Iron Man (2008)
Our Rating:
September 14, 2008
Iron Man is a 2008 superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Stark Industries executive Obadiah Stane.
The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as their first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero movies set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because preproduction was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston’s company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character.
Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures, the distributor, planned a $50 million marketing campaign for the film, which was modeled on Paramount’s successful promotion of Transformers; Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven. Reviews were positive, particularly praising Downey’s performance. The film’s stars have signed on for two sequels, the first of them scheduled for release on April 30, 2010, while Downey also makes a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk.
So how do you write a favorable review for a super hero movie after everyone has already seen Dark Knight and made it their favorite super hero movie of all time. The easiest thing would be to say that this movie is a lighter more fun film than TDK. Where TDK is dark and very villain driven, Iron Man is quick, funny, and Stark steals the show. Downey is pure perfection as Stark and I would have been fine with a movie without the Iron Man, just of Stark going around womanizing and throwing out one-liners. Favreau is the real surprise of this film though. Going from indie films into a big summer blockbuster and he makes it good. I have never been a huge fan of his but this one is definitely well done from all aspects. At least now on Dinner for Five it will be, “When I was working on Iron Man” instead of “When I was working on Swingers…”. God that man loves to talk about Swingers.
Regardless if you love him or hate him or like the character of Iron Man, this film is an entertaining watch. With the quality of the Comic books films this summer going up, it will only ensure that we get another three per year for the next twenty years. I personally have hated pretty much all of the other Comic book films but the big three that came out this summer are all worth checking out.
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