Iron Man (DVD, 2008, Widescreen)

Experienced cast. Solid acting. Screenplay true to the series. All good reasons to watch. But I bought it for the ideas - the tech. While "super powers" are fantasy, cybernetics are not. Already, we are seeing neural interfaces for advanced prosthetics. I absolutely loved the graphics and electrmechanical characterizations, the way the suit was designed and built (ha, ha), how a user would interface with it, get in and out of it, the various ways it could be employed,etc.
This movie and its central theme of exoskeletal, cybernetic enhancement of the (human) body and it actually paves the way for a correctly re-done Starship Troopers movie in which similar technologies were central to Robert Heinlein's original story.
Even before this movie came out the US Army had a project called Land Warrior 2000 whose objective was to integrate the infantryman into a battlefield-wide network; piping his sensory inputs (visual, infra-red, aural)to the network and receiving the same from his fellow soldiers on the field and various other "off-board" sensors such as JSTARS, predator, guardrail, scan eagle, etc. The purpose of the program was to give the infantryman and his commanders a complete, "God's eye" view of the entire battlespace. As it currently stands, it's been folded into a successor program called Future Combat System (I wonder if they've simplified it and gotten it light enough and small enough to carry around)...
Not all, but most of what's in the movie is plausibly within reach of near-future technologies.
I also liked Jeff Bridges character, Obidiah Stane (hope that's the right spelling). He reminded me of Christopher Plummer's General Chang in Star Trek: The Undiscovered Country; both very well done.
Even if you couldn't begin to understand the engineering and science upon which the story is rendered, you can't help but get carried away by the fast paced action, the special effects, and the fully developed characterization. This movie is a top shelf item of the action adventure genre. If you are a fan of the genre Iron Man is a must-see.

Robert Downey Jr. gives a great performance as Iron Man in this Movie and Marvel Comics scores another hit following the SpiderMan movies.

Gwyneth Paltrow and Jeff Bridges have outstanding roles in the movie.

Iron Man holds your attention from the beginning when Downey, captured by terrorists, dreams up "Iron Man" all the way to the end when he fights the final battle. (And don't miss the extra scene at the end of the final title sequence).

Any comic book fan will love the movie as well as anyone who loves a good action adventure movie.

Rated 5 of 5 for great acting, great directing and well done movie.

Don't miss it.

Features actors Robert Downey Jr., Terrance Howard, Jeff Bridges & Gwyneth Paltrow.
The famous genious builder maker Tony Stark was doing a demonstartion of the newest one-hit missle launcher to be used against enemies made by his company Stark Industires in a rual area.When traveling back they are attacked and Stark was injured and has been captured and taken to enemy territory.There they demand that he built them his new missle launcher.The enemy leader tells him once he does so he will let him go free.Stark knows better and know that he will not be released after he builds what they want.Stark comes up with the plan to escape by building an armour suit out of scrap metal.When he finally escapes he has a new outlook on life and what he wants to do to change things for the better.High action packed dvd from begining to the end!DVD features deleted scenes & extended scenes.I first rented this movie, and I'm hoping to but it very soon!
Would recommend to rent or buy!

Out of all the summer's genre offerings, Iron Man was the best of the bunch. Most people I spoke to liked both The Dark Knight and Iron Man have the opinion that the Batman epic was better. I disagree. I found Robert Downey Jr. a most engaging Tony Stark (Iron Man's alter ego) and I began to really like the character more so than Bruce Wayne (Batman's identity). But I agree that both were amazing. The disc has the deleted scenes that most enjoy with any DVD purchased or rented. Try to obtain the hard to get Ultimate 2 Disc Edition with the Iron Man comic book packaged within it. The comic was exclusive to Walmart stores and only had a limited amount available to each outlet. It expounds on the movie's ending, and done really well. I stayed in the theater and after all the credits, there was a bonus one minute or so hint to a future Marvel movie based on the Avengers with Samuel Jackson as Nick Fury. The Avengers is Marvel's version of DC's Justice League which features Iron Man as a key team member. Check this out on the DVD as well. All in all, superhero fan or not, you will enjoy this movie.

This movie rocked! Robert Downey Jr. was made to play this part. I can't imagine anyone else doing it as well.

As far as the storyline, I didn't know much about Iron Man other than what my husband told me, so I just assumed it would be yet another superhero movie. To my surprise, it was pretty believable. Unlike a man getting bit by a spider or falling from another planet, a billionaire genius could build a suit that could fly and be used to defend our country. At least I thought so until I wrote it down. Now it just seems far fetched.

It really is good though. Contrary to how it may seem, I do tend to like the superhero movies, with the exception of The Hulk. Why they are making another one when they just made one five minutes ago that sucked royally, I have no idea. That aside, Iron Man was good just as an action movie, superhero aside, for those of you who don't like comic book movies.

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