SYNOPSIS:
After surviving an unexpected attack in enemy territory, jet-setting industralist Tony Stark builds a high-tech suit of armor and vows to protect the world as Iron Man. Straight from the pages of the lengendary comic book. Iron Man is a hero who is built - not born - to be unlike any other.
MOVIE REVIEW:
"Iron Man" marks the first Marvel’s self-financed
motion picture after years of licensing their comic properties
to respective major Hollywood studios. Distributed through
Paramount Pictures, it’s a case of 'live or death' for
Marvel as it’s the biggest gambit (pardon the pun) for
the publishing company to generate more profits from its wealth
of comic properties.
In
the end, much to the surprise of many pundits, "Iron
Man" manages to pull it off both critically and monetary
of course. Made on a budget of $140 million, the accumulated
box-office totaled almost $500 million and it marks the second
most successful Marvel’s comic hero after “Spider-man”.
So
what makes "Iron Man" works whereas other Marvel
comic heroes’ adaptations such as "Daredevil"
or "Ghost Rider" has fans grinding their teeth at?
The
main reason is none other than Robert Downey Jr. Although
faced with skepticism when he was first cast in the title
role of Tony Starks, Robert Downey Jr pulls it off with such
confidence that you got to kowtow to him. As Starks, he is
smart, humorous, cheeky (he is a billionaire industrialist
and inventor, you can’t expect anything less of him)
and yes he truly embed the role with much oomph (I can say
he’s the only actor who can make me craving for Burger
King after the screening).
Unlike
Ben Affleck and Nicholas Cage, Toby Maguire (as in the case
of Robert Downey Jr) wasn’t an A-list actor when he
was cast as Peter Parker, in other words, an A-list actor
doesn’t mean he can pull of a familiar comic book character
or sell tickets at the box-office. That’s a lesson Hollywood
must learn.
Secondly,
Director Jon Favreau made the right choice of setting the
story in contemporary times and brought a fresh perspective
to the origins story of "Iron Man" to the audience.
Yes, you might complained about the thin romance subplot between
Starks and his able PA, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) or
the less than whelming action sets or even the villain character
which is at best half-baked. But trust me, other than the
described flaws, it’s still a blast watching Starks
character turning from a playboy billionaire into a heroic
vigilant in the 122 minutes running time. It’s all about
Starks apparently.
Favreau
is a self-proclaimed Iron Man fan similar to Mark Steven Johnson
who is a self-proclaimed Ghost Rider fan, it’s a shame
however that the end results can be so dire in the case of
the latter. So we are quite fortunate that Favreau (with not
much of a track record in the directing role) did a marvelous
job with "Iron Man".
The
physical effects which were handled by the late Stan Winston
combined with the visual effects by ILM were almost flawlessly
rendered. This is the first chapter of "Iron Man"
and it has set the standard for more great things to come.
Forget about the lackluster "Fantastic Four" series,
the horrid "Electra" and the cheaply done "Punisher",
"Iron Man" on the other hand is witty, engaging,
stimulating and ironically this is supposedly a no-brainer
summer blockbuster we are talking about.
To
both comic and non-comic fans that have yet jump on the iron
wagon, you can’t miss this!
SPECIAL
FEATURES:
Disc One of this Blu-ray edition contains the feature film and extras include the following:
Hall of Armor is an interactive feature whereby you click on each 3D model and zoom in on all the tiny technical aspects of the three different Iron Man suits as wore by Tony Stark. If you are a tech geek that wants to know more than what’s revealed onscreen, this one is for you to explore further.
The Invincible Iron Man (Presented in High Definition) runs for almost 47 minutes and delves on the history of Iron Man. How he was first created, his involvement in S.H.I.E.L.D and Avengers etc. Perhaps it’s the interviews with Marvel artistes including creator Stan Lee, John Romita Jr, Joe Casey, Joe Quesada, and many more that make this segment a must-watch. The featurette can be viewed separately or played as one single documentary.
Deleted and Extended Scenes (HD) showcases 24 minutes of never-before-seen footages with most of them left on the cutting floor because of pacing. There’s a pretty long but cheeky sequence involving Stark throwing a last minute party. But do take note because they are all work in progress, some of the sequences obviously are not really presented in HD.
Lastly, a game called Iron Man IQ can be downloaded from the internet if you use the BD-Live feature.
Disc Two contains:
I Am Iron Man: 7 Part "Making of" Documentary (HD) runs at 109 minutes (almost as long as a feature movie) making it one of the most substantial feature in this Blu-ray disc. This feature takes you behind-the-scenes with the director, the late Stan Winston and numerous crew members as they went through the story, designs, visual effects, sound editing right down to the LA premiere. The featurette again can be viewed separately or played as one single documentary.
Wired: Inside the Visual Effects of Iron Man (HD) is a 27 minutes segment that touches on the CGI. Three visual effects companies are involved in creating the movie’s illusion and each representative talk about how they go about mixing the live-action footage and CG models to create the final picture.
Robert Downey Jr: Screen Test (HD) shows him doing scenes with temp actors from the movie. It only goes to show why he is indeed one of the greatest actors working in Hollywood today.
Watch how Robert Downey Jr rehearses with Jeff Bridges in The Actors Process (HD). Captivating stuff.
The Onion: Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film is an amusing 2 minutes viral promotional video.
Two international trailers, a theatrical trailer, a teaser trailer and image galleries for concept art and posters round up the bonus features for Disc Two.
AUDIO/VISUAL:
In high definition, the visual transfer is excellent, colours are rich and vibrant. Even in scenes which are rendered in CG, it stood out with high level of realism. Iron Man is definitely a title to showcase in HD. Even without Dolby TrueHD, the Dolby Digital 5.1 fares as good. The bass is strong and dialogue is clear, pay attention to the sequence whereby Iron Man learns to fly that’s where the speakers start to warm up and the final brawl between two heavy machineries is a blast to listen to.
MOVIE RATING:
DVD
RATING:
Review by Linus Tee
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