Iron Man – Wrapped and Ready for Christmas

Iron Man - Wrapped and Ready for Christmas

Manufacturer: Paramount
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You know you're going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics' longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that's Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape. If the rest of the movie never quit hits that precise rhythm again, it nevertheless offers plenty of pleasure, as the renewed Stark swears off his past as a weapons manufacturer, develops his new Iron Man suit, and puzzles both his business partner (Jeff Bridges in great form) and executive assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). Director Jon Favreau geeks out in fun ways with the hardware, but never lets it overpower the movie, and there's always a goofy one-liner or a slapstick pratfall around to break the tension. As for Downey, he doesn't get to jitterbug around too much in his improv way, but he brings enough of his unpredictable personality to keep the thing fresh. And listen up, hardcore Marvel mavens: even if you know the Stan Lee cameo is coming, you won't be able to guess it until it's on the screen. It all builds to a splendid final scene, with a concluding line delivery by Downey that just feels absolutely right. --Robert Horton

Stills from Iron Man (Click for larger image)

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The 2-Disc Ultimate Edition Delivers!

Review Date: September 26, 2008

Reviewer: Cubist, United States

The first disc features 11 deleted and extended scenes. There's more of the opening ambush with Tony Stark being more proactive. We also see more footage of Rhodes and it quickly becomes apparent that he was the character with the most scenes cut from the film. We also see Tony and Pepper Potts attend another party.

The second disc starts off with the impressive "I Am Iron Man," a 108 minute making of documentary that can be viewed in seven segments or altogether, taking us through various aspects of the production. For example, we are taken step-by-step through the construction of the Iron Man armor with Robert Downey Jr. cracking jokes while being fitted for it. It's amazing how much of the suit is practical and looks really good in person. This is due in large part to the genius of the late-great Stan Winston and his company. Also included is plenty of soundstage footage of scenes being filmed.

"The Invincible Iron Man" is a six-part documentary on the comic book, tracing the history of the character. Stan Lee says that he modeled Stark after Howard Hughes, for the most part. He also mentions that he was never fully satisfied with the look of the armor - hence its many changes over the years. This doc also covers various key characters and storylines in excellent detail with several people who worked on the title over the years talking about their contribution to the mythos. This is a very well done overview of the comic book.

"Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man" examines the CGI work that went into realizing Iron Man's powers, like flying, his repulsors, and so on. Director Jon Favreau says that he likes to use practical effects whenever possible, which is wonderfully refreshing to hear, and in this film he mixed the practical with CGI.

"Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test." Incredibly, the actor had to do a screen test because the studio deemed him a risky proposition and this footage shows that he had a handle on the character very early on.

"The Actor's Process" features fascinating footage of Jeff Bridges and Downey rehearsing a scene with Favreau. It's great to see these guys at work and offers insight into how they put together a scene from the film from an acting point-of-view.

"The Onion's Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full-Length Film" is a funny satire where a newscaster "breaks" a story of how the Iron Man trailer will be made into a film that pokes fun at the rabid nature of the hardcore fanbase of the character.

Finally, there are "Galleries," featuring concept art, technology stills, behind-the-scenes photographs, and poster art.

Handles like a Dream

Review Date: August 11, 2008

Reviewer: Douglas Len, My House, USA

This is a great superhero film that the whole family can enjoy.

If you are wondering what the special features on the 2-disc DVD are, here they are:

The IRON MAN Ultimate Edition two-DVD set is presented in widescreen enhanced for 16:9 televisions with Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles. Total runtime is 125 minutes. Bonus features include:

Disc 1:

Feature film
Deleted/Extended Scenes

Disc 2:

I Am Iron Man
-- The Journey Begins
-- The Suit that makes the Iron Man
-- The Walk of Destruction
-- Grounded In Reality
-- Beneath the Armor
-- It's All in the Details
-- A Good Story, Well Told

The Invincible Iron Man
-- Origins
-- Friends & Foes
-- The Definitive Iron Man
-- Demon in a Bottle
-- Extremis and Beyond
-- Ultimate Iron Man
Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test
The Actor's Process (scene rehearsal with cast)
The Onion "Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film"
Image Galleries

The best comic book superhero movie since "Spider-Man 2"

Review Date: May 3, 2008

Reviewer: Lawrance M. Bernabo, The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota

Once again I begin with a warning that you need to sit through the really, really long credits for what might be the best cameo appearance since Sean Connery showed up as King Richard the Lionheart at the end of "Robin Hood - Prince of Thieves." That was the last time I remember people really applauding a cameo in a film, although I should point out that everybody left at the end of the first showing of "Iron Man" were True Believers who instantly recognized the actor and the character as soon as the first words were out of their mouth. Ironically, the cameo by Stan Lee in the film seemed to go right by the audience, because there was no reaction to what was a pretty good gag (it happens when Stark shows up at the big party).

Now that I have that bit of business out of the way, let me say that "Iron Man" is the best comic book superhero movie I have seen since "Spider-Man 2." I would say that the latter is better, mainly on the strength of Alfred Molina's wonderful performance as the villain and the great fight sequences between Spidey and Doc Ock that take place on the vertical as well as the horizontal axis, but "Iron Man" might be the more solid film (i.e., lower top but higher bottom). There was a point when the number of comic books that Marvel was putting out exploded (e.g., the New Universe titles) and I dispaired over all of the idiotic cloning with Spider-Man and was down to reading only two Marvel titles: Daredevil and Iron Man. This was back when Frank Miller was doing DD and Tony Stark was a full-blown alcoholic. Daredevil might have been cooler, but as Iron Man, Stark always had the advantage that he was a regular guy, by which I mean that he did not have any superpowers. He was just a really smart guy who could invent the gadgets that would make Iron Man work (eat your heart out Ned Kelly). That is certainly what we get with director Jon Favreau's pre-summer blockbuster, with the added angst of Stark growing a conscience and using his armored alter-ego to help restore balance to his own little corner of the universe at war.

Ultimately the best parts of the movie are the opening act, in which Stark is captured (Afghanistan today instead of Vietnam of the Sixties)and has to built the metallic grey Tin Woodsman on roids prototype armor, and the second act, where he works out the new suit. This movie has two or three of the best violent slapstick gags you have ever seen in one of these movies, which engenders some of the biggest laughs. The origin of the character is fairly faithful, for being updated, to what happened in "Tales of Suspense" #39, which was plotted by Stan Lee, scripted by his brother Larry Leiber, drawn by Don Heck, with a cover art by Jack Kirby (who created the character's original look, although it was Steve Ditko who first drew the red and gold armored version). There certainly is more than a touch of "Transformers" to the way Stark dons the Iron Man armor, but as much as I would give credit to the specific effects in this movie, attention must be paid to the screenwriting teams of Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby ("Children of Men") and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway. For all of the humor in the script, there is a strong thread of serious stuff extending throughout this film.

As Tony Stark, Robert Downey, Jr., a superb actor whose skills in the verbal repartee department were honed on "Ally McBeal," may well be the most glib superhero we have seen on the silver screen. Certainly he is more glib than we would every have suspected Stark to be, but of course Downey's personal life clearly echoes the character ark of his character (it is that resonance as well as his undeniable talents that make him perfect for the role). As Pepper Potts, Gwenyth Paltrow is more of a romantic figure for Stark than she was in the comic book, especially since Happy Hogan (director Favreau) has been relegated to a minor role as Stark's bodyguard to make room for the character of Jim Rhodes. However, the point is not so much potential romance as it is the fact that with Paltrow we have an actress who can go toe to toe with Downey in quick paced nuanced conversation (although many will think that Downey's best scenes are with his robotic assistant with the fire extinguisher). Besides, by have Rhodes instead of Hogan we not only get another acting talent on the level of the Downey and Paltrow with Terrence Howard, but as fans of the comic book know (and the movie acknowledges), one day down the road Jim is going to get to be in the red and gold suit.

Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) is set up as a godfather to Tony Stark and a regent to Stark Industries instead of being a rival munitions magnate, which provides a bit of Oedipal conflict to the proceedings and compels the big fight at the end to be with Iron Monger (I was actually hoping for Titanium Man even though I was half expecting the Mandarian). But most people who come to see this movie are not going to know any of this stuff, and even most of the comic book fans who will end up making repeat trips to the theater to see this one are not going to be old enough to remember the original Virginia "Pepper" Potts who ended up with Happy Hogan versus the "The Ultimates" version of the character. All that really matters is that the cast and characters are a perfect mesh and the people who put this movie together should be thinking not just about a sequel but about a series. With this launching platform, Iron Man could well replace Superman in the Big Three of comic book superheroes in the movies along with Spider-Man and Batman.

Issue with TrueHD has been FIXED prior to release. Buy with confidence!

Review Date: September 26, 2008

Reviewer: Eric T. Rosenberg, Los Angeles, CA USA

Reviewers who received advanced copies of the Iron Man Blu-ray release reported that the Dynamic Range Compression (DRC) flag was active on the Dobly TrueHD audio track, causing a less-than-stellar audio experience for customers who weren't savvy enough to adjust their player and amplifier to compensate.

The good news is that Paramount confirmed on September 25th that they had recalled all of the defective copies and replaced them with newly-authored discs that fix this issue. [...]

This recall occurred prior to Iron Man's release, so no one should have wound up with a defective copy except for the reviewers who received their copies in advance. You can purchase with confidence without worrying whether your product is the corrected one, unlike with the Back to the Future DVDs and Pirates of the Carribbean I Blu-ray which still have defective copies unknowingly being sold by some stores despite having been re-authored after the initial batch.

Great Movie, great sound, great video and great extras (and a fix for the long load or what seems a no load)

Review Date: October 2, 2008

Reviewer: Stephen Lerch, Elkton, MD United States

Having watched this movie on a plane ride, my first impression was that I really liked the movie. My second impression is that it would look nice in HD. Thankfully Marvel Studios and Paramount have delivered a great Blu Ray release w/ HD video.

So the way the movie itself goes is typical super hero movie type stuff. If you aren't a fan of comic book style suspension of disbelief, please move on. You won't like this movie anymore than you did the other super hero movies out there.

Tony Stark, the sort of spoiled, super intelligent and conceited owner of Stark Enterprises finds himself in an impossible situation. While traveling through Iraq to show off his great new weapons the Humvee he is in is attacked and he is captured. He awakens to find that one of his captors has installed an electro magnet in his chest to prevent mobile shrapnel from the explosion Tony was caught in from reaching his heart.

In captivity he's asked to build one of his top of the line missiles for his captors, a Jericho missile. Instead he builds a prototype Iron Man suit and escapes. The experience changes his life and has him attempt to change his company and the world from the destruction he and has company have profited from.

Action, betrayal, small amount of clumsy love and that is Iron Man in a nut shell.

The video is presented via the AVC codec and looks amazing. The only areas of "problem" would be in the cave scenes. You can tell when the film stock changes or perhaps, if it was filmed in digital, grain was added to the video. The areas most affected are darker scenes and scenes where there is interaction between the prototype Iron Man suit (done in CG) and his environment and the terrorists. It's either an artistic decision or a choice to make the CG interaction less perceptible. It doesn't take away from the scenes and it doesn't detract from the movie.

The audio is done in Dolby True-HD and sounds fantastic. Lows are low and highs are high. No clipping, no distortion and great separation of channels over all.

Having bought quite a few Blu Ray discs, I'm painfully aware of the lack of HD extras. Not so with Iron Man. This release has 2 discs in it, one for the main feature and a few extras (deleted scenes) and one for quite a few interesting and in depth documentaries. And yes, the documentaries are ALL in HD. This may be the first Blu Ray disc I've purchased with all HD extras.

Also included is a BD Live connection. I have not yet created an account and logged in to see what's available, but even if all you have access to is what's on the disc, the extras are amazing. Not sure about the BD Live extras.

So if you're looking for a super hero movie with some amazing video, amazing audio and amazing extras, look no further than Iron Man on Blu Ray.

FOR THOSE EXPERIENCING LONG LOAD TIMES:

If you have a BD Live capable player, in the menus of your player, turn off "auto download" and set it to confirm (or something along those lines). The reason the movie takes "forever" to start when you first insert it is because the quiz portion from BD-Live needs to be downloaded and installed on your player. Just turn off auto install/connect and you should be good to go.

And once it is installed the first time, assuming you wait, you won't see it again unless you get a new player and want to watch the movie.

Iron Man 2 (Two-Disc Special Edition)