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Author Topic: Iron Man  (Read 18531 times)

alexarch

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #20 on: May 02, 2008, 03:00:05 PM »
Here's a pretty cool article about the connection between Sabbath's "Iron Man" and Marvel's Iron Man.  There's also a nice aside about Ted Hughe's Iron Man, the inspiration for Brad Bird's Iron Giant.

WallE

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #21 on: May 02, 2008, 03:03:27 PM »
Before Cold War Iron Man there was Vietnam Iron Man - strikingly similar attitudes prevailed about both wars...in essence the update kept a lot of the same social ideas behind his creation intact.
Is the Vietnam one the oldest one, I thought there was a previous one?

It went:

Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan

Thats the three major in comic changes they made.

I dont think anything changed in the social impact of each war because the general mindset of Tony  after his war experience is to change his legacy away from Merchant of Death... that was a constant throughout the whole shebang of Iron Man mythos.

duder

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #22 on: May 03, 2008, 09:23:35 PM »
Eh, I suppose it was alright. It mostly gets by on Downey Jr.'s charisma, and it was kind of fun when it got going, but not at all memorable. July 18th can't come soon enough.
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chesterfilms

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #23 on: May 04, 2008, 12:17:10 AM »
Loved It!
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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #24 on: May 04, 2008, 12:34:24 AM »
Yeah, I might see it next weekend.
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gateway

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #25 on: May 04, 2008, 03:00:11 AM »
The scene after the end credits was easily the biggest geek-out moment I've had at a movie in years. I'd heard that they cut Nick Fury out of the film earlier and was really disappointed, so the bonus scene was a complete surprise for me. If that misinformation was intentional, massive kudos to Jon Favreau and the Iron Man production and marketing teams.

Also, I really liked that they had Stark reveal he was Iron Man at the end of the film. Knowing the comic story lines I knew that it would eventually happen in one of the movies, but I expected them to hold off and do the same "gotta hide my identity" story that every comic book movie does, glad to see the sequel won't go in that direction.

One more thing: Robert Downey Jr. and Gwenyth Paltrow had actual chemistry in this movie. When was the last time you can say that about a superhero and his love interest in a movie? Maybe Superman II? Maybe?
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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #26 on: May 04, 2008, 08:12:12 PM »
My review on boxwatcher.net

Iron Man is the first release from Marvel Studios.  In the past Marvel Comics has outsourced all the film making to other entities, with mixed results.  There were success: the Spider-Man and X-Men films, as well as failures: Ghost Rider and The Punisher.  But for the first time Marvel has decided to put their film destiny in their own hands and have found a mix that pleases fans and movie goers alike. 
When we meet Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), the owner of weapons manufacturer Stark Industries, he is living the life.  Rich industrialist, playboy, and able to have a good time at the drop of a dime.  Basically he is the ultimate “Good Time Charlie”.  He has traveled to Afghanistan to pitch a new missile system to the U.S. Army.  On the way back his convoy is ambushed and he is taken captive.  During the fire-fight Stark takes shrapnel to the chest from one of his own weapons, which threatens his life.  Yinsen (Shaun Toub) a fellow captive, rigs an electro-magnet into Stark’s chest to keep the metal out of his heart.  The attackers, a terrorist group affiliated with “The Ten Rings” want Tony to re-create the missiles for them.  Instead he makes a suit of armor used to escape, thus Iron Man is born. 
Robert Downey Jr. completely sells this movie.  In the scenes where we see Stark guzzling booze we can’t help but to think of Downey’s past.  But it is not gimmick casting, Downey and Stark share one common trait that make him the perfect person for the part.  These two men have reached points in their lives where they were forced to take stock of their legacy, and neither man liked what they saw.  The actor looks in the mirror and sees his addictions destroying his life and wasting his talent.  The character sees himself has a profiteer making money on the misery of others, it is destroying his soul.  The two become so entwined that Downey is able to convincingly deliver lines like: “I should be dead already… It must be for a reason… I just finally know… what I have to do..”. In an entertaining two hour stretch Downey/Stark catharticly make necessary changes to atone for their pasts.
There other great things about the movie.  The tech is maybe highly improbable but it never feels impossible. Seeing Stark create and later upgrade his armor make it feel like something that could actually happen. 
Director John Favreau does a great job balancing character/plot/action/humor.  The characters are mostly fleshed out very well so you care about them with the exception of Jim Rhodes (Terrance Howard).  The character has little to do in this film and is only there to set up for the inevitable sequel.  The plot is sparse but we don’t want or expect too much from a summer blockbuster.  The action is pretty entertaining with many “Aw Cool” moments.  The humor was used masterfully.  Mostly quick throwaway one liners (Stark to Pepper Potts Let’s face it, this is not the worst thing you’ve ever caught me doing”), designed to lighten the mood without being a distraction. 
There are a few missteps though.  The first act is perhaps a bit too long.  When stark is creating the armor it seems like it takes a bit too long to see him kick ass.  The added time could have been used for maybe one more action sequence.  The villain of the movie is Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) and he is slight problem.  We accept early on that he will be the “big bad” of the story.  Bridges is a fine actor and the character feels menacing, but we never get a feel for why he is doing what he is doing.  The result makes the third act a little flat. 
On a positive note Marvel is on to something by producing their own films.  It allows them to retain enough creative control to give it that Marvel “stamp”. There are many “wink and nod” scenes to fans in the movie that will not take away from the experience if you haven’t read the comic but make fan boys giggle like little girls.  Plus there are moments, like the sequence after the credits, that are seemingly designed to tie their other film projects together to do what made Marvel Comics great in the first place: create an accessible shared universe amongst these properties.
Despite all this Iron Man is a fun super-hero movie.  It offers everything one would want from a super-hero movie.  But, were a film like Spider-man 2 transcends the genre, Iron Man is a great example of what a hero flick can be and there is absolutely nothing wrong with that. 
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If you liked Batman Begins, Spider-man 1 or 2, or Superman: The Movie you should love Iron Man. 
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m_rturnage

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #27 on: May 05, 2008, 09:04:42 AM »
Can I just say I'm deeply disturbed by the vehemently angry reaction of die hards to the choice to use the latter day model of Nick Fury and cast him as African-American using his model Jackson.

My local comic store owner rents an entire movie theater for his customers on opening nights of comic-themed movies, so I was in a packed theater of comic book fans.

As soon as Sam Jackson said, "I'm Nick Fury." There was this prolonged scream of nerdgasm that didn't stop for a full five minutes. (Seriously, I barely heard the words "Avengers Initiative" over the cries of joy. After the fervor subsided, my wife said to me, "Who is Nick Fury and why do these people love him so much?'

So, just from my limited anecdotal evidence, I'm just not seein' it.
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alexarch

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #28 on: May 05, 2008, 09:49:41 AM »
Can someone describe, in detail, this Sam Jackson easter egg.  I walked out during the credits - AS PEOPLE ARE MEANT TO DO!!!!!!  QUIT GIVING EASTER EGGS FOR THE NERDS!!!!!!  WE BUY THE JUMBO-SIZED CUPS OF COKE BECAUSE YOU OFFER THEM TO US, AND THEN WE HAVE TO RUN TO THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!

duder

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Re: Iron Man
« Reply #29 on: May 05, 2008, 10:16:08 AM »
Can someone describe, in detail, this Sam Jackson easter egg.  I walked out during the credits - AS PEOPLE ARE MEANT TO DO!!!!!!  QUIT GIVING EASTER EGGS FOR THE NERDS!!!!!!  WE BUY THE JUMBO-SIZED CUPS OF COKE BECAUSE YOU OFFER THEM TO US, AND THEN WE HAVE TO RUN TO THE BATHROOM!!!!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vR6zOyj7QXs
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