IRON MAN (2008)
This movie essentially kicked off the Marvel Cinematic
Universe (MCU). While there were MARVEL movies before this one, IRON MAN
started off what would end up being a ten-year journey to complete a story arc
revolving around the Infinity Gauntlet (even though nothing about the Infinity
Gauntlet is mentioned in this movie). In
this one Tony Stark, a weapons mogul that runs Stark Industries ends up getting captured
by a group of terrorists known as the Ten Rings. Apparently, the MCU is planning
on getting back to the Ten Rings group later…like much later (like 2 years from
the time I am writing this in the movie SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS). Anyway, while being asked to build the group a bomb Tony wrestles with
what his company actually does while designing a suit that would shape his
future. The suit design was actually based on the kind of bulky design of the
original comic book IRON MAN series. Mainly because the terrorists that kidnap him
have some of his weapons with them. Robert Downy Jr. aptly plays Tony Stark
making fans everywhere glad they didn’t choose someone else. Special effects-wise I am thinking that 2007’s TRANSFORMERS movie probably led Paramount to a
place of confidence they could pull off the delicate machine effects done in
this one. In fact, this thing just looks freakin incredible.
The storyline in this one is heartfelt a lot like DOCTOR STRANGE in the sense that ego has to be overcome in order to do the right thing or obtain power. One thing that does bug me about this movie was how sinister they made Obadiah Stane (played by Jeff Bridges) out to be. It seems very odd that Howard Stark, (Tony’s Father) would have trusted him. The dudes like a full-blown Dr. Evil. I get that is what the writers were going for and Jeff did his job, but it felt a bit out of place. I almost wish we’d have gotten WHIPLASH (the Mark Scarlotti version) in this one, but the final battle was decent, and overall this movie still very much holds up when compared to the rest of the MCU. Overall it’s a classic and the AC/DC songs added to the soundtrack didn’t hurt at all. There is also just enough humor injected into this one, making this movie really fun why creating real stakes. This set the tone for the entire MCU and it does it superbly. With as many of the MARVEL movies coming close to the billion-dollar mark, seeing IRON MAN’s worldwide box office take at just $585,366,247 seems low, but IRON MAN was also a second or even third-tier hero in the MARVEL world at the time.
The screenplay was written by Mark Fergus who also wrote COWBOYS & ALIENS which pretty much flopped. Which is dumb, because that movie was freakin awesome. Yeah – you just read that. Okay, that wraps up this puppy. Overall IRON MAN when weighed against other MARVEL movies probably deserves a 6 out of 7. From me, it’s going to settle in at around a 5 out of 7. I do like it as the review indicates, but it’s not a movie I would pick in the MCU’s top 7 or 8 movies, which is a testament to how amazing the MCU is overall.
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A look around the series...
CAPTAIN MARVEL
THE AVENGERS
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