The superhero movie is at it’s highest peak ever, and it seems that it’s a safe bet for any studio to release a superhero film just as long as it’s executed well and properly produced. Sure we’ve had a few duds that never made back their budget while in theaters, but when a superhero has a following such as BATMAN, SUPERMAN, and SPIDER-MAN its safe to say that the films will bring in a lot of cash. With other superhero’s it kind of a risk for studio’s to really pull in an audience unless the trailer looks good and your superhero looks better than he or she does in the comic books. IRON MAN can be considered one of those mid-list superhero’s. Sure he is one of marvels better superhero’s but he’s not the biggest seller. Personally I didn’t think this film was going to make as much money as it did, I think the reason why it did was mainly because it was written very well and word of mouth got around that this film was well worth the hype.
IRON MAN stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, the playboy billionaire and CEO of Stark Industries, a company that develops highly sophisticated, and top secret weapons for the military. While on a routine tour of Afghanistan to show off some of his new and latest weapons to so top military officials, Tony is taken hostage after a roadside ambush which kills everyone in his convoy. Tony is taken hostage by a terrorist leader and he has been injured to the point that he needs a battery hooked up to a magnet against his cheat so that the metal in his cheat won’t pierce his heart and kill him. He agrees to build a missile for the terrorist group in order that they give him all the supplies he needs, and they let him be. However Tony begins working on “Something Big” A metal suit that will eventually become the first Iron Man suit. Using the suit he escapes. When he arrives back in America he becomes obsessed on creating the perfect suit. He does so and then goes out to test it. However he soon learns that the terrorist have gained access to his old suit when he crashed in the desert and that a certain someone is putting it back together to use for evil purposes. Now Tony must become IRON MAN and protect the people from his own creations.
I can sit here and write about how wonderful the script was and the acting and overall production value, blah, blah, blah… But the fact is everyone who’s laid eyes on this film has already said that. It is one of the best produced super hero films ever made. Robert Downey Jr. was perfectly cast as Tony Stark and he played the character perfectly. Even the supporting cast of Terrence Howard,
Jeff Bridges and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony’s assistant were all wonderful in their respected roles. The rest of the remaining cast was great as well right down to the myspace solider in the humvee. The script was perfect, I don’t have one bad thing to say about it, and the production value was outstandingly perfect. Everything from the set design to the visual effects were top notch. The IRON MAN suit it’s self was probably the best super hero outfits to ever be presented on the big screen. It was so perfect looking it made the suit in the comic books look like a pair of children’s pajamas. That’s how great it looked.
Overall, I can’t praise this film enough, it’s one of those film where it is hard to find a flaw in the script, acting or production value. It was perfectly produced, and the story was top notch. By far IRON MAN is one of the best superhero films ever made right up there with the likes of BATMAN BEGINS and SPIDER-MAN. Also wait for the credits to end as we get a sneak peak of Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury and get a hint that there will be an AVENGERS movie. Not only will fan’s of the comic book enjoy this film, but I think anyone who’s into action, superhero or fantasy or sci-fi films will love this one.
There is a ton of different special features on the disc, all of what I listed below. My television has surround sound, and in Dolby Digital 5.1 the movie sounded awesome. You get a very clear and crisp sound that makes you feel like your right there in the movie. I was very surprised with the picture as well, it looked almost like it was a blu-ray disc than a DVD. The quality was great. I sat though the majority of all the special features, mainly because my wife; who never cares much for superhero films really got into this one and wanted to see more. The deleted scenes were pretty cool, but it’s obvious why they were cut, although they do add more to the story.
With the second disc we get a lot of different features, mainly on the making of the film and the process of what went into getting the movie made. Everything from the casting process, to the development of the story, and the my favorite part of the disc. the origins of Iron Man featurettes which really went deep into the character and the story behind him. Overall this is a must own for not only fans of superhero film and Iron Man loyalist, but the movie itself is, as I mentioned above one of the best superhero films ever made.
– Horror Bob
DVD Features:
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
- Interview with J.R. Bookwalter - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Andrew J. Rausch - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Rick Popko and Dan West - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Director Stevan Mena (Malevolence) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Screenwriter Jeffery Reddick (Day of the Dead 2007) - January 22, 2015
- Teleconference interview with Mick Garris (Masters of Horror) - January 22, 2015
- A Day at the Morgue with Corri English (Unrest) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Writer/Director Nacho Cerda (The Abandoned, Aftermath) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actress Thora Birch (Dark Corners, The Hole, American Beauty) - January 22, 2015
- Interview with Actor Jason Behr, Plus Skinwalkers Press Coverage - January 22, 2015
