Iron Man (2008)

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers (WGA):

Mark Fergus (screenplay) &
Hawk Ostby (screenplay) ...

Release Date:

2 May 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi | Thriller

Tagline:

This Summer: Heroes Aren't Born, They're Built.

Plot:

When wealthy industrialist Tony Stark is forced to build an armored suit after a life-threatening incident, he ultimately decides to use its technology to fight against evil.

Plot Keywords:

Weapon | Missile | Armor | Afghanistan | Playboy

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 12 wins & 42 nominations

Cast

Robert Downey Jr.	...	Tony Stark
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)

Also Known As:

Ironman (International: English title) (alternative spelling) (USA) (poster title)

MPAA:

Rated PG-13 for some intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content.

Runtime:

126 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English | Persian | Urdu | Hindi

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

SDDS | Dolby Digital | DTS

Certification:

South Korea:12 | Ireland:12A | Australia:M | UK:12A | Finland:K-13 | Netherlands:12 | Iceland:12 | Canada:14A (Manitoba) | Canada:G (Québec) | Canada:PG (Alberta/British Columbia/Ontario) | Singapore:PG | Hong Kong:IIA | Norway:11 | Malaysia:U | Sweden:11 | New Zealand:M | Switzerland:12 (canton of Vaud) | Switzerland:12 (canton of Geneva) | Brazil:12 | Argentina:13 | Philippines:G (MTRCB) | Portugal:M/12 | Italy:T | USA:PG-13 (certificate #44328) | France:U | Peru:PT | Greece:K | Taiwan:PG-12 | Germany:12 (uncut) (video) | Germany:12 (cut) (theatrical) | South Africa:10V | Austria:12

Filming Locations:

Alabama Hills, Lone Pine, California, USA

Company:

Paramount Pictures

Trivia:

In another nod to Tony Stark's comic book foe The Mandarin, The Ten Rings leader, Raza (Faran Tahir), is seen occasionally fiddling with an elaborate gold ring with a red jewel and espouses the virtues of Genghis Khan. The novelization of the film has Raza refer to "the man whose ring I wear" as someone higher on the terrorist hierarchy.

Goofs:

Factual errors: In the beginning sequence when Tony Stark is in Afghanistan riding in a HMMWV without armor protection with several US Air Force Airmen. An up armored HMMWV's doors have very thick armor and glass. You can tell by looking at the blast holes in the side of the vehicle this is not an armored variant of the HMMWV. This is almost impossible. Months after the US military attacked Afghanistan a General Order was made that prohibited non up-armored HMMWV's from leaving any base camps. Certainly, if Tony Stark was traveling with the US military he would have been afforded the highest level of security.

Quotes:

[first lines]
Tony Stark: I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forest...
Jimmy: We can talk, sir.
Tony Stark: Oh, I see. So it's personal.
Ramirez: No, you intimidate them.
Tony Stark: Good God, you're a woman! I honestly, I couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.
Ramirez: I'm an airman.
Tony Stark: Well you have actually excellent bone structure there. I'm kinda having a hard time not looking at you now. Is that weird?
[...]

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Newlywed Game: (#1.1)" (2009)

Soundtrack:

Back In Black

Surprisingly Well Done

So the world premier of Iron man to regular movie going audiences happened to be here in Seoul Korea on an army installation. I got to check it out and I was delightfully surprised.

Much against the hype, I thought this movie would have been torrid trash acting mingled with cheesy fight scenes. I mean Robert Downey Jr as an action superhero? But I am glad to admit that I misjudged the movie completely. Downey played a very good Tony Stark, in generally every way. From his jokes to his obnoxious lifestyle he looked and walked the part very well. His banter with his right hand assistant Ms. Pepper Potts isn't mind numbing and actually found myself laughing aloud at some of the wit.

The movie itself moved at a very good pace. Mixing action, comedy and some drama to just about the right proportions. As with most superhero movies, its rather predictable, but in all the right ways you'd want a superhero movie to be. The animation used was almost seamless, and of course the Iron Man costume was kicking major ass.

My only gripe with the movie was the fact that several characters were thrown into the mix with little behind them other than 2D character attributes. Leslie Bibb's character, Christine Everhart, is pretty useless other than the two or three lines she has. Hardly worth a hardbody like Leslie Bibb to play. Several other characters didn't feel fleshed out at all. Raza (Faran Tahir), Obediah Stone (Jeff Bridges) , and even Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard) feel hollow in the fact that they have little justification for many of their actions.

So All in all, I'd give this movie an 8.3. Fun for the whole family, great pacing, and a Superhero movie to give the next Batman movie a run for its money.