Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Shaun Toub, Clark Gregg
Written By: Matt Holloway, Art Marcum, Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby
Directed By: Jon Favreau
Studio: Marvel/Paramount
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One of the best blockbusters of the summer is now available on DVD and Blu-Ray! Iron Man is one of the most enjoyable comic books ever and it’s certainly one of my favorites of this year (Dark Knight is number 1 of course sorry Marvel). If there is one reason to see this movie, it’s for Robert Downey Jr.’s performance.

Iron Man is based on the popular Marvel comic book and is about billionaire industrialist and weapon developer Tony Stark. Tony is arrogant, extremely smart, a ladies man and he owns Starks Industries. While out in Afghanistan to promote his new Jericho missiles, his convoy gets attacked and he gets kidnapped. Stark realizes that his own company’s weapons were used against him and he gets injured from that attack. His terrorist captors tell Tony he has to replicate his missiles along with the help of another prisoner, Dr. Yinsen. Instead he builds an iron suit and escapes after 3 months of captivity. The experience changes Tony’s way of thinking and he wants his company to stop building weapons permanently. But his company, along with his business partner Stane throws a monkey wrench into that idea. Tony develops a more advanced suit and vows to correct the mistakes he’s made over the years. But he has to face off against the terrorists he escaped and certain people that are close to him that are trying to go against his way of thinking.

Iron Man was a surprise to me when I originally saw the film back in May. I thought the first teaser trailer was just okay, but after seeing more trailers after that made me really interested in the movie. Thankfully, Iron Man isn’t lame and it almost feels like different kind of comic book movie. You can thank Robert Downey Jr. for having a memorable role and making this one of the best comic book movies out there. Downey Jr. just played Tony Stark to a T. You don’t feel like you’re watching an actor play someone, you really think Robert Downey Jr. is Tony Stark. His delivery, mannerisms, the way he talks to women, even the way he drinks was perfect. I really can’t see anyone else playing Tony Stark.

I thought the other actors in the movie were just as good. Jeff The Dude Bridges actually plays Stane really well. I was skeptical on whether or not he could have played a baddie but he does a believable job. Gwyneth Paltrow was good as Pepper and I actually think she looked really nice in this movie. I’m usually not a fan of her or think she’s that beautiful but she certainly was in this movie. She looks good as a redhead. Terrence Howard as Rhodes was cool to see, I like him as an actor. I’m wondering if they will have his character become War Machine in the sequel?

Other people worth recognizing for this movie is director/actor Jon Favreau who did an excellent job with the material. He could have made a shitty movie but he made something the exact opposite. The last few movies he’s done have been really impressive, but I originally didn’t think Favreau would be able to pull it off. Now this is probably my favorite Jon Favreau has made. The late, great Stan Winston and his studio are worth mentioning because they developed the armored suit for the movie. The people behind the movie could have taken the cheesy, cheap way and done just a CGI Iron Man but they didn’t. There’s still loads of CGI work done for the film but thankfully it doesn’t look awful. I think if it looked like crap (ie. Spiderman 2-3), I wouldn’t have liked the movie as much.

If you’re curious on how things were done for the movie, there’s a whole bunch of extras to watch after you see the movie. There’s a cool 7-part documentary that’s about an hour long that covers all the parts of the movie. This is really worth watching, especially if you like behind the scenes stuff. I especially liked when Robert Downey Jr. was getting molds down and they unveiled the Iron Man suit. The deleted and extended scenes are on disc 1 and those were decent. There’s about 25 minutes of that and a lot of scenes involving Rhodes. I would probably say about half of this footage is from Terrence Howard’s character. But there’s lots of new Tony Stark footage where you seen him as the wild & arrogant playboy. Other extras include Robert Downey Jr. screen test, galleries, and featurettes on the comic book.

I think Iron Man has a good balance of action, drama and it’s a excellent introduction story. Besides the brilliant acting of Robert Downey Jr, the direction and special effects are top notch as well. I’m really hoping the sequel is just as good as this movie, if not better!

Features:
– Feature Film
– Deleted and Extended Scenes

Disc 2:
– I Am Iron Man: 7-Part “Making Of” Documentary
– The Invincible Iron Man: 6-Part “History Of The Hero”
– Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
– Robert Downey, Jr. Screen Test
– The Actor’s Process
– Still Galleries and More!

Audio:
ENGLISH: Dolby Digital 5.1 CC
SPANISH: Dolby Digital 5.1
FRENCH: Dolby Digital 5.1

Video:
Widescreen 2.35:1 Color (Anamorphic)

Subtitles:
English, Spanish, French

Favorite Scenes: Tony escaping from the terrorists, Tony testing out the suit at his place, Iron Man gets revenge
Rating: NR
Running Time: 125 minutes
Extras Rating:
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