Title: Iron Man
Time: 125 min.
Studio: Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG-13
Format: BluRay
SRP: $39.99

FEATURE:

Forgive me to open an old sore but remember when Tom Cruise wanted to make an Iron Man film, and star as Tony Stark? Hot off of his terrible yet somehow profitable Mission: Impossible franchise and New Line Cinema aggressively trying to make it happen. Think about that for a second… with his obligatory running scene, lots of deep inhaling and sighing…indeed… what an awful film that could have been! Instead, patient Iron Man comic fans were rewarded with Robert Downey Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwenyth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Director Jon Favreau. Up to that point, Iron Man was a just a rocking Black Sabbath song to the rest of the country. Keyword: Was.

For those still in the minority, Stark, a billionaire industrialist and arms dealer to the US government, is wounded by shrapnel and captured by terrorists. He is forced to create them a powerful weapon but instead builds a battle suit of armor for himself and escapes. Ridden with guilt when he sees the weapons he created fall into the hands of his captors, Stark gets inspired to engineer new armors modifying them and testing them becoming a hero to rid the world of his warfare and thwart those trying to steal his tech. Though not your typical hero, Stark balances his shrewd businessman tactics with smooth playboy moves as a public persona, but when alone is a technological genius.

With such a heroic arc, Downey was an inspirational casting. With so many clouds that hovered over career, he had turned it around with memorable roles in Scanner Darkly (2006), Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) and Good Night, and Good Luck (2005), but the one thing that escaped him was a blockbuster role that everyone could reach the masses. Here he’s the center of attention delivering the brash and cocky side to Stark while channeling the brilliant engineer. We experience his discovery while he tests the suits and dream for a bit. He’s not perfect and that’s how we’re sold on Tony Stark. In the pending sequels Downey will face Stark’s bout with alcoholism and battling demons from within something he brings to the table from personal experience.

Paltrow ravished as Stark’s strawberry blonde assistant, Pepper Potts, Howard’s Col. James Rhodes complimented Stark and Bridges’ played up a villainous Obadiah Stane. The cast chemistry was there and with a script devoted to please the comic fans with the timing of computer effects advancement, Iron Man laid it all out.

Favreau gets Co-MVP (Swingers, Elf), by breaking out of the small film world and tapping into those sensibilities with the blockbuster tools. When he created a Myspace page devoted to Iron Man brainstorming sessions with longtime readers, it showed this guy cared about creating a faithful, yet modern adaptation of Iron Man. The result is a slick composite of stories spanning the 70’s and 80’s Armor Wars with Obadiah Stane to the Extremis re-launch and even the under the helmet experience of the 90’s comics. Though asked to compress all of Stark’s story elements, Favreau wisely chose to save some of those (alcoholism, Rhodey in War Machine) for the eventual sequels. The ability to do that without the nagging pressure of the usual big studio heads (See Spider-Man 3) and the confidence in Favreau’s plan paid off!

For the big screen, Iron Man was made contemporary taking it out of the Korean War origin and applying the Middle Eastern angle showing the timelessness as well as its relevance in the modern world. Because of that it struck a nerve with longtime readers of the comics and those introduced in the theater. More importantly Marvel Studios had a successful launch and could develop many more quality films if they take a similar approach to their vault of characters and ideas.

Presentation:
A slipcase holds the usual Blu-Ray disc holder. At Comic-Con, Marvel was giving out lenticular slipcases for the DVD release but sadly none for Blu-Ray. Menu design is simple, having a slick animation sequence with video feeds and the Jarvis HUD (Heads-Up Display) spiraling Iron Man. There are a total of 15 chapters although you can add bookmarks while watching the film. Subtitles are available in English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese. DIsc one also has preview trailers of Star Trek, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and The Incredible Hulk as well as a commercial for the Iron Man animated series.

Video:
The feature is in 1080P, AVC encoded and sparkles in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio. Blacks are deep, and colors pop like in the Santa Monica pier or the Mark III armor. All of the reflective metal surfaces and battle worn textures the video show nicely. There’s still some film grain and softness to the image which, personally I enjoy because it recreates the theater experience rather than mucking up the picture with edge enhancement. There are only a few scenes, like when Tony is either lifting off or landing, where you truly know the armor is done by CGI.

Audio:
There are three soundtracks: 5.1 Dolby TrueHD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital, Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital. There will be a bit of disappointment with the lack of a English Dolby Digital track for those who may not be fitted with a receiver that can read the HD Audio tracks, it simply defaults to a DD 2.0 mix. The Dolby True HD track though is a lively track, with lots of punch when Stark is testing out the repulsors and the big battle at the end. Dialogue is clear whether Jeff Bridges is shouting or Downey Jr. is whispering something to Paltrow’s Pepper. The heaviness of all of armor and metal comes booming through with resounding explosions, thuds, and clanks that will have your neighbors covering their ears. You’ll have fun replaying the opening scene and chapter 11 (the jet scene) as demo material. With all the flying and gun shooting there’s plenty for your surrounds to create an encompassing aural environment making this a definite reference disc in home theater rooms across the country. The upgrade to HD audio is worth every single penny.

Extras:

DISC ONE

Starting with Stan Lee, Gerry Conway, and Gene Colan to the characters’ renaissance in the Bob Layton, David Micheline and John Romita Jr. era, THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN (47:04) is a very comprehensive documentary on the men behind the comics of Iron Man. Warren Ellis and Adi Granov were rightly spotlighted for their modern-day reboot of the character (Iron Man: Extremis) that would later become the template for the film. Others who participated were editors, Joe Quesada, Tom Brevoort, writers Joe Casey, Dan and Charlie Knauf and artist Patrick Zircher. Every major landmark is covered even Ultimate Iron Man except the current Matt Fraction and Salvador Larroca run on Invincible Iron Man. This feature was probably produced well before those comics were planned but it is one of the best superhero comics today. This feature can be seen in one sitting or in six separate chapters.

In the 11 EXTENDED/DELETED SCENES (23:56) two smaller arcs are taken out of the film: Stark’s very tight friendship with Rhodey and in Dubai, how Pepper stumbles on Tony’s secret adventures. Both arcs also revealed more of Stark’s playboy lifestyle which to some of the tame may have been too unlikable. There’s also an alternate ending showing a more emotional parting of Obadiah and Tony. When you go back to how smooth the film runs, these cuts were better left on the floor but deleted scenes always show the importance of the editing process, where if you decide to cut out one thing, everything related to that scene must go as well.

Of the Blu-Ray exclusives the HALL OF ARMOR takes users on an interactive tour of the Mark I, II, III, and Iron Monger suits with 360 degree views and close-ups on specific parts and their functionality. BD-LIVE features include being able to fly around in the different suits, 3-D schematics of the weapons and a IQ Trivia quiz.

DISC TWO

The beef is in the 109-minute behind-the-scenes, I AM IRON MAN featurette which can be viewed into seven parts separately or all altogether covering principle photography, the acting underneath the armors, contributions from Stan Winston Studio (molding and body casting) and Kyle Cooper’s Prologue Films (the cool end credits and HUD), and the incredible mass of post-production work orchestrated by Favreau. See him bounce from different parts of Skywalker Sound and you’ll see how he lost so much weight over the course of Iron Man. Comic book fans will get a kick out of Marvel’s top brass editorial and writing staff that included Brian Michael Bendis, Mark Millar, Axel Alonso, and Joe Quesada touring the studio and giving their input on how Stark is portrayed in the comics. These types of meetings should be mandatory for all comic book film adaptations because of their closeness and familiarity with these characters. It was also a surprise to see former
comic artist, Stephen Platt show up as one of the conceptual artists.

Favreau attempted to use special effects only where it was needed and when viewing WIRED: THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF IRON MAN (27:00) the development and contributions of Industrial Light and Magic (Mark II, III, Iron Monger), The Orphanage (HUD Interface), and the Embassy (Mark I) are explained and it’s amazing to see just how seamless their work was in the film.

After watching the ROBERT DOWNEY JR. SCREEN TEST (6:03) you’ll understand why he’s one of the best actors today performing three scenes, in addition to THE ACTOR’S PROCESS (4:13), which shows a rehearsal of Bridges and Downey Jr.’s pivotal scene guided by Favreau. THE ONION WILDLY POPULAR IRON MAN TRAILER TO BE ADAPTED INTO FULL-LENGTH FILM (2:38) is a comedy short done by the popular media spoof, The Onion, that works especially well if you or someone you know overreacts to movie trailers, subsequently expressing defamation on the internet. There’s an extensive GALLERY of conceptual art and production stills. Comic book fans familiar with Adi Granov’s art will enjoy looking at alternate armor designs and how much the art direction was based off his stunning work. Rounding out the second disc are four Theatrical TRAILERS in DD 5.1. The two domestic trailers show you the goods throughout while the international trailers do a better job of concealing the
Mark III armor until the end.

All of the featurettes are in high definition, widescreen (except the Onion short) and in Dolby Digital 2.0. It is however lacking a commentary track, which is disappointing, only because Jon Favreau and crew really devoted themselves to making a great film and would have provided an entertaining track. A very minor gripe, and greedy but there’s still plenty to pique the interest Iron Man whether it’s casual and diehard.

The Round-Up

Marvel Studios took a second tier character and made him a house-hold name. Concerns of what Marvel has to offer after Spider-Man and the X-Men have been squashed because not only have they established a new franchise in Iron Man, but they’ve laid the foundation to open the rest of their universe if you wait to watch after the credits. There was no doubt in my mind how much fun Iron Man was this summer; if Spider-Man was a home run, then this left the ballpark! It’s with my biggest recommendation that if you want to recreate that experience at home that this blu-ray release is the best way to do that.