Iron Man (2008)

[Tyrant]

WOW. I loved this movie. I was terrified they were going to ruin it, since Iron Man is one of my favorite superheroes of all time. I figured I could still find things to like about it even if they screwed it up because, hey, it's Iron Man! I didn't expect, but hoped that it would be as good as it is. Even when Tony wasn't in the Iron Man suit and busting stuff up, it was entertaining and intriguing (which worried me at first after the Hulk movie a few years back). Here's hoping the future releases from this studio are as awesome as Iron Man.

I nearly wet myself on two occasions during this film: 1) When Rhodes looks at the silver suit and says "Next time..." (War Machine kicks ASS) and 2) The  stinger after the credits roll (terribly excited over the prospects of what the scene implied). This movie is competing with Batman Begins as the best superhero movie I've ever seen on my list.

[gbeenie]

So who else thinks The Incredible Hulk is going to have a very similar stinger at the end?

Not sure, but if you listen to the Incredible Hulk trailer closely, right during the last music sting during the title card, there's a four-note musical tip of the hat to the Incredible Hulk TV show.

[dignan]

Knowing hardly anything about the Iron Man comic, I have to say I thoroughly enjoyed the movie.  Although it had basically a by-the-numbers story, it was told deftly, and with a very solid performance from Downey, Jr.  Pretty good way to kick off the summer movie season, I thought.

[esoobaC .T bocaJ]

So who else thinks The Incredible Hulk is going to have a very similar stinger at the end?

Spoiler

Robert Downey Jr. cameos during the end credits as Tony Stark, after starring in Iron Man. He did it as a favor to Marvel Studios, which he acknowledged as a smart move, because when he was promoting his film he would also have to mention their other production

[Tripe]

Ok CGI or not I'm going to that.

[EVOLUTION117]

I nearly wet myself on two occasions during this film: 1) When Rhodes looks at the silver suit and says "Next time..." (War Machine kicks ASS) and 2) The  stinger after the credits roll (terribly excited over the prospects of what the scene implied).

And those prospects will be arriving on Screen July 2011.

Marvel Movie Breakdown:

The Incredible Hulk - June 13, 2008
Iron Man 2 - April 30, 2010
Thor - June 4, 2010
The First Avenger: Captain America - May 6, 2011
The Avengers -  July 2011
Ant-Man - TBA

[Tyrant]

If that schedule doesn't represent every facet of coolness, I don't know what does.

[mrbasehart]

When's the second Punisher movie coming out then?

[torgosPizza]

Think it got pushed back to December or something.

[GLaDOS]

now they're going have to make a comedic parody of iron man about a guy who is rich, a drinker and a drug addict. Then when he quits drugs and alcohol he becomes poor... it'll be called Irony Man.

[Fuzzy Necromancer]

No.

Something much, much worse is happen.

Do you think this movie is >>good<<? Do you think this movie is "awesome"? Do you think it's enjoyable? I really hope so. I hope this movie is worth it.

Because after this, there is no turning back.
 
After Iron Man, there will be, coming to a theater near you, "Superhero Movie 2".

May Dionysus and Hastur the Unspeakable have mercy on us all.

[mrbasehart]

now they're going have to make a comedic parody of iron man about a guy who is rich, a drinker and a drug addict. Then when he quits drugs and alcohol he becomes poor... it'll be called Irony Man.

Marvel already parodied Iron Man in their own 60s comic series, Not Brand Ecch!  It only ran for a few issues, but I found it loopily amusing.  Iron Man was Ironed Man in that one, I think.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Okay, here are my thoughts.  It rocked.  Really, as a Iron Man fan from way back I couldn't be happier.  I haven't followed Marvel comics for a good fifteen years at least, I don't know what's currently going on in the Marvel universe and nor do I care, the comic industry is all about finding ways to get you to buy more comics that you don't need and that, years later, your wife is going to make you sell because they're taking up the whole damn basement.  BUT back when I was young and nerdy, Iron Man was the book that got me into comic collecting.  I started reading it around the time that Stark became a raging alcoholic and lost Stark Industries (or whatever it was called at that time) to Obediah Stane and Jim Rhodes became Iron Man.  That was a great run of issues.  So I was especially pleased to see that the movie incorporated Stane into the origin story.  And I love how closely they stuck to Iron Man's original origin while updating it for today's political climate.  If anything, it works better in Afghanistan than it ever did in Viet Nam.

Downey was fantastic.  At least in the old days, Tony Stark never had much personality beyond the generic 'billionaire playboy'.  Downey turns him into a guy you can't stop watching, just waiting to see what he's going to do or say next. 

Jeff Bridges was also great as Obediah Stane.  I love how they made Stane very a smooth and manipulative father figure to Tony.  Not the typical comic book villain at all.  His transformation into crazed supervillain at the end of the movie is a tad hard to believe though.

The Mark I armor was brilliantly designed.  Real love went into creating that.  It really did look like something cobbled together out of scraps.

Gweneth Paltrow?  She was just kinda there.  I know the movie needed a love interest and they portrayed her relationship with Tony well but she didn't do much for me.

Terrence Howard, I still don't see him as Jim Rhodes.  The 'next time' line everyone's mentioning was a cute nod for the fans, but a little cheesy.

Even though they go to great lengths to justify it, it still takes great suspension of disbelief to buy that Stark's captors are too dumb to realize that he's building a suit of armor and not a missile.  But that's how it played out in the original comic and they stuck to it.

This is how you do a comic book movie.  You can make one that appeals to the character's fans and to the general public who has never picked up a comic book without insulting either group.  A huge triumph for Marvel.

[Thorns of Crimson Death]

Even though they go to great lengths to justify it, it still takes great suspension of disbelief to buy that Stark's captors are too dumb to realize that he's building a suit of armor and not a missile.  But that's how it played out in the original comic and they stuck to it.

That was the only problem I had with the movie, and it was minor since I was familiar with the back-story.  Me and my friend we're talking during that whole montage and were saying "Why aren't there any guards in the cell with them?" and "If the terrorists are that  stupid then why isn't Bin Laden chilling out in the open?".

Really, though, it's not much to complain about since that whole part of the movie is probably 10-15 minutes long.

[Sheik Yerbouti]

Even though they go to great lengths to justify it, it still takes great suspension of disbelief to buy that Stark's captors are too dumb to realize that he's building a suit of armor and not a missile.  But that's how it played out in the original comic and they stuck to it.

That was the only problem I had with the movie, and it was minor since I was familiar with the back-story.  Me and my friend we're talking during that whole montage and were saying "Why aren't there any guards in the cell with them?" and "If the terrorists are that  stupid then why isn't Bin Laden chilling out in the open?".

Really, though, it's not much to complain about since that whole part of the movie is probably 10-15 minutes long.

And they do take the time to show shots of the guards playing games and generally not paying attention to justify the whole thing.  Plus they show the security cameras being really low resolution.  Don't know why they would be when they appear to be regular security cameras.  But hey, minor quibble. 

Another thing I meant to mention, the credits were extremely cool and it's a shame that they got bumped to the end of the film where most people were likely to miss them.