September 21, 2008

He is one of the smartest people in the world, he is good looking, he is a big womanizer, he is also a Super Hero?!?! Who can be all of these things at the same time? Tony Stark is that man who eventually becomes Iron Man. Paramount allows you to see what an everyday person could do to become the ultimate and real to life super hero. This is the second big time movie released in the past two years that have allowed an older age group relate to the younger group. Like Transformers, Iron Man helps bring back old memories from our older crowds but bring that hip new feel to reel in the younger group.

Normally when you have an origins story you have times in the movie that just drag on. Not this movie, Jon Favreau keeps you at the edge of your seat and loving every second of this two-hour movie. Jon starts you out watching Stark get ambushed and then captured by the force of his own weapons. It is here in this cave that you really see how smart Tony is. To keep iron shrapnel from entering his heart, Stark builds a mini arc reactor out of scraps. Now that he has this arc reactor keeping him alive, he then builds a prototype iron suit that will help him and his new friend Yinsen escape.

Once home you see Tony really grow as a person and slowly become the adult he needs to be. After being in captivity and seen what his weapons are really doing he sets out to create his own project to expand on his first proto type. It is here when he wants to do something with his life and help others with his inventions.

Strap yourself in and enjoy the ride as you set out to watch a built and not born hero. Watch Tony deal with what he was and what he was meant to become, watch as he deals with lies and deception from the ones he thought were close to him, and finally watch the beautiful development of Iron Man straight from the comic book to the big screen.

Filmmaking: 10
Like I stated earlier, Jon Favreau does an amazing job of keep the story original and fresh. He has put together a movie that will make die-hard extremely proud and introduce a hero that has been long overdue to a younger crowd. You have a great feel for who the characters are by Jon throwing in appropriate flash backs and quick but detailed backgrounds of each character. This movie has you dying for a sequel right now.

The cast that has been assembled maybe one of the best ever put together. Robert Downey Jr, Jeff Bridges, Terrance Howard, and Gwyneth Paltrow have some of the best chemistry I have seen on screen in a lot time. Not only do they look great in an acting movie but I would feel that this cast would be an amazing cast for a drama as well. They are that great together.

Visuals: 10
If you are watching this movie on a regular TV it will look pretty darn good. If you upscale your TV and DVD player you tend to see some of the flaws with color clarity and you see some areas that are really grainy. You still get a great picture but if you have an HDTV you really need to invest in a Blu-ray player and get this movie on Blu-ray. If you don’t have an HDTV have no fear this movie looks great and you will believe every aspect of the movie. You can’t tell if they are using wires or even what is CG and what is live. Jon does a great job of keeping this movie’s visuals contained to real acting and avoids excessive CG.

Sound: 10
You really feel like you are in the action all the time. It might be in the suit as Iron Man, or in the war zone, or even in the hand-to-hand combat. While you are in the suit, you can hear the air whipping past Starks face. You really feel like you are flying or even feel you are moving with Tony. Then when you are in the army fights or the cave scene you feel like bullets are flying from every direction and you can’t get your bearings. Finally when you see the hand-to-hand combat with Iron Monger and Iron Man you feel like everything around you is shaking and being thrown. This is truly one of the best movies dealing with small details in sound.

Value: 10
In this 2-Disc Ultimate Edition you have four extra hours of behind the scenes footage that really pulls you into the story even more. You have a seven part Making of documentary, you have a six part history of the hero segment, then you can pick a section based on the visual effects and see how they did some of the stunt work and you can see what is real and what is CG, another cool feature is the Actors Process which allows you to what the actors had to go through to get and evolve their roles in the film. All of this appeals to the diehard fans and also it will pull in some of the newer fans who just want to know more about Iron Man and how he evolved from the begin to where he is now.

Overall: 9.2
Iron Man is by far the best movie I have seen to date. I was always a fan of Iron Man but after watching this movie, Iron Man is starting to become my biggest hero right behind Batman. I love how you see this hero develop from a box of scraps into the high tech butt-kicking machine that he is today. I am really looking forward to the sequel, which is already filming.