Marvel May - Iron Man (2008)
Hey guys, Chuck here, and welcome to Marvel May. Throughout the month, I'll be taking a look at movies based on comic books from the house of ideas: Marvel Comics. And what better way to kick off the first annual Marvel May than by taking a look at Phase One of arguably the most successful Marvel movie franchise: the Marvel Cinematic Universe. And what was the first film of the now legendary film series? Well, it's none other than the 2008 superhero film: Iron Man.
The movie opens with Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr, who is taken by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings after a military convoy he is part of is attacked while driving from the site of a weapons demonstration in the Afghan desert. About a night or so before that, we see Tony in Las Vegas being presented with the Apogee Award for his various endeavors, including humanitarian efforts and developing military technology. Okay, he's out gambling in the casino during the awards presentation, but what matters is that he receives the award. After receiving the award, Tony has an interview with reporter Christine Everhart, who drives with him to his home in Malibu for a one-night stand. The next day, Tony heads to the airport, where he meets with Air Force Lt. Col James "Rhodey" Rhodes, played in this movie by Terrence Howard. Tony and Rhodey then fly to Afghanistan, where Tony has a demonstration of his latest weapon: the Jericho missile. After the demonstration of the Jericho, the convoy is attacked by the Ten Rings, and Tony is captured. Unfortunately, Tony's chest is full of shrapnel from a missile that exploded near him. Because of this, another prisoner of the Ten Rings, Ho Yinsen, removes some of the shrapnel and places an electromagnet into Tony's chest, and hooks it up to a car battery, as a means of keeping the remaining shrapnel from piercing his heart and killing him. Members of the Ten Rings give Tony their demands: if Tony builds them the Jericho missile, they will let Tony go free. Instead of the missile, Tony and Yinsen work to build a miniaturized Arc Reactor, which will keep the shrapnel from his heart, as well as power us an armored suit to use for their escape. After building what is known as the Mark I Armor, Tony and Yinsen make their escape, but unfortunately Yinsen dies in the escape. In the middle of the desert, Tony is rescued by Rhodey and the U.S. military, and is flown back to the States.
After returning home, Tony holds a press conference where he announces that he will be shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. After this announcement, Tony's second-in-command at Stark Industries Obadiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges, convinces Tony to lay low and let him take care of things at the company. Meanwhile, Tony replaces the Arc Reactor in his chest with an improved one and begins work on the Mark II Armor. Utilizing repulsion technology based on the same technology as the Arc Reactor, Tony makes his suit able to fly. After a test run with the Mark II Armor, tony concludes that he needs to find a way to prevent ice buildup when he flies higher into the atmosphere, and adds the tech into the Mark III Armor. Meanwhile, Stane and the board of directors opt to lock Tony out , and they secretly ship Stark weapons to the Ten Rings, and photographs of the weapons are taken in the village of Gulmira. Angered by this, Tony suits up in the Mark III Armor and goes out to Gulira to destroy the weapons and save innocent lives from the Ten Rings. After a run-in with two F-22 Raptors, Tony returns home and makes plans to locate more of his weapons around the globe.
Meanwhile, the Ten Rings finds the parts to the Mark I Armor scattered around the desert, piece it back together, and contact Stane, who takes the armor and has the terrorists eliminated. Stane then has a group of Stark Industries scientists begin work on a prototype based on the Mark I Armor. This prototype is also known as the Iron Monger armor, but it's never referred to as such in the movie. Meanwhile, Tony has his personal assistant Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, find a file on the Stark Industries computers that could hold information on where more Stark weapons could be around the world. Pepper, finding the file, learns of Stane's prototype armor and that it was Stane that paid the Ten Rings to capture Tony. Pepper, after copying the file onto a thumb drive, meets with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, and tells him everything. Stane, after his scientists are unable to re-create the miniaturized Arc Reactor to power his suit, steals the Mark II Arc Reactor from Tony's chest, nearly killing him. With not much time left, Tony gets the Mark I Arc Reactor into his chest, and suits up to stop Stane. After a grudge match through the streets of Los Angeles that heads into the atmosphere, Tony and Stane continue their fight on the roof of the Stark factory. Tony has pepper overload the larger Arc Reactor that powers the factory, which causes an EMP burst that shuts down Stane's armor, causing him to fall into the Arc Reactor and to his death. The next morning, at a press conference, Tony receives an alibi from Coulson, while the newspapers ask about the so-called "Iron Man." Tony, speaking to the press, attempts to give his statement, and then sets the cards down and declares "I am Iron Man." After the film's credits, Tony returns to his home where an individual tells him he's not the only superhero in the world. The individual is S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to talk to Tony about the "Avengers Initiative."
Throughout the early and mid-2000's, Marvel movies, produced at studios like Fox, New Line, and Sony, were very popular, with the X-Men, Blade, and Spider-Man trilogies being the most successful. So, in 2006, when Marvel announced that they would open their own in-house movie studio, fans got really excited, Iron Man was, ultimately, the first film produced by the new studio, and excitement for the film was high. Originally, Tom Cruise was set to play Tony Stark, but he opted out due to creative differences. Robert Downey Jr. was ultimately cast in the role, and was a much better choice, as his performance made Iron Man a household name in the same way that Hugh Jackman did for Wolverine in the X-Men series. Actors Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, and Leslie Bibb were all terrific, and director Jon Favreau, who appears in the movie as Happy Hogan, made a great film.
One of the film's strongest points, aside from Robert Downey Jr's performance, was the visual effects work used to bring the three Iron Man armors, as well as Iron Monger's armor, to life. ILM did a terrific job with the visual effects on this movie, and the armors all looked incredible on the big screen. Back in 2008, this movie, along with The Dark Knight, helped further push the credibility of the comic book movie genre. Twelve years later, and the movie still holds up. If you've watched any of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you haven't watched the original Iron Man, SHAME ON YOU. I cannot stress how important it is to see where the MCU all began. Whether on DVD, Blu-ray, or Disney+, I definitely recommend giving Iron Man a watch, and I give it a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. Stay tuned for my review of The Incredible Hulk as Marvel May continues.
The movie opens with Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr, who is taken by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings after a military convoy he is part of is attacked while driving from the site of a weapons demonstration in the Afghan desert. About a night or so before that, we see Tony in Las Vegas being presented with the Apogee Award for his various endeavors, including humanitarian efforts and developing military technology. Okay, he's out gambling in the casino during the awards presentation, but what matters is that he receives the award. After receiving the award, Tony has an interview with reporter Christine Everhart, who drives with him to his home in Malibu for a one-night stand. The next day, Tony heads to the airport, where he meets with Air Force Lt. Col James "Rhodey" Rhodes, played in this movie by Terrence Howard. Tony and Rhodey then fly to Afghanistan, where Tony has a demonstration of his latest weapon: the Jericho missile. After the demonstration of the Jericho, the convoy is attacked by the Ten Rings, and Tony is captured. Unfortunately, Tony's chest is full of shrapnel from a missile that exploded near him. Because of this, another prisoner of the Ten Rings, Ho Yinsen, removes some of the shrapnel and places an electromagnet into Tony's chest, and hooks it up to a car battery, as a means of keeping the remaining shrapnel from piercing his heart and killing him. Members of the Ten Rings give Tony their demands: if Tony builds them the Jericho missile, they will let Tony go free. Instead of the missile, Tony and Yinsen work to build a miniaturized Arc Reactor, which will keep the shrapnel from his heart, as well as power us an armored suit to use for their escape. After building what is known as the Mark I Armor, Tony and Yinsen make their escape, but unfortunately Yinsen dies in the escape. In the middle of the desert, Tony is rescued by Rhodey and the U.S. military, and is flown back to the States.
After returning home, Tony holds a press conference where he announces that he will be shutting down the weapons manufacturing division of Stark Industries. After this announcement, Tony's second-in-command at Stark Industries Obadiah Stane, played by Jeff Bridges, convinces Tony to lay low and let him take care of things at the company. Meanwhile, Tony replaces the Arc Reactor in his chest with an improved one and begins work on the Mark II Armor. Utilizing repulsion technology based on the same technology as the Arc Reactor, Tony makes his suit able to fly. After a test run with the Mark II Armor, tony concludes that he needs to find a way to prevent ice buildup when he flies higher into the atmosphere, and adds the tech into the Mark III Armor. Meanwhile, Stane and the board of directors opt to lock Tony out , and they secretly ship Stark weapons to the Ten Rings, and photographs of the weapons are taken in the village of Gulmira. Angered by this, Tony suits up in the Mark III Armor and goes out to Gulira to destroy the weapons and save innocent lives from the Ten Rings. After a run-in with two F-22 Raptors, Tony returns home and makes plans to locate more of his weapons around the globe.
Meanwhile, the Ten Rings finds the parts to the Mark I Armor scattered around the desert, piece it back together, and contact Stane, who takes the armor and has the terrorists eliminated. Stane then has a group of Stark Industries scientists begin work on a prototype based on the Mark I Armor. This prototype is also known as the Iron Monger armor, but it's never referred to as such in the movie. Meanwhile, Tony has his personal assistant Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, find a file on the Stark Industries computers that could hold information on where more Stark weapons could be around the world. Pepper, finding the file, learns of Stane's prototype armor and that it was Stane that paid the Ten Rings to capture Tony. Pepper, after copying the file onto a thumb drive, meets with S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Phil Coulson, played by Clark Gregg, and tells him everything. Stane, after his scientists are unable to re-create the miniaturized Arc Reactor to power his suit, steals the Mark II Arc Reactor from Tony's chest, nearly killing him. With not much time left, Tony gets the Mark I Arc Reactor into his chest, and suits up to stop Stane. After a grudge match through the streets of Los Angeles that heads into the atmosphere, Tony and Stane continue their fight on the roof of the Stark factory. Tony has pepper overload the larger Arc Reactor that powers the factory, which causes an EMP burst that shuts down Stane's armor, causing him to fall into the Arc Reactor and to his death. The next morning, at a press conference, Tony receives an alibi from Coulson, while the newspapers ask about the so-called "Iron Man." Tony, speaking to the press, attempts to give his statement, and then sets the cards down and declares "I am Iron Man." After the film's credits, Tony returns to his home where an individual tells him he's not the only superhero in the world. The individual is S.H.I.E.L.D. director Nick Fury, played by Samuel L. Jackson, who wants to talk to Tony about the "Avengers Initiative."
Throughout the early and mid-2000's, Marvel movies, produced at studios like Fox, New Line, and Sony, were very popular, with the X-Men, Blade, and Spider-Man trilogies being the most successful. So, in 2006, when Marvel announced that they would open their own in-house movie studio, fans got really excited, Iron Man was, ultimately, the first film produced by the new studio, and excitement for the film was high. Originally, Tom Cruise was set to play Tony Stark, but he opted out due to creative differences. Robert Downey Jr. was ultimately cast in the role, and was a much better choice, as his performance made Iron Man a household name in the same way that Hugh Jackman did for Wolverine in the X-Men series. Actors Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Clark Gregg, and Leslie Bibb were all terrific, and director Jon Favreau, who appears in the movie as Happy Hogan, made a great film.
One of the film's strongest points, aside from Robert Downey Jr's performance, was the visual effects work used to bring the three Iron Man armors, as well as Iron Monger's armor, to life. ILM did a terrific job with the visual effects on this movie, and the armors all looked incredible on the big screen. Back in 2008, this movie, along with The Dark Knight, helped further push the credibility of the comic book movie genre. Twelve years later, and the movie still holds up. If you've watched any of the films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you haven't watched the original Iron Man, SHAME ON YOU. I cannot stress how important it is to see where the MCU all began. Whether on DVD, Blu-ray, or Disney+, I definitely recommend giving Iron Man a watch, and I give it a rating of 5/5. This is Chuck signing off. Stay tuned for my review of The Incredible Hulk as Marvel May continues.
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