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Iron Man


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Very good movie. I was a bit surprised by how much i liked it, considering im not a huge marvel fan, but iron man is one of my favorites. I like how they maintained many aspects of the character.

What i hated... well people who go see comic book movies and know nothing about the characters but then comment afterwards about how they didn't like it because he didn't get the girl and he had an ugly goatee. grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
 

Saw it yesterday in probably the most expensive theater, but let me tell you it was well worth it. :D

Many complained about Downey Jr. being cast as Tony Stark, but having seen the man's work before, I had no worries he could pull it off. And he does, wonderfully. He brings the character's trademark suaveness and smugness with ease, but also shines in the rare scenes of vulnerability and obsessive drive. Downey makes you believe in Tony Stark as an ineffectual genius suddenly burdened with responsibility. Not a small feat. :)

The rest of the cast were also good. Gwyneth just shines as Pepper Potts, and has some wonderful chemistry with Downey. I especially liked the scene where she:
[sblock]replaces the arc light generator on his chest. Very funny exchange with some hilarious gross out moments.[/sblock]
Terrence Howard was okay as Rhodey, but like many, I felt he wasn't given much to do. Still, he plays a good straight man to Downey's rowdy Stark. But Jeff Bridges was a real surprise as Obadiah Stane. A borderline corporate scum turned villain, he was in my mind a very effective villain. Terrific, if brief performance. :)

However, as good as the performances are, what we fans are really hungering are scenes featuring the golden avenger himself. And man, do they deliver. Iron Man looks glorious on the big screen. The Mark I is retro cool and the scenes featuring it make for a nice action sequence. But once the Mark III enters the scene, all bets are off. All those scenes from the comic are wonderfully translated onscreen with some excellent visual effects. [sblock]My only quibble is that they didn't go much into depth on the suit's technology, besides the use of the arc light generator as it's power source. Still, the scenes with Tony testing the initial versions of the suit make for some hilarious bits. [/sblock]

Other quibbles include a completely forgettable soundtrack, and [sblock]Iron Man's fight with the Iron Monger, which felt tacked on and didn't have a satisfactory ending.[/sblock] Still, they're minor and don't much detract from what is probably the best Marvel movie since Spider-Man 2. Hope to see it again tommorow. :)
 

Oh wow, oh wow, oh wow. A good movie, this is. As far as superhero movies, I rank only Spider Man 2 and X-2 as better. Casting could not have been better. Action was great. Witty banter was awesome. And that bit after the credits....I tried to convince everyone around me to stay, but only my friends (around 12 of us) and a couple others stayed. Clapping, cheering and gasps of awe ensued. Good stuff!
Tony Stark is apparently making an appearance in The Incredible Hulk, and now I can guess why...
Woot!
 

Just got back from this, and I really enjoyed it. My biggest complaint? That they didn't give some of the major players names until well into the picture (Rhodey, Yinsen, even Happy). I knew who they were, being an Iron Man reader, but I'm sure a lot of people didn't, and it's one thing that really struck me (and often does when watching movies).

(Personally, I'd imagine it's probably one of those things that gets dropped during edits and overlooked because the people working on the film are so familiar with who/what everything is that they forget other people aren't and don't pay any attention.)

In any event- like I said, that's my biggest complaint. As for the effects:

Krug said:
They're good but didn't blow me away. Downey actually spends a lot of time outside the suit. You won't find anything in there that exceeds Transformers for sure.

I thought this was heads over Transformers by far. The original suit was awesome and pretty believable, and then when Tony takes the mark II version out for his first flight- blown away. Utterly. It's like the old tagline from the Superman films- "You Will Believe A Man Can Fly!" Seriously.

I really would have liked to see more of the suit, naturally, but its only a two hour movie and there wouldn't have been any time for any story. :)

The fight with the Iron Monger was a bit anticlimactic*, but Jeff Bridges did an amazing job as Obadiah Stane. Everyone did a great job, actually. I even warmed up to Terrence Howard's Rhodey by the end (he's just a little too unlike comic Rhodey, at least thus far. Comic Rhodey is hardly a by the book guy, but movie Rhodey is a spit and polish Air Force Colonel. The scene where he looks at the Mark II suit and considers for a minute was priceless though. Next time, indeed.)

As for other little bits and pieces:

1) Wonder how the Woz feels about having himself photoshopped out of the Apple article? (It was funny, though.)
2) Was the evil terrorist leader (Raza, from the credits- though, again, I don't think we were ever given a name in the movie) the head of the "10 Rings" organization, making him the film's Mandarin sub, or is the Mandarin yet to show his real face? Hmm...

Anyway, will definitely be seeing this again.

*Of course, one of the problems with the fight was that for much of it, I couldn't keep focused on the fight because I was too busy staring at the familiar sights of downtown Long Beach and trying to figure out how they'd shot certain scenes, where the cameras had been placed- oh, there's the Aquarium parking structure!- etc. :D
 
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Cthulhudrew said:
I thought this was heads over Transformers by far. The original suit was awesome and pretty believable, and then when Tony takes the mark II version out for his first flight- blown away. Utterly. It's like the old tagline from the Superman films- "You Will Believe A Man Can Fly!" Seriously.

Damn, do I agree.

The Mk I was great to watch and looking amazingly believable as you say, and the Mk II...when he first started really flying, I was grinning like an idiot. It was just perfect. Seeing Iron Man flying around like that after seeing it in still comic book pages for so long was just wonderful.

The scene where he looks at the Mark II suit and considers for a minute was priceless though. Next time, indeed.

I couldn't help but laugh at that moment. It was even the perfect colour! And yeah, I definitely warmed up to Howard as Rhodes as things went on. He's different, not the same kind of almost exact representation that Downey does for Stark, but by the end of the movie I definitely do see him as Rhodes.

C'mon, War Machine!

2) Was the evil terrorist leader (Raza, from the credits- though, again, I don't think we were ever given a name in the movie) the head of the "10 Rings" organization, making him the film's Mandarin sub, or is the Mandarin yet to show his real face? Hmm...

I get the feeling that it does set up Mandarin somehow, though I don't THINK that guy is him. Its possible, considering his connection to magic...and he was playing with that ring. It will be interesting to see what, if anything, comes from that.
 

Saw it last night at the Arclight Hollywood. The actual suit from the movie was on display, along with his silver car, and a radio station was there giving out free stuff. Sold out happy crowd. I took some pictures and will try to upload them later if anyone cares to see them.

Movie was great. Better than I expected. Tony Stark was played quite well by Downey. I went with my wife (who also loved it) and my friend Jonah from ComicBookResource.com, and he enjoyed it as well. He was able to describe after the movie some scenes that were cut, and scenes where Downey was ad libbing and the improve take ended up in the movie. Very cool when that sort of stuff happens!
 

Cthulhudrew said:
My biggest complaint? That they didn't give some of the major players names until well into the picture (Rhodey, Yinsen, even Happy). I knew who they were, being an Iron Man reader, but I'm sure a lot of people didn't, and it's one thing that really struck me (and often does when watching movies).

(Personally, I'd imagine it's probably one of those things that gets dropped during edits and overlooked because the people working on the film are so familiar with who/what everything is that they forget other people aren't and don't pay any attention.)

In any event- like I said, that's my biggest complaint.


I am not an Iron Man reader and wonder why it matters that I did not get some of the people's names earlier? Am I missing something about their names that would have made knowing them earlier matter to a non-reader of Iron Man?
 

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