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Underground > Film, TV & Theatre >

Iron Man - the movie

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16:33 / 04.05.08

(and the character does acknowledge he is doing something he would not normally do)

God, does he, I can't remember? That's even worse. It means the writer's aware there's a credibility problem but has failed to address it.

16:37 / 04.05.08

nevermind that, AG. i had to explain to friends what was that after the credits.

SPOILERS AHEAD

i'll second all the high and low bits of the movie you guys mentioned and add that yeah, there's very few for women to relate here, apart from loyal assistant Pepper [Gwyneth feeling a bit out of place in some scenes as the damsel in distress].

it's a boys' movie, about rich boys in their fancy cars. Downey JR completely owns it, engulfs everybody else; with my idol Bridges coming out pretty cool in second place as the reverse-Tucker [apparently they even used a shot of him from that movie in the Stark award homage].

i enjoyed how War was shown in the movie for what it usually is: Commerce. it felt almost like an light adult techno thriller [that tapped veeeeeery well into current subjects right out of newsfeeds] until the final battle that played very comic-book-y, but what i was expecting? i was in for IRON MAN, not SYRIANA.

I just wish there was a bit more of Iron Man and not just those 3 or 4 scenes.

only thing i missed was Stark actually building something for Humanity that was not war-related, like the cellphone in Ellis' EXTREMIS arc [from which the movie lifted some plot points].

but i was satisfied with this origin being about Stark's epiphany, first and foremost. maybe this element of the new direction for Stark Enterprises will be developed in the sequel.

and just how deep was that hole in his chest? ew.

17:31 / 04.05.08

apart from loyal assistant Pepper

Eh, I had that role firmly in my sights. The put upon secretary who actually loves it 'cause she loves him. No thanks.

17:43 / 04.05.08

Eh, I had that role firmly in my sights.

And I'm sure you'd have been a wonderful Pepper. But you can't worry about the casting people though, Mr B, a lot of them are on drugs.

Whisky Priestess

23:51 / 04.05.08

Interesting (re: female roles) to see, though, that the second-string Bond Girl type - the reporter Stark seduces right at the start - turns up again not once but an unprecedented twice, meaning that her role is not completely throwaway. I liked that, and was surprised by it.

And as for peaceful gadgetry, what could be better than the dry-ice drinks cabinet that pops up after the Jericho demo? Surely if everyone had one of these (with tea/lassi/etc. options for dry countries) the world would be a happier, cooler and less warlike place? It looked like something out of the best Innovations catalogue ever.

Saw it tonight, basically, and although a couple of the FITE!!!!S went on a tad too long for me, I though that generally it was great. Pleased to spot Favreau on driver/semi-bodyguard duty as Happy Hogan, too, and to identify Paul Bettany's voicework as Jarvis (J.A.R.V.I.S.?) from his very first line ...

00:55 / 05.05.08

Also saw it this evening. And, in spite of some great performances (Bridges is always good, as is Downey Jr, and even Paltrow was okay, I thought) it seemed to outstay it's welcome by a good half hour.

I think I'd rather be John Prescott's love toy than have to watch it again.

01:39 / 05.05.08

EW.com says that the movie has already paid itself with the first weekend opening, so the sequel will probably be on its way soon.

11:25 / 05.05.08

Well, what do you know, I was actually... amused and entertained with "Iron Man", which is something I didn't think would happen with me and this type of movie anymore. I liked that they took good care of building a reasonable back story for Stark's genius with the voice-over "newsreel" in the beginning, so the amazing brain-feats Stark performs throughout the movie are easier to swallow, unlike a certain other big budget comic-book-to-movie super-hero... I'll probably see it again soon, to catch the scene after the closing credits, which I missed the first time.

15:51 / 05.05.08

That was Paul Bettany's joice as "J.A.R.V.I.S." (my own version of the computer program name acronym)?!?!? Cool.

>> with my idol Bridges coming out pretty cool in second place as the reverse-Tucker [apparently they even used a shot of him from that movie in the Stark award homage].

Nice! I knew I recognized that shot from somewhere.

>> and just how deep was that hole in his chest? ew.

Yeah, the fight at the end with Iron Monger (I like how Stane calls they're 'iron mongers' earlier in the film, and that no one actually ever calls his evil Iron Man suit the 'Iron Monger') was a bit long and at times the typical boring, standard fight scene... but ah well.

15:52 / 05.05.08

I also dug "TONY STARK BUILT THIS IN A CAVE!! With SCRAPS!!!" insert lol here.

Our Lady Has Left the Building

09:47 / 06.05.08

It was a pleasant enough Summer movie, I did enjoy the story, though possibly more so when it was used in Spiderman 1 and, as no-one liked Hulk it doesn't matter that they reused it for a third time. I just don't know whether they needed an origin story for Iron Man, I think they could have just had an hour and a half of Iron Man hilarity and kept the origin story for the sequel. As they clearly intend to have Tony in his cups and replaced for at least some of it by War Machine I thought that would have made more sense.

Still, I always forget that costume-comics readers are inherently conservative so maybe they are content just to see the same story again and again.

Best moment?

Pepper finding Tony as he struggles to get out of the Iron Man armour.
Tony: "Let's face it, this is not the worst thing you've ever caught me doing."

simulated stereo

11:35 / 06.05.08

I don't think it's so much that "costume-comics readers" are conservative. More like studio heads want an origin story so that the average person will watch the movie and not wonder who this guy is. The question is, does the average non-comics reader really need an origin story? I don't think so, but then I'm a a big reader of superhero comics and I don't run a studio. Regardless, it's a formula that works pretty well and it obviously wasn't just comic readers who blew 100+ million to see it.

Jack The Bodiless

14:42 / 06.05.08

Well, these movies aren't made with superhero geeks in mind... except to try to placate them prior to release so as not to get poor publicity from the rabid netsavvy little freaks. And yes, for the most part 'costume-comics readers' are some of the most reactionary, conservative tossers in the world. Not you lot. The other 98%.

Jack The Bodiless

14:44 / 06.05.08

Whoops - forget to mention that I loved it. RDJ is officially my hero again. Have no complaints, other than the usual - mediocre pacing due to having to shoehorn in an origin/motivation first and second act. But that was my problem with X-Men too, and I still love that movie.

15:02 / 06.05.08

maybe we are the ones to find origin stories too formulaic because in mostcases we already read them in a comic. and we are the minority, actually.

all of the most sucessful superhero movies are origin stories: Superman [78], Batman Begins [ok, the 89 version may have made more money, but stil] etc etc. hmm, yeah, X-men wasn't an origin per se, but had us enter that new world through the eyes of Logan.

IRON MAN had one interesting aspect in its favour, that i think should be adopted as often as possible in company-owned character media adaptations: the current comic writers were called in by the filmmakers to have their say on the script and point suggestions.

Whisky Priestess

08:40 / 07.05.08

I didn't know the origin story before seeing the film and I thought it was actually quite interesting, although I thought the Batman origin in "Begins" sucked balls.

10:47 / 07.05.08

Saw this on Sunday and thought the film was entirely made of Awesome with a giant side order of Win. I may, if pressed, admit to shrieking with glee at the scene after the credits as well.

RDJ was nigh on perfect in the role although even I wasb surprised at exactly how good he looks in a pair of jeans. Talk about buns of steel. I may be a little bit in love.

16:38 / 07.05.08

I thought the Batman origin in "Begins" sucked balls.

You likked it, then?

Hmmm. Now that we pretty much know that RDJ has filmed a scene for Hulk... how fucking awesome would it be if that scene involved him deployed by S.H.I.E.L.D. to stop the terribly designed green menace in a Hulkbuster suit? File under: will probably never happen, but probably SHOULD.

17:39 / 07.05.08

To be honest, I'm a little nervous about the specter of cross-movie franchise continuity. Like, it'll probably be fun at first to see the various Marvel movies interact, but I think the clock immediately starts ticking towards the whole thing turning into the same tangled, interconnected, crossover-driven mess that comic universes in general tend towards.

18:28 / 07.05.08

I doubt it'll go that far. We're looking at an Iron Man sequel in around two years, which works out at about an hour per year, plus maybe a cameo in a couple of other movies and a fifth of the pie in Avengers. American comics generally have twelve issues per year, not counting X-Men which has four thousand. Often six issues of an American comic seems roughly equivalent to a two hour movie, so it'll take around four times as long to reach that kind of critical mass of continuity.

The way I see it, it's at least an interesting experiment to see how audiences take to that kind of storytelling.

(When did I get so used to totalling up the comics:film time ratio? Oh yeah, it's another thread around here somewhere, starts with a B...)

Our Lady Has Left the Building

20:02 / 07.05.08

Is it only me that watched this film thinking Pepper Potts would make a better and more deserving War Machine than Rhodes?

22:31 / 07.05.08

Directo, Marvel has announced its future projects. with the success of IRON MAN, i can see almost all of these Avemgers-related movies being made:

# The Incredible Hulk - Scheduled for June 13, 2008 release
# Iron Man 2 - Scheduled for April 30, 2010 release
# Thor - Scheduled for June 4, 2010 release
# The First Avenger: Captain America (working title) - Scheduled for May 6, 2011 release
# The Avengers - Scheduled for July 2011 release
# Ant-Man - Writer/director engaged

02:56 / 08.05.08

Nothing for 2009? What useless, useless bastards. Does nobody love superheroes any more?

09:42 / 08.05.08

Apparently the writer's strike has fucked up any and all '09 plans

Jack The Bodiless

10:36 / 08.05.08

But... that means no shiny superhero movies for my summer 2009. Where's... where's my shiny gonna come from?

I must have shiny. I demand it!

10:51 / 08.05.08

In 2009 there will be Tranformers 2, which is a Marvel (& Hasbro) property, isn't it? With some luck, the Spider-Man in black uniform will make a cameo

11:30 / 08.05.08

Is it only me that watched this film thinking Pepper Potts would make a better and more deserving War Machine than Rhodes?

No you're not.

And... Ant-Man? Surely that's some barrel scraping right there?

12:36 / 08.05.08

But done by Edgar Wright of Spaced fame, so maybe not.

13:30 / 08.05.08

i only posted the main Avengers-related info.

in 2009 they'll release X-MN ORIGINS: WOLVERINE and Lexi Alexander's PUNISHER WAR ZONE.

the plan is for 2 movies a year

13:35 / 08.05.08

And... Ant-Man? Surely that's some barrel scraping right there?

I don't know. I see much potential for some very bizarre visual effects and plot points there.

14:54 / 08.05.08

The Ant Man movie could actually be very good indeed, seeing as it will be played as a comedy and will be directed by the wonderful Edgar Wright (director of the Spaced TV series, Sean of the Dead and Hot Fuzz, to say nothing of his directing the upcoming Scott Pilgrim movie). The super-hero comedy is something that hasn't really been explored yet, other than the upcoming Will Smith "Hancock" film and the abysal "Superhero Movie".

18:47 / 08.05.08

It's almost certain that Marvel won't do much more than insert a couple of cameos into any of those movies pre-Avengers. We'll get an origin movie for both Thor and the Cap (the working title for Captain America practically begs for an origin tale) so they won't want to take the spotlight off whoever they're introducing.

What's more of a worry for superhero cinema fans (and Marvel) is whether interest can be sustained in these films. Excitement for Hulk isn't exactly at an all time high, the trailers don't look promising for it and I can't see Thor or Ant Man faring well in the anticipation stakes. Captain America could also fare pretty poorly worldwide for obvious reasons, outside of a lot of comics love from some quarters the world is probably just not in the right place for him right now.

The upcoming plans strike me as just a little too ambitious to be workable, and without proven titles like Spiderman and X-Men mentioned and Wolverine possibly already well-worn out in his treatment in those films we might be looking at an EPIC FAIL here. I don't know how the business arrangements are set up, so can anyone answer me this crucial question:

If this goes the way of Ichinose Maki then could it take down the comics side of the company with it?

Hallo, Paper Spaceboy

19:01 / 08.05.08

I'd really like to see Iron Man, but it won't ever be as good as the version starring Tina Fey.

20:01 / 08.05.08

Was it just me, or were women particularly badly treated in this movie? Even by Hollywood standards, I mean.

That interesting, because I actually thought the film did better than average.

SPOILERS

Pepper saves Tony's life at least twice. Once with the heart thing and once by shutting down the crazy energy machine.

Pepper's a decent hacker and keeps her cool when she's caught in the act by Stane, managing to steal his secret data right in front of his nose.

And to top it off, she refuses to sleep with her womanizing boss, despite him being the movie's hero.

I'm not saying it was perfect by any means, but not bad by "Hollywood standards."

20:09 / 08.05.08

Yeah, you're probably right. And I totally take Whiskey's point about the reporter. That stood out for me too.

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