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Iron Man (2008)

Time Out rating

Average user rating

30 reviews

Synopsis

The latest Marvel comic book to receive a big screen adaptation, this one stars Robert Downey Jr. as the titular tycoon-cum-superhero.

Movie review

From Time Out London

Playboy weapons magnate Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is a greased amalgam of Howard Hughes, Hugh Hefner and C-3PO, complete with an enviable battery of glib banter and a goatee you could set your watch by. On a routine sales trip to the Middle East, his Humvee is ambushed by a terrorist cell and he is dragged away to a cave, where he is forced to reproduce one of his high-powered missiles with some scrap metal and a soldering iron.

Instead, Stark uses those materials to construct a suit of robotic body armour and flee from the extremists’ clutches. This channels his epiphany – perhaps long overdue – that profiteering from weapons is far from the Promethean zenith of overarching compassion he once thought it was. He returns a changed man and, with the help of his svelte assistant ‘Pepper’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) and best mate Jim Rhodes (Terrence Howard), builds a shiny suit of armour with which he plans to put an end to warfare for good.

All this liberal hand-wringing comes much to the chagrin of the sinisterly named Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Stark’s devious benefactor, who doesn’t shine to his peacenik jabbering one bit. Stane sports both a bald pate and a beard, a red flag combination in comic-book land if ever there was one.

Actor-turned-director Jon Favreau has proved with his past directorial efforts, including buddy comedy ‘Made’, Christmas film ‘Elf’ and kids’ fantasy ‘Zathura’, that he has a keen eye for character and can spin a decent yarn. Sadly, these two qualities are rarely apparent here, replaced instead by quick-fix one-liners and predictable set-piece gags. Like Iron Man’s suit, Favreau’s film feels like it has been meticulously assembled rather than lovingly formed. It’s little more than an elongated, episodic and sporadically charming introduction to the life of this mechanised millionaire superhero, light on both CGI and moral quandaries, and possessing neither the zip and sparkle of a ‘Spider-Man’ nor the brooding existential subtexts of ‘Batman Begins’.

Author: David Jenkins

Time Out London Issue 1967: April 30 - May 6

User reviews of this film

ken edwards said...

Posted on May 15 2008 20:15 Simply dreadful!

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Lukeyman said...

Posted on May 15 2008 10:57 Bit of a samey superhero story line but quite enjoyed this last night. Mr Jr was very good in it. He did look a bit like Al Pachino mind... The suit cgi is cool! Now they've set the scene I'm looking forward to the sequel! Trailer for the new Hulk film looked rubbish... looking forward to the new Indy film and Will Smith's Hancock .

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chrissyrozes said...

Posted on May 13 2008 17:44 Such a fantastic film!!! I am not an action film kind of girl, but this was beyond my expectations completely! I loved every moment of the film! and lets just say ladies that robert downey junior made it worth EVERYPENNY!!!! it was great, i can't praise it enough! go and see it you will not be disapointed! i will deffinatly be buying this one on dvd!!!

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immy said...

Posted on May 12 2008 15:57 The reviewer for timeout has got this one wrong, this is a very good movie indeed, up there with spidey and better than xmen, and kicks superman returns's arse all the way back to krypton!! well recommended.. ps wait till the credits end for a snipet of Iron Man 2!

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Lance said...

Posted on May 11 2008 12:16 Forgot the stars last time. Still an amazing film though.

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rizwan said...

Posted on May 11 2008 11:13 iron man is very good movie,it,s one of the best movie in the world,don,t miss it guyz go and watch it

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Lance said...

Posted on May 10 2008 19:04 Amazing Film!!!

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max said...

Posted on May 10 2008 16:56 I thought the movie was thee best movie i have ever seen and i would reccomened everyone to go and watch it.

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Aaron said...

Posted on May 09 2008 19:08 top notch movie. guys, u will spend the entire thing uttering the phrase "i want it". id say the girls will aswell.
in my opinion the best superhero move out there.
GO AND SEE IT.

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davoid23 said...

Posted on May 08 2008 15:38 A superb film. Don't expect "Just another Marvel". This film really holds it's own even if you have no idea about Iron Man. The Special Effects are dazzling and the suit looks amazing, without looking too cartoony. The only trouble I found with it, is that it didn't use the suit enough! He flies around a little and blows up bad guys, but there isn't enough time spent looking into all the gadgets, but even this is only a small niggle. The acting is top notch from all directions, with Robert Downey Jr really stealing the show. His portrayals of Tony Stark AND of Iron Man are both excellent and his timing suits the scripts humour perfectly. If you like the Iron Man comics you will love this film. If you've never heard of Iron Man, you will deffinately enjoy it anyway. A must see for anyone who enjoys cinema.
8.5 / 10

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merch drwg said...

Posted on May 08 2008 13:40 i think it looks amazin, but my friends dnt wana watch it.....o well,it get it on dvd instead! :) HUMAN RIGHTS 4 CHINA!

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andy said...

Posted on May 07 2008 09:09 This was fantastic, Robet downey jr was fantastic in the role the special effects were unbeleiveable
This is easily one of the best films of this year
this is definetly the start of the big summer blockbusters and definetly would see it again.

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moop said...

Posted on May 06 2008 20:42 i was expecting another semi-passable spidey, x-men or (god help us) daredevil. i came out of theatre with a huge grin on my face. admittedly the film had some down-points, for instance the fact he was kidnapped by the afghans and it's not p.c. etc.etc. but never the less the style with which downey pulled off his role as stark was genius, as was the rendering of the suit itself, modernised but not ridiculously glitzy, and all the fight sequences but the end one (which i felt was boring and rather cliched) were gorgeously directed.
i would have been happy to leave out the rather irritating love story with pepper potts, but as the role was competently acted, i have no huge complaints.
I am dissapointed that many people on the board have neglected to research iron man in any way; if they had done so they would have realised that jim rhodes was always black and that casting him as black has nothing to do with his so called "sidekick-friend role"
in conclusion, that was a bad-ass film and deserves far more credit than the cretins (who know nothing about marvel, let alone iron man) on this site have given it. long live robert downey jr.

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Bo_Nidle said...

Posted on May 06 2008 11:36 I saw this yesterday and was very impressed. Robert Downey Jr is excellent as the suave, cynical hero. The story of his transformation from arms dealer/designer to protector is well written as he still retains his cynical edge becoming the good guy without becoming a wuss! He actually kills when he has to and for me this gave a welcome hard edge to this latest comic book adaptation. In the words of my son "They aged it up!". While that may not be great English it summed up the tone of the film nicely. It isn't Spiderman, it certainly isn't Superman (thank God!). It's more along the lines of Batman Begins (another good film) but if anything it's a little harder and certainly wittier.
The effects are top notch but there is no excuse for sub-par effects on this budget.
As for the criticsms of it being "Not PC" well help me out here as I'm not seeing the down side. I have yet to see a "PC" friendly film that held any form of an interesting storyline.
All in all this is a great film to escape a couple of hours and have a thoroughly good time.
Apparently its taken $100,000,000 so far so a sequel looks inevitable and I look forward to it. I just pray that they don't "age it down" and please do NOT make it P.C.

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Robo Critic said...

Posted on May 06 2008 10:33 I went into this movie not expecting much - frankly, I don't rate Robert Downey Jr much - but I was pleasantly surprised. Not by the quality of the script or the depth of the storyline, more for the fact that I actually laughed out loud more than twice - testing the suits's retros and Stark's rapore with his helper robots was a nice touch!
You gotta remember, this is just another comic book movie-makeover so it's not gonna be 'War & Peace' or 'SChindler's List'. You also have to remember that its buried in its 70's/80's origins so we get the bland sterotypes and the non-PC crap - oh, and the over-simplication of US foreign policy rendered in celluloid.
It was never goona be as deep and brooding as 'Batman begins' (although it could have been) but it was a successful rendition of a decent comic book franchise - good action, thread-bare story and sprinkled liberally with humour - no-doubt Downey Jr inspired.

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