shows up and saves her, but his armor is very low in power. Eventually Stark leads Stane to the top of the large Arc Reactor that was the first version of the technology that Stark perfected in Afghanistan, and he has Pepper overload it, destroying Stane.
The government agents come in telling them they are from S.H.I.E.L.D, and they will clean things up, and they want Stark to tell the public, that he has a body guard who is Iron Man, but instead, he tells the world who he is.
AFter the credits Stark gets a visit from Nick Fury (Sam Jackson) leader of SHIELD who wants to talk to him about a project called the AVENGERS project.
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DAMN THIS MOVIE IS GOOD! I so will want it on BLUE RAY, though I don’t have a player yet, and would like to see it again in the theater even. What a great movie!
Sure it isn’t fully accurate the comics, or at least the original comics which I have read (Marvel has since updated the stories of their heroes), an example being his seeming romance with Pepper Pots. He was always in love with her, and she with him, but she ended up marrying his driver Happy, believing that Tony had become a cold and evil bastard, because she didn’t know he was in fact Iron Man. In fact he didn’t give his identity away till recently, and recently he had an Extremis upgrade, much like the Captain America Super Hero Serum which made his body stronger and faster, and I have to say I am glad they did not put that in. It is a good balance over all, better than they usually do in super hero films.
I just saw it a second time, and enjoyed it again. They did a very good job, even throwing in Favreau as Happy Hogan (Stark’s driver who eventually married Pepper Potts), and Stark drinks like a fish here, so his alcoholism isn’t a problem, though the reasons for it have gone away with him revealing that he is in fact Iron Man. That is my biggest question in this movie, and we will have to see where it goes, but that is the one change I don’t really like. Still a very enjoyable movie overall.
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I just picked up the Ultimate 2 Disc Edition of Iron Man, and have to say the movie was great to watch again, but the disc is not so great. Or at least not the feature disc. It seems heavily compressed, and honestly doesn’t look too good. In fact the Extended and Deleted Scenes that are included on the feature disc look easily 10 times better, with crisp blacks, and little to no compression artifacts. This disc looks awful.
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