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Movie Review - Iron Man (2008)
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(What this rating means)
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| Director: |
Jon Favreau |
| Starring: |
Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Leslie Bibb |
| Rated: |
PG-13 (for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content) |
| Length: |
126 minutes |
| Genre: |
Action/Adventure/Superhero |
| Tagline: |
None. |
| Studio: |
Paramount Pictures |
| Website: |
Iron Man |
| Release: |
May 2, 2008 |
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PLOT
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As CEO of Stark Industries, the U.S. Government's top weapons contractor, Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) has achieved celebrity status by protecting American interests
around the globe for decades.
In addition to being a billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, Tony's a womanizing boozehound. His carefree lifestyle, however, is forever changed when his
convoy is attacked following a weapons test he oversees and he is held hostage by a group of insurgents. Injured by life-threatening shrapnel embedded near his
heart, Tony is ordered to build a Jericho missile for the terrorists - Stark Industries' newest and most powerful weapon. Ignoring his captors' requests, Tony uses
his intellect and ingenuity to build a suit of armor that keeps him alive and enables him to escape captivity.
Upon his return to America, Tony comes to terms with his past and vows to take Stark Industries in a new direction. Despite the resistance from Obadiah Stane
(Bridges), his right-hand man and top executive, Tony spends his days and nights in his workshop developing and refining the suit that facilitated his escape.
Why not throw in a few more superhuman functionalities and a sleek new design?
With the help of his longtime assistant Pepper Potts (Paltrow) and his trusted military liaison Rhodey (Howard), Tony uncovers a nefarious plot with global
implications. Donning his powerful new red and gold armor, Tony vows to protect the world and right its injustices as his new alter-ego, Iron Man. A superhero
movie of rump-kickin' proportions ensues.
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JOHNNY'S TAKE
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Look, I'm not gonna waste my time or yours. If you have even the slightest desire to see Iron Man then go see it. On the big screen. This weekend. Rest
assured that it'll kick your butt ... copious amounts of it.
"What's 'copious' mean, Johnny? Is that a Latin word?"
Sigh. Go buy a dictionary.
Iron Man was the most popular and well-known Marvel superhero remaining to not have a movie to call his own, and this was about as good of an origin story as his fictional
self could have desired. You want action? You got it. Cheer-inducing scenes of Iron Man taking down baddies? Check. Nearly flawless CGI? It's there. But,
for the uninitiated, the story thoroughly explains who Tony Stark is, what he's about, why he has a weird glowing thing stuck in his chest, and how his magical
suit of armor came to be.
One complaint that may be levied is that the movie spends more time showing Stark build and test the suit than it does showcasing Stark's butt-kickin'
abilities once in it. Don't sweat it. It's understandable that the birth of Iron Man needs to develop story and character. This has franchise
written all over it, and it's easy to see how future installments will be even better.
Easily ranking in the upper echelon of superhero movies, falling behind Batman Begins and probably X2 in my
book, Iron Man succeeds with its strong blend of story, action, and humor. Robert Downey Jr. owns the screen as Stark, delivering his trademark
sarcasm to perfection, and displaying just enough believable superhero edge. Jeff Bridges' screen presence also elevates the precedings, commanding
audiences to pay attention to the characters rather than just all the cool stuff that goes bang.
Thanks to the avoidance of cheesiness and weak acting that has plagued other Marvel movies such as Ghost Rider and
Daredevil, Iron Man fans can breathe a sigh of relief. Your favorite superhero has been done justice. If you're
not already an Iron Man fan then the film might make you a convert. One of the reasons I've always liked the character is because, much like Batman,
he's a guy without any real powers who used his own resources to create his superhero status.
As producer Kevin Feige says, "He's not a mutant, he wasn't transformed at a biological level and wasn't bitten by any sort of genetic insect. He simply is a man
who has used his genius to build an armored suit, which is essentially the greatest piece of human ingenuity ever invented." Granted, we're not all
billionaire industrialists who possess the genius to invent a powerful suit that will fly around and do all sorts of cool stuff, but it's always more
fun when the hero's universe is wrapped in at least a little plausibility.
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ODDS & ENDS
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- Samuel L. Jackson's scenes as Nick Fury have been cut. There are rumors that some screenings of the movie showed a brief scene between Stark and Fury AFTER
the closing credits. This rumor states that Fury tells Stark he wants to talk to him about the "Avengers initiative." I waited until the curtains closed, and I
saw no such scene. Is it attached only in the non-U.S. version? Was it removed from the screening prints but will be put back in for the theatrical run? No
idea. Sit through the credits and find out.
- Created in 1963, Iron Man's alter ego Tony Stark was inspired partly by the personality of the late American icon Howard Hughes. "Howard Hughes was one of the most
colorful men of our time," says executive producer Stan Lee. "He was an inventor, an adventurer, a multi-millionaire, a ladies' man and, finally, a nutcase."
- Lee continues, "What triggered me to create a character like Iron Man was that I wanted to do something different than the usual super hero. In 1963, Iron Man was all
the things that young readers in those days didn't really care for: he was an industrialist and created war machines. I thought to myself, I'm going to make these kids
like him by making Tony Stark a rich, glamorous, handsome, interesting guy. I also gave him a weak heart so that he would have one thing about him that made him
less-than-perfect and would also give the readers something to worry about. The response to the character was amazing and, of all the Marvel characters, Iron Man received
more fan mail from female readers than any other property. People of all ages connected to the human side of the character."
- One task for the filmmakers was updating the origin story to the present day. In the origin story of the Marvel comic, Tony Stark was an anti-communist hero who was
shot down and captured while visiting Vietnam to observe his new mini-transistors that were being used to assist the U.S. war effort.
- "Robert Downey Jr. wanted to play Tony Stark as much as I wanted him to play the character," recalls director Jon Favreau. "He wasn't the most obvious choice from a
studio's point-of-view, but Marvel gave me the freedom to cast the best person for the role."
For Downey, the chance to play Tony Stark and slip into the red and gold armor was a childhood dream come true. "I'm an American. I love Marvel Comics and grew up reading
Iron Man and Spider-Man," affirms Downey. "I have always been drawn to Iron Man because he had amazing ingenuity and intelligence. Superheroes are great, but superheroes
who manufacture weapons and then build a suit of armor that they wear and can fly around in makes for the ultimate 'nerdgasm,'" he laughs.
- "About a year ago I decided that I really want to put on some size, which isn't easy when you're approaching 40," observes Downey. "I felt that if I was ever going
to do a movie like Iron Man, I had to do it quickly before it became embarrassing being the guy in tights with the flabby body."
- In the film, the first suit Tony Stark builds during his captivity is the Mark 1 armor. Originally called the "Grey Armor" in the early years of the Marvel comic,
Favreau speaks about the process the filmmakers came up with for the suit's concept design. "I never fully believed that this suit could have been built in captivity,
especially under the watchful eye of hostile captors. Conceptual designer Ryan Meinerding came up with the idea of building the suit out of materials that could have
been scavenged from other Stark Industry weapons. He was able to conceptually imagine a suit that looked like a bit of a junkyard war weapon creation. It's probably
my favorite suit in the whole movie and most original in our film."
- The suit ended up weighing about 90 lbs. In other words, about 15 pounds heavier than Nicole Ritchie.
- While the first unit production team of Iron Man was being blasted by wind and sand, the second unit, a few miles away in the mountains, was forced to stop
shooting when, astonishingly, it began snowing.
"We were shooting an enormous action sequence where Iron Man escapes from the cave in the Mark 1 armor," recalls second unit director Phil Nelson. "We had done a few
takes when suddenly it got cloudy, the wind kicked up and the temperature dropped about 30 degrees. We stopped for a moment to see if the clouds were going to pass,
and to everyone's amazement it started snowing. It was pretty surreal, one minute it's 60 degrees and sunny and the next it's snowing and you're shut down for the
day."
- In the film, Tony Stark's workshop houses an array of classic and state-of-the-art cars and bikes, including Stark's vehicle of choice, a 2008 Audi A8, as well
as a Saline super-car, a 1967 Shelby Cobra, a Tesla electric car and a 1932 Ford Flathead Roadster belonging to director Jon Favreau.
- "Jon Favreau is very much about invisible visual effects supporting the story," says John Nelson. "We talked a lot about stressing what the suit could do and not
just creating a shot to show off the effects. Jon had a sign over his office that said 'plausibility,' so that was our guideline in developing how we were approached
the film from a visual effects standpoint."
- "John Nelson won an Academy AwardŽ for Gladiator and really did an excellent job of working within the parameters and constraints that I presented him
with," says Favreau. "I didn't want any effects that looked like they couldn't be achieved by a real camera. When Iron Man is flying I wanted it to feel like he is
operating under the same laws of gravity and aerodynamics as a real airplane. We looked at a tremendous amount of reference material, and tried to bring a lot of
reality to it. Hopefully that's going to bring a very cool aspect to the movie."
- "Creating a great villain requires two things," says producer Avi Arad. "One, there has to be some connection between the villain and hero. Secondly, a great
villain has to be ruthless and stop at nothing to win the battle. There have been great villains throughout the years in the Iron Man comic and we picked Iron
Monger because he has a connection to Tony and is as ruthless as they come."
- The Iron Monger suit is 10 feet tall and approximately 800 lbs.
- Robert Downey Jr. was in Friends and Lovers with Stephen Baldwin who was in The Young Riders with Josh Brolin who was in Hollow Man with Kevin Bacon.
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MAMA'S APPROVAL
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Mama wouldn't have too terribly much to complain about. Profanity consists of one usage each of b**ch and d**n. The Lord's name is also uttered in vain a couple of times,
but I don't remember anything else. Parents of young kids might not be too thrilled with a brief scene of Tony Stark and Leslie Bibb making out, followed by a scantily-dressed
Ms. Bibb awaking in Stark's bed the next morning. Parents of pre-teens will also want to consider whether they want their children exposed to the superhero violence this
movie delivers. It's not overly gory or graphic, but it packs a punch. My 13-year-old brother attended the screening with me, and it was appropriate enough for him to watch.
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TRAILER COMPARISON
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If the trailer does it for you then the movie should as well.
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THE GIST
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You interested in seeing Iron Man? Then go see it at the theater. I don't care if it's a matinee or an evening showing, this is a summer blockbuster that the small
screen won't do justice.
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