Iron Man The Official Iron Man Rate & Review Thread

[SodaPop]

9/10. Very Enjoyable, great way to start the summer. The FX and Story are incredible. I will be seeing this multiple times.

 

[Cinemaman]

I'm gonna be "that guy". I have somewhat mixed feelings about IRON MAN. First off, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. This movie was just a lot of fun on almost every level. It's right up there with the best comic book movies ever made. The story was engaging and relevant, and the emotions were believable. The special effects were masterful. The performances were solid across the board, and Robert Downey Jr. gave what is probably the most involved, most immediate comic book performance that I have ever seen. He was just fantastic.

The tone of the movie itself is a bit meandering. Favreau seems never to be sure whether he wants it to be a serious superhero drama, a comic book romp, a horror movie, or a cartoon (the desert escape). I chalk this up to Jon Favreu's relative inexperience, and the nature of his prior films.
I also have minor issues with pacing and editing. Some of the cuts are just a bit jarring.

I have no issues with the nature of Stark building the suits, or it looking easy, because it's made obvious that it's not something that just "comes together". And it obviously it didn't work the way he expected it to at first. The actual Mark II suit and all it's elements was fantastically realized. Seeing through Stark's eyes, seeing the displays inside his helmet, etc, that was all very cool. The intricacy of it, the working parts, the way the flaps worked when he flew. That was very well done. The suit, and everything about it, was very thought out, other than maybe it's actual protective capabilities.

I still have some issues with the comedy elements. There was, I thought, a bit too much of it, and some of it seems a bit forced. Does Stark have to get hurt/surprised in a hilarious manner EVERY SINGLE TIME he tries out his new suit? Ha ha, we get it, there are some bugs to work out. The comedic moments are broadcast from a mile away. It's a minor complaint, just not real realistic to see him slammed into a wall at 100 MPH and...you know, survive. The moment in the desert after the escape, where he falls into the sand and his suit falls apart was ridiculous. Almost cartoonish in nature. Downey does a great job selling most of it, and some of the lines are classic.

"Hi, Mr. Stark, remember me?"
"Sure don't."

I suppose my main issue with the movie is the villain, the threat and the nature of the final battle. Jeff Bridges gave a fine performance as Obadiah Stane. But Obadiah Stane was pretty much nonexistent as a character. You knew he was a villain from the moment you saw him, you never doubted he was a villain, and any "twists" to that effect didn't have much impact. We never got into Stane's motivations beyond "I want us to have the power for the future". We never got to see the master strategist, with plans upon plans upon plans, and we never got to see anything but "pure evil" from him. He mentions at one point that he wants to protect Tony, and it would have been nice to see this angle played up a bit more, to see a bit more developed in terms of Tony, Stane, and Stane's relationship with Howard Stark. They seem like casual business partners throughout most of the movie, and the "your father" elements just don't have much weight to them. The problem with having a mentor turn on you, is that he has to be a mentor first, for that to have any weight. Stane's few "business advice" moments don't equal that kind of development.

And the final battle, as cool as it is, and as well realized, it just essentially devolves into a ridiculous series of relatively poorly acted comic book cliches, which quickly become very annoying, and took me right out of it. The dialogue there is just...pretty bad.

"Staaaaaane!"

The way the battle ends up is ok, and the use of the arc reactor makes sense in context, and will obviously have some future significance, but the last battle just kind of feels "pieced together", and it doesn't flow real well. It's like they just took some action sequence ideas and smushed them all into one battle. Do we really need to see him get run over by the hot soccer mom? Really?

As for the actors:

Robert Downey Jr. was amazing. There is no need to say any more. He is a fantastic choice for the role, visually and otherwise. His performance was at times subtle, overt, comedic, touching and tragic, and he displayed great range. The best comic book performance in years, perhaps ever. He really got into the role and sold it.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts was ok. Her acting in the last third of the movie left quite a bit to be desired. Her "damsel in distress" moments were just absurdly over the top. Her character really isn't all that interesting to begin with, but you do appreciate the dynamic between them, and she and Downey had pretty good chemistry together. Still, there were probably better choices for the role.

Terrence Howard I'm not sure about. His performance was all right, and there's a lot of empathy to it, but I'm not sure if quiet and soft is the right approach. He just wasn't all that impressive for the most part, and there were likely better choices for the role. The nod to War Machine was nice. "Daaaaamn" was not. I thought he accepted the fact that Stark was Iron Man a little too easily, given his position in the military and as Stark's friend.

Jeff Bridges did what he could with a fairly thin character. I won't debate that the man oozed evil. The scene where he's slowly pulling out Stark's "heart" was fantastically done between them both. No issues with the "villainy" part of his villain. The writing could have been much more interesting.

I thought that Shaun Taub was a bit too perky and over the top. I wanted to see a bit more gravitas brought to the role of Yinsen, with Stark providing him some hope in a hopeless situation, etc, but apparently he was just really chipper. It's a shame that his character and the time they shared together was never referenced again after the "Thank you for saving me" moment.

Jarvis was pretty funny. Paul Bettany was an interesting choice, and worked well. Making him into a computer was a neat choice, and gave Pepper more relevance in Tony's life.

Overall, the entire cast had great chemistry, and really bounced off each other well.

The story was pretty straightforward. Borrowing a page from BATMAN BEGINS and DAREDEVIL and telling some elements of it out of sequence didn't make it any more impressive. It was nice to see the relevance of the weapons and their impact on the world, but we didn't see much of it beyond that one small village.

Storywise, the story was everything "Iron Man's story" should be, which is good, but there's really nothing in this movie that isn't "obvious". There's a not a lot of what it "could be". And it hurts me to say that. Tony's motivations are very obvious, his transformation immediate. Every little nod made to the comics is "obvious". And that's...part of what they got right, but also part of what hampered the film a bit. There really were not very many risks taken. The story feels very "safe". Fun, and accurate, but "safe". Sticking a really blatant (but not all that satisying) nod to The Mandarin into the story without establishing his group's motivations (what, ruling all of Asia?) didn't work for me. I didn't feel the Ten Rings were much of a threat, just because they're painted as terrorists. Iron Man wiped them out quickly and effectively, and maybe there's a larger organization out there, but we never got a sense of that. The overall threat in this movie (Stane and the nature of Stark's weapons control), while very personal and well realized, just didn't feel like enough.

The SHIELD elements were very cool. They nailed the personality of the Shield agents (props to the actor who played Caulder), and the way SHIELD crept into the movie little by little was nicely done. As awesome as it is to see Nick Fury appear and talk about the Avengers Initiative, I think that they've asked Tony Stark to join rather quickly. I mean, the man JUST appeared. But then, something like The Avengers would take a long time to put together. It's really a minor quibble.

The dialogue ranged from fantastic to poor. Most of it was solid, and the actors sold almost every line well. Few complaints here.

The music was pretty standard, even lousy. Wayyy cliche. "DA DA DAAAAAA" when the villains appear is not a good score. Not an impressive score.

I give it an 8. A 10 is a movie that takes a completely mature approach to material, which this, in the final tally, did not. A 9 is a movie that has some fun, but manages to resist the urge to "pander" a lot. And with moments like "Daaaaamn", and the occassionally cartoony and predictably comic booky/random funny moment stuff, I think there was definitely a bit of that going on. It's a strong 8, and a very good movie with some minor but fairly apparent flaws.

This is a very good movie. But I don't think that it's a great one. They're building something. That much is obvious. I'm sure sequels will feature more specialized armors and more if Ten Rings. And War Machine, and SHIELD. And that's something to look forward to for sure.

Good review. I can uderstand you, because I also felt that more could be told about true motivations of the organization and Stane's arc. In addition, I thought the whole transformation of 'selfish Tony' to Iron Man could be held longer and more deeply, although it had enough drama stuff (mostly based on the protagonist's concerns and doubts).

Still, I must disagree with you about the whole story and its direction, as Fav and crew wanted to keep the film appealing to all ages and that's why it had many funny scenes, some violence and a serious atmosphere. And it was actually vey fresh in its genre, as not so many superhero flicks could achieve such balance of action-packed blokbuster and strong character-drven drama.

 

[Captain Planet!]

I saw last night... It was so awesome... I don't even need to write a review.

 

[C-$]

I'm gonna be "that guy". I have somewhat mixed feelings about IRON MAN. First off, I enjoyed the hell out of this movie. This movie was just a lot of fun on almost every level. It's right up there with the best comic book movies ever made. The story was engaging and relevant, and the emotions were believable. The special effects were masterful. The performances were solid across the board, and Robert Downey Jr. gave what is probably the most involved, most immediate comic book performance that I have ever seen. He was just fantastic.

The tone of the movie itself is a bit meandering. Favreau seems never to be sure whether he wants it to be a serious superhero drama, a comic book romp, a horror movie, or a cartoon (the desert escape). I chalk this up to Jon Favreu's relative inexperience, and the nature of his prior films.
I also have minor issues with pacing and editing. Some of the cuts are just a bit jarring.

I have no issues with the nature of Stark building the suits, or it looking easy, because it's made obvious that it's not something that just "comes together". And it obviously it didn't work the way he expected it to at first. The actual Mark II suit and all it's elements was fantastically realized. Seeing through Stark's eyes, seeing the displays inside his helmet, etc, that was all very cool. The intricacy of it, the working parts, the way the flaps worked when he flew. That was very well done. The suit, and everything about it, was very thought out, other than maybe it's actual protective capabilities.

I still have some issues with the comedy elements. There was, I thought, a bit too much of it, and some of it seems a bit forced. Does Stark have to get hurt/surprised in a hilarious manner EVERY SINGLE TIME he tries out his new suit? Ha ha, we get it, there are some bugs to work out. The comedic moments are broadcast from a mile away. It's a minor complaint, just not real realistic to see him slammed into a wall at 100 MPH and...you know, survive. The moment in the desert after the escape, where he falls into the sand and his suit falls apart was ridiculous. Almost cartoonish in nature. Downey does a great job selling most of it, and some of the lines are classic.

"Hi, Mr. Stark, remember me?"
"Sure don't."

I suppose my main issue with the movie is the villain, the threat and the nature of the final battle. Jeff Bridges gave a fine performance as Obadiah Stane. But Obadiah Stane was pretty much nonexistent as a character. You knew he was a villain from the moment you saw him, you never doubted he was a villain, and any "twists" to that effect didn't have much impact. We never got into Stane's motivations beyond "I want us to have the power for the future". We never got to see the master strategist, with plans upon plans upon plans, and we never got to see anything but "pure evil" from him. He mentions at one point that he wants to protect Tony, and it would have been nice to see this angle played up a bit more, to see a bit more developed in terms of Tony, Stane, and Stane's relationship with Howard Stark. They seem like casual business partners throughout most of the movie, and the "your father" elements just don't have much weight to them. The problem with having a mentor turn on you, is that he has to be a mentor first, for that to have any weight. Stane's few "business advice" moments don't equal that kind of development.

And the final battle, as cool as it is, and as well realized, it just essentially devolves into a ridiculous series of relatively poorly acted comic book cliches, which quickly become very annoying, and took me right out of it. The dialogue there is just...pretty bad.

"Staaaaaane!"

The way the battle ends up is ok, and the use of the arc reactor makes sense in context, and will obviously have some future significance, but the last battle just kind of feels "pieced together", and it doesn't flow real well. It's like they just took some action sequence ideas and smushed them all into one battle. Do we really need to see him get run over by the hot soccer mom? Really?

As for the actors:

Robert Downey Jr. was amazing. There is no need to say any more. He is a fantastic choice for the role, visually and otherwise. His performance was at times subtle, overt, comedic, touching and tragic, and he displayed great range. The best comic book performance in years, perhaps ever. He really got into the role and sold it.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts was ok. Her acting in the last third of the movie left quite a bit to be desired. Her "damsel in distress" moments were just absurdly over the top. Her character really isn't all that interesting to begin with, but you do appreciate the dynamic between them, and she and Downey had pretty good chemistry together. Still, there were probably better choices for the role.

Terrence Howard I'm not sure about. His performance was all right, and there's a lot of empathy to it, but I'm not sure if quiet and soft is the right approach. He just wasn't all that impressive for the most part, and there were likely better choices for the role. The nod to War Machine was nice. "Daaaaamn" was not. I thought he accepted the fact that Stark was Iron Man a little too easily, given his position in the military and as Stark's friend.

Jeff Bridges did what he could with a fairly thin character. I won't debate that the man oozed evil. The scene where he's slowly pulling out Stark's "heart" was fantastically done between them both. No issues with the "villainy" part of his villain. The writing could have been much more interesting.

I thought that Shaun Taub was a bit too perky and over the top. I wanted to see a bit more gravitas brought to the role of Yinsen, with Stark providing him some hope in a hopeless situation, etc, but apparently he was just really chipper. It's a shame that his character and the time they shared together was never referenced again after the "Thank you for saving me" moment.

Jarvis was pretty funny. Paul Bettany was an interesting choice, and worked well. Making him into a computer was a neat choice, and gave Pepper more relevance in Tony's life.

Overall, the entire cast had great chemistry, and really bounced off each other well.

The story was pretty straightforward. Borrowing a page from BATMAN BEGINS and DAREDEVIL and telling some elements of it out of sequence didn't make it any more impressive. It was nice to see the relevance of the weapons and their impact on the world, but we didn't see much of it beyond that one small village.

Storywise, the story was everything "Iron Man's story" should be, which is good, but there's really nothing in this movie that isn't "obvious". There's a not a lot of what it "could be". And it hurts me to say that. Tony's motivations are very obvious, his transformation immediate. Every little nod made to the comics is "obvious". And that's...part of what they got right, but also part of what hampered the film a bit. There really were not very many risks taken. The story feels very "safe". Fun, and accurate, but "safe". Sticking a really blatant (but not all that satisying) nod to The Mandarin into the story without establishing his group's motivations (what, ruling all of Asia?) didn't work for me. I didn't feel the Ten Rings were much of a threat, just because they're painted as terrorists. Iron Man wiped them out quickly and effectively, and maybe there's a larger organization out there, but we never got a sense of that. The overall threat in this movie (Stane and the nature of Stark's weapons control), while very personal and well realized, just didn't feel like enough.

The SHIELD elements were very cool. They nailed the personality of the Shield agents (props to the actor who played Caulder), and the way SHIELD crept into the movie little by little was nicely done. As awesome as it is to see Nick Fury appear and talk about the Avengers Initiative, I think that they've asked Tony Stark to join rather quickly. I mean, the man JUST appeared. But then, something like The Avengers would take a long time to put together. It's really a minor quibble.

The dialogue ranged from fantastic to poor. Most of it was solid, and the actors sold almost every line well. Few complaints here.

The music was pretty standard, even lousy. Wayyy cliche. "DA DA DAAAAAA" when the villains appear is not a good score. Not an impressive score.

I give it an 8. A 10 is a movie that takes a completely mature approach to material, which this, in the final tally, did not. A 9 is a movie that has some fun, but manages to resist the urge to "pander" a lot. And with moments like "Daaaaamn", and the occassionally cartoony and predictably comic booky/random funny moment stuff, I think there was definitely a bit of that going on. It's a strong 8, and a very good movie with some minor but fairly apparent flaws.

This is a very good movie. But I don't think that it's a great one. They're building something. That much is obvious. I'm sure sequels will feature more specialized armors and more if Ten Rings. And War Machine, and SHIELD. And that's something to look forward to for sure.

The only thing I dont understand is that how come the agents who worked for SHIELD didnt have more high tech weapons? They looked just like ur ordinary fbi agents. They all had normal guns.

 

[Radio_Clash]

Similar kinda vibe as the earlier GR reviews.

........like he doesn't want to be the one who says it wasn't as good as the all Hype. I may be wrong, but it's just a vibe.

It was better than Ghost Rider by a 1,000,000 miles, Ghost Rider could ride that damn bike the rest of his life and not catch Iron Man.

 

[chaseter]

Iron Man was a decent film. Nothing incredible or amazing at all. If you've seen the trailers you've essentially seen the film. It didn't go much deeper than any other Marvel film (not including Hulk), and it was basically standard Marvel fare (something happens to guy, guy becomes hero, guy's girl is threatened/kidnapped, final fight).

7/10

I whole heartedly disagree with the bold. The trailer does give away a few spoilers like Stane being the bad guy but other than that, there are a lot more great scenes and awesome moments in the movie that weren't in the trailers.

Not including Hulk? At least this movie didn't have a giant poodle fightt:

Lastly, something happens to guy, guy becomes hero, guy's girl is threatened...etc...is nearly the plot of all super heroes. It happened in Hulk, Batman, Spider-Man, yada yada the list goes on and on. But I am glad you liked it and I am surprised that no one has hated it on here yet.

 

[DoomRulz]

I just got back from the theatre and in a word: Awesome. It's easily the best Marvel movie yet, and a superb film in its own right.

Favourite scene: the tease of War Machine when Rhodes looks at the IM armour.

Favourite line: The truth is...(pause)...yeah, I'm Iron Man.

10/10

 

[The Chris]

This movie is awesome. Downey Jr is awesome. favreau is awesome. This franchise will be awesome!

 

[The Guard]

The only thing I dont understand is that how come the agents who worked for SHIELD didnt have more high tech weapons? They looked just like ur ordinary fbi agents. They all had normal guns.

Or SHIELD combat outfits. They obviously want SHIELD to look as much like a government agency as possible, so that's part of it. As for the weapons/outfits, I think it's likely because they were just going to speak for Stark, and were more on a diplomatic mission, not planning to go into a warzone.

I loved their shirts.

 

[Kirk Langstrom]

Yup it was him he did the guitar parts in the action scenes.

It was a great rock soundtrack, I loved that Tony was listening to Suicidal Tendencies while he was tinkering with his hot rod.

Oh, ok. Cool. I wonder if Tom's a comics fan...?

 

[DoomRulz]

I was disappointed that there was no Nick Fury in the film. Was kinda hoping for a cameo.

 

[flickchick85]

^He was in the scene after the credits

 

[chaseter]

I was disappointed that there was no Nick Fury in the film. Was kinda hoping for a cameo.

cough...after credit scene...cough

 

[Upset Spideyfan]

I was disappointed that there was no Nick Fury in the film. Was kinda hoping for a cameo.

Uh...

 

[Asteroid-Man]

Prepare for spoilers!!!

My top 10 scenes:

10. Building the Suits:
With all 3 marks being built, it was nice to be along on the ride! The first one was kind of dragged on I thought but the second one was fun to watch him test and build everything and design it with that kickass computer!

9. Pepper:
It was nice to see Pepper be a mix of Jarvis and the Pepper from the comics. Also it proved she wasn't an idiot when she went rolling with the Agents and decided to stay with them for protection.

8. The guy who helped him build the missile:
This character was a good character to have included and having him die off was nice as well. Also saying his city was nice, really helped Tony realize the changes his weapons had made when he saw it on the TV days later.

7. S.H.I.E.L.D.
The title they kept using was amazing as well as the "Ooh that's a mouthful!" line was fun.

6. Jarvis:
Nice to see how they made him a computer. Really set it aside from Batman.

5. The whole revealing of "I am Iron Man" then cutting to the theme song:
It knocked a punch at all the people thinking "oh it's just another Superhero Movie, he's gonna get away with it!" and it caught every fanboy and fangirl off guard. Also, no other superhero film (based on a SINGLE superhero) has this move pulled and I'm curious to see how it's going to stand out.

4. The Humour:
From every time he messed up flying (like back flipping into the wall ) to things like his one liners, this movie had amazing funny parts to it! (Aside from "Is this needed?" that was the lamest joke EVER)

3. Keeping the old power-heart-thing:
As predictable as it was at that last second when he had it taken out of him, using the old one which we thought was through with was a nice touch showing how the writers really cared about this film and that things from the beginning of the film flowed with things from the end.

2. Nick Fury:
That final scene after the credits was amazing, and perfect for the fans.

"I am Iron Man... hmph. You really think you're the only Superhero out there?"

"Who are you?"

"Colonel Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. I'm here to talk to you about "the Avengers" initiative."

And one more thing: You CAN'T go wrong with Samuel L. Jackson... EVER.

1. WAR MACHINE:
Although the wasn't exactly in it, Jim Rhodes looking at Mark Two and the look on his face was incredible! And then the line to end it... "Next time, baby." I feel that means we'll be getting War Machine in the sequel!

All in all, the movie was fantastic and I felt I should post my 10 favorite scenes.

I give this movie a 9.5/10

How could it have gotten that .5? Rhodes getting in the suit and music added to the Iron Monger VS. Iron Man street battle.

 

[Asteroid-Man]

I was disappointed that there was no Nick Fury in the film. Was kinda hoping for a cameo.

 

[javi1024]

finally after 4 years Marvel delivers what they promise! i really enjoyed this movie. Downey Jr was great, the suit mechanics were fantastic. definitely dvd worthy.

 

[DoomRulz]

cough...after credit scene...cough

Say what? I didn't stay :|

 

[javi1024]

Say what? I didn't stay :|

yea the sam jackson/nick fury thread's been talkin about it for a while. its nothing exciting (kinda), just cool to see.

 

[DoomRulz]

1. WAR MACHINE:
Although the wasn't exactly in it, Jim Rhodes looking at Mark Two and the look on his face was incredible! And then the line to end it... "Next time, baby." I feel that means we'll be getting War Machine in the sequel!

All in all, the movie was fantastic and I felt I should post my 10 favorite scenes.

I give this movie a 9.5/10

How could it have gotten that .5? Rhodes getting in the suit and music added to the Iron Monger VS. Iron Man street battle.

I actually glad that was left out. Better to establish the hero rather than introduce the sidekick from the get-go I think.

 

[The_Vision]

Loved it! Completely awesome, 10/10

 

[FireandIce213]

Say what? I didn't stay :|

yea u definitely missed something that could've been of interest to u...o well go see it again

 

[Midnhtsun]

Iron Man was a decent film. Nothing incredible or amazing at all. If you've seen the trailers you've essentially seen the film. It didn't go much deeper than any other Marvel film (not including Hulk), and it was basically standard Marvel fare (something happens to guy, guy becomes hero, guy's girl is threatened/kidnapped, final fight).
7/10

Wow you realize this is not marvel? this is baisically the rising action and climax to just about 80% of the movies out there? Anyways this movie had a lot more substance than you say. Also the love element was handled much differently than in most movies, Stark did and did not get the girl, much less was he really going after her. He realized that she was the only one he could trust. Other than that as for her being threatened that once again was very much downplayed as well, it wasn't even the driving force to the final battle.

Anyways this flick did keep very much the same elements that most movie go through but it handled it very well.

 

[Midnyte_Sun]

I just had a cheeseburger. 2 of them actually.

 

[The Guard]

That's another reason this film isn't a 10. Shameless product placement.