Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition)

Movie - 4.5I first saw the movie in theaters with zero expectations. I never followed the comics, let alone pay any attention to the fact that Robert Downey Jr. was starring in the lead role. Thank goodness that happened, because I was blown away by the end. The whole guilt and redemption angle on the character of Tony Stark struck a very deep resonance with me, as I'm a big fan of "comeback" stories where the protagonist falls so far off his high horse, only to realize his mistakes, then use those events as a learning tool and lead himself to do greater good. Nowadays, it's hard to see the good in most people because of how lost we are in the desires and routine ineptitudes of society. More often than not, our lives revolve around either money, sex, or some other kind of self-indulgence. Granted, it's not a bad thing to wanna' be happy, but I thought this particular story put a certain kind of perspective on the corporate and war profiteering elements that exist in today's world. And what better an example of how to explore the truth and consequences of this by having a billionaire weapons manufacturer have a a change in character and try to make a difference from the heart instead of the wallet? I really enjoyed the movie's plot and characters from beginning to end. Downey Jr. plays Stark down to a T, and the supporting cast is fun to watch from Pepper to Rhodie (too bad Howard won't be back, though), even to Jarvis. If anything, my only problem is the lack in depth of a true supervillain. While Jeff Bridges does a great job as Obidiah Stane, the movie iss missing that extra sense of ambition that really separates the ideals of most bad guys. As a setup movie, however (for the supposed trilogy), I rank this in the upper echelon along Batman Begins as one of my favorites. And if history has dictated anything, it's that the 2nd act of a trilogy has always greatly outdone its predecessor. Can't wait till the next one comes out.Video - 5.0Colors are very vibrant from skin tones to backgrounds to all the shiny versions of the Iron Man suits. Paramount has done a spectacular job on the transfer, making this instant demo material for friends, family, or business alike. In particular, the cave break and liberation of Gulmira (including the jet chase) scenes are worth watching over and over again just for the flashy lights and sleek cinematography. Black levels handle extremely well during cave, night, and other dimly-lit scenes keeping most, if not all, kinds of object detail looking crisp and sharp. Contrast is equally suiting and really helps the overall photography adding a complimentary sense of depth and dimensionality between people, objects, and backgrounds. The only slight problem one might have is with the darker cave scene. They used a different camera for those shots resulting in a slightly noisier presentation, which is what happens on a normal basis with darker shots anyway, but that's about the only possible imperfection and may not even effect your own personal score if you're not being picky. But other than that, show off your Blu-ray setup with this movie.Audio - 5.0Accompanying the flawless video transfer is an equally flawless Dolby TrueHD 5.1 track. Ramin Djwadi's score, while a tad underwhelming composition-wise, is displaced well-enough to help create just the right amount of immersion for each scene, and dialogue is clear through the center channel. Directionality and separation are especially notable during scenes of gunfire or jet-propelled flight. Again, refer to the cave break and liberation of Gulmira with the jet chase to hear what I'm talking about. Maybe even thrown in the Mk. II's test flight for good measure. LFEs are astounding in terms of bass depth and other low frequency presence. I personally like to use Stark's takeoff to Gulmira and jump into supersonic speed during his run from the F-22s as go-to showcase material. So make sure your theater system has all the right settings, then crank that baby up to wow your guests.Extras - 5.0Thanks in big part to the hours of extras on both the feature and additional 25GB disc, I actually learned quite a bit of informative things about the Iron Man franchise as a whole and the respectable hard work that went into producing this summer blockbuster. Ironically enough, I now see Iron Man as a sort of Marvel parallel to DC's Batman, only with less of the dark psychology and grimness involved with Bruce Wayne's tragic childhood. On top of being presented completely in HD, the special features are loads of fun to watch in themselves, and I don't think I've ever been as thoroughly entertained by just the making of portion. If you like the movie, you'll really like these extras.Overall - 5.0For a setup of an eventual trilogy, I rank this as the top tier with Batman Begins as the other best of its kind. The characters and script are highly entertaining, and the story has just the right amount of depth to bring about my empathy. Throw in the demo quality video and audio and a largely informative array of special features, and you've got yourself one of the years best Blu-ray packages. A must own for comic book fans.

Even as recent as 2006, the super hero sub genre of film had been losing steam. X-men 3 ended up being a joke. Superman Returns was 40 minutes too long and ended up making him a confused and ineffectual moron with a school boy crush that has an illegitimate son. The Fantastic Four movies were too juvenile to be taken seriously and the lord of the new superhero generation, Spiderman, became a jazzy, emotional clown in Spiderman 3.Longtime and loyal fans were very upset and the uninitiated millions who did not keep up with comics were simply unimpressed. The start of 2008 brought uncertainty for future of these films. The first bastion of hope came in the form of a film adaptation of a rather unknown superhero. Ironman was the story of weapons developer Tony Stark who after receiving a near fatal wound in his chest, creates a super powered suit of armor that allows him to fly and shoot lasers. The teaser trailer to Ironman created a tremendous amount of buzz. Longtime fans were more than excited. They seemed to be almost transformed by the divine touch. Casual movie goers seemed also excited and wanted to finally learn of this strange unpopular character. But as is the usual order of the industry, a good trailer does not ensure a good movie. Some people were skeptical, others hopeful of the movies success and impact. By May of that year everyone got their answer. Ironman opened to world wide acclaim and critical praise.The movie was a qualified success and gave fans a new hero to rally behind. Unlike earlier efforts by film makers, Ironman delivered its origin story with a healthy sense of character logic and maturity. Gone was the eye winking kitsch and glitz of the past superhero fair. Teenage angst was replaced with middle aged angst and Robert Downey delivered a very confident and nuanced character even before he strapped on the armor. This incredibly kinetic and impossibly agile character was getting down and dirty in warzones that seemed straight out of CNN. This was a different superhero that was facing challenges of our modern world. Considering the current geo-political climate of our time, Ironman was a living breathing sensationalized pop hero critique for our times. The character was a faceless power fantasy vehicle that allowed the viewer to become Ironman and sort of work out their own resolute in a world that doesn't seem to pay attention to the common man. "What would I do with a super powered suit of armor?" Blow up terrorists apparently seemed to be the answer given and audiences loved it.Unfortunately, the movie degrades from its originally laid out premise of a socially conscious superhero and reverts back to a formulaic climatic battle between Ironman and a "bigger Ironman" as Stark's armor becomes reverse engineered by his closest business ally. This is sort of where Ironman becomes less perfect as it goes for the cheap thrill ending of a battle between two titans which is how most of these movies seem to end anyway. The movie shies away from Ironman really solving this problem as he was so set on bringing an end to terrorism in the first place. Of course it is only the first movie and it ain't comics without a big ol' robot rumble.Luckily this movie was a great primer for casual fans and had some of the biggest fan service of any of the superhero movies. This movie had tremendous respect for the source material and any changes made in the movie really helped the story along without putting off the fans. If anything, it improved the Ironman premise for this era.The DVD package is impressive too with a really good amount of behind the scenes extras to keep geeks enamored for hours. A truly special film and DVD that deserves a place in any library.