Iron Man (2008) --- "Kidnapped Billionaire Forced To Make Bomb Makes An Armored Suit Instead."

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Plot Summary

A billionaire industrialist and genius inventor, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), is conducting weapons tests overseas, but terrorists kidnap him to force him to build a devastating weapon. Instead, he builds an armored suit and upends his captors. Returning to America, Stark refines the suit and uses it to combat crime and terrorism. (1)

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Review

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Hello, Movie Buffs! 

     Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) needed to start producing origin movies for their Avenger characters a long time ago, and luckily in 2008 we were gifted with not one but two origin films; The Incredible Hulk and Iron Man. Filled with the essence of what makes these comic books so popular, Iron Man (2008) is also a well-written origin story, similarly to Captain America: The First Avenger (2011). The film is filled with realistic action and adventure, a well paced plot, well developed characters, and a nice mixture of comedy with a touch of drama. The CGI was almost seamless and realistic as it only further enhances the real life Iron Man suit armor rather than create a costume out of nothing. In the trailer, we saw some scenes of Iron Man flying amongst fighter jets and at the time seemed a bit lame but when it all comes together on the big screen the context of those scenes deliver. One aspect that I enjoyed the most out of the film had to be the computer systems that Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr. – Sherlock Holmes) utilizes throughout the franchise. The multiple screens, instant holographic reproductions, and the ability to actually interact with 3D representations is stunning. Despite it being mostly CGI it all looked very realistic , it’s a shame that we have yet to do so in real life.

     Director Jon Favreau (Chef, Iron Man films), who also plays Stark’s bodyguard Happy Hogan, never decelerates the pace of the film with unnecessary, strained emotions nor does the cast deliver poorly written jokes in the dialogue. Instead, he delivers on his promises and gives audiences a solid initiation into a new character for the Avengers franchise. Of course, at times the story is pretty predictable but most superhero movies are and if done right it is what audiences expect, and we see that here. The final showdown between Stark and the villain is a bit anti-climactic but it’s a good start in the first film of a trilogy that only gets better. Iron Man is not a perfect film but not every comic book adaption is perfect and the few minor flaws to not take away from the heart of the film.

     It is no question that Iron Man is the Marvel version of Batman but I have to say that I can see some differences between the two characters. While some believe that there are too many similarities with Batman Begins, also an origin story, this is mostly due to the likeness between Bruce Wayne and Tony Stark. Both are incredibly wealthy, good-looking, egotistical, and early on suffer personal tragedies. As a result both fall prey to becoming a corporate superhero, spend time perfecting their superhero suits, have assistants that they trust with their lives, and devote personal time to saving the world and/or their city from villains. Although they both have many similarities there are some differences that sets the two characters apart. First, Batman Begins sacrificed a lot of action scenes by taking its time to dwell on the man behind the suit, whereas Iron Man does both.  Second, Iron Man’s suit flies and shoots rocket/missiles while Batman’s suit tends to fall with style though his car, motorcycle, and plane are pretty cool. Third, Bruce Wayne is a dark and mysterious billionaire bachelor, while Tony Stark is flamboyant and player billionaire bachelor with a sarcastic answer for everything. Finally, the most obvious difference that I find is Tony Stark is much smarter than Bruce Wayne in terms of science, math, and mechanical engineering. Bruce Wayne is smart and he comes up with some great ideas for Batman but Tony Stark usually does it all by himself, he’s an inventor and he is pretty smart which we see come forth in the later Avenger films.

     Overall, Iron Man (2008) is a very detailed interpretation of a comic-book-to-film adaption and despite the few flaws, it is still special effects extravaganza and action thrill ride film. The insight into the weapon filled suit of metal, which we are only given a glimpse of its potential in the film, is interesting and new. Director Jon Favreau adds bits of humor without overloading the dialogue and grounds the action and CGI with realism. As a result, he delivers a film that has as much feeling and honesty as it has action and thrill. Needless to say, Iron Man is a well balanced film of intelligence and fun. It is no doubt that in 2008 Iron Man set the bar for upcoming MCU and DCEU comic book films and the cast deliver their characters wonderfully.

***Marvel Cinematic Universe (In order of how you should watch them)***

Iron Man (2008)

The Incredible Hulk (2008)

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Thor (2011)

Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)

Marvel's The Avengers (2012)

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Thor: The Dark World (2013)

Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)

Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)

Ant-Man (2015)

Captain America: Civil War (2016)

Doctor Strange (2016)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)

Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)

Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Black Panther (2018)

Avengers: Infinity War (2018)

Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)

Captain Marvel (2019)

Untitled Avengers film (2019)

Untitled Spider-Man: Homecoming sequel (2019)

Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)

"I am Iron Man."

- Tony Stark

Final Vote

Worth Seeing:  4.3 of 5 star

Worth Buying:  4.3 of 5 stars

I hope you liked this post, subscribe to my blog via email HERE, send in your comments, and watch Iron Man (2008).

Movies Similar 

Ant-Man (2015)
Ant-Man and the Wasp (2018)
Avengers (2012)
Avengers 2: Age of Ultron (2015)
Avengers 3: Infinity War (2018)
Avengers 4: Untitled film (2019)
Black Panther (2018)
Captain America: Civil War (2016)
Captain America: The First Avenger (2011)
Captain America: The Winter Soldier (2014)
Captain Marvel (2019)
Doctor Strange (2016)
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 (2017)
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (TBA)
Hulk (2003)
Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2 (2010)
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Spider-Man: Homecoming (2017)
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2 (2019)
Thor (2011)
Thor: Dark World (2013)
Thor: Ragnarok (2017)

Cast & Crew

 Directed by Jon Favreau

Writing Credits:

     (Screenplay) Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway.

     (Characters) Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby

Produced by 

     Victoria Alonso       ---   co-producer

     Ari Arad                  ---   executive producer

     Avi Arad                  ---   producer

     Peter Billingsley     ---   executive producer

     Louis D'Esposito     ---   executive producer

     Ross Fanger           ---   executive producer

     Jon Favreau           ---   executive producer

     Kevin Feige             ---   producer

     Eric Heffron            ---   associate producer (as Eric N. Heffron)

     Jeremy Latcham    ---   associate producer

     Stan Lee                  ---   executive producer

     David Maisel          ---   executive producer

Music by Ramin Djawadi

Cinematography by Matthew Libatique

Film Editing by Dan Lebental

Casting By Sarah Finn and Randi Hiller

Production Design by J. Michael Riva

Art Direction by David F. Klassen, Richard F. Mays, and Suzan Wexler.

Set Decoration by Lauri Gaffin

Cast:

Robert Downey Jr.                             ---       Tony Stark / Iron Man

Terrence Howard                               ---       Rhodey

Jeff Bridges                                           ---       Obadiah Stane

Gwyneth Paltrow                                 ---       Pepper Potts

Leslie Bibb                                             ---       Christine Everhart

Shaun Toub                                           ---       Yinsen

Faran Tahir                                           ---       Raza

Clark Gregg                                           ---       Agent Coulson

Bill Smitrovich                                     ---       General Gabriel

Sayed Badreya                                      ---       Abu Bakaar

Paul Bettany                                          ---       JARVIS (voice)

Jon Favreau                                          ---       Hogan

Peter Billingsley                                  ---       William Ginter Riva

Tim Guinee                                            ---       Major Allen

Will Lyman                                            ---       Award Ceremony Narrator (voice)

Kevin Foster                                         ---       Jimmy

Garret Noël                                           ---       Pratt

Eileen Weisinger                                 ---       Ramirez

Ahmed Ahmed                                      ---       Ahmed

Fahim Fazli                                            ---       Omar

Gerard Sanders                                   ---       Howard Stark

Nazanin Boniadi                                  ---       Amira Ahmed

Thomas Craig Plumer                        ---       Colonel Craig

Jim Cramer                                           ---       Jim Cramer

Stan Lee                                                 ---       Stan Lee