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Bookmark this pageIron Man (2008)
Director: Jon Favreau
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
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- Mr Dork said...
- Posted on May 03 2008 10:35 I was very disappointed as it was very noisy and I got fed up of watching the same thing happen every 2 minutes..... I felt a bit foolish however when I realised was actally sitting in the bowling centre
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- Nowhere Man said...
- Posted on May 03 2008 01:14 You douchbags don't know anything about Iron Man. Back in the mid-'80's, when Tony Stark was a drunk on skid row, his best friend, James Rhodes, a black man, wore the Iron Man armor long before War Machine was even conceived.
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- Phoenix said...
- Posted on May 02 2008 22:19 In my opinion a hugely enjoyable start to what will obviously be a lucrative franchise for both Downey Jr. and Marvel Studios. Whilst Marvel chose to leave out Starks alcholism (and justifiably so) Robert Downey Jr. gives a stellar performance and is both convincing and fresh as the comic to movie franchises newest member. I believe this beats the Spiderman series hands down, showing that both the Comic book genre and Marvel as producers (this is their first movie indepentanly produced) have matured greatly since the feet shuffling, stare at the floor web slinging capers of the frankly forgettable Tobey Maguire. Smart humor, a very tongue in cheek feel and a very respectable support cast..this movie gets my thumbs up and will at the very least, whet audiences appetites in the run up to this years Dark Knight
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- beezo said...
- Posted on May 02 2008 16:45 Another good one,... eagerly awaiting the rest of marvel adaptations.. Thor/Aquaman/Captain America etc.
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- Paul said...
- Posted on May 02 2008 14:12 that film was real good and the review was spot on cant wait til they make the next one just hope they go the same way but more into the story line from the comics
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- Dave said...
- Posted on May 02 2008 08:44 I saw Iron Man last night. This is a really good action movie with some really good laughs. Downey suits the role down to the ground. I was entertained from the beginning to the end. Can't wait for the next one.
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- usman khawaja said...
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Posted on May 02 2008 00:33
malibu man and ironical dialects with american dudes in flying suits -i was perplexed ,if not flabbergasted by the medical mysteries of this weird heart transplant and equally entertained by the cheeky dark humor of downey and elegantly swank -paltrow,they have an ignition here and their romance is underdeveloped ubfortunately .
the transformation of a malibu billionaire -stark into a flying saucer is amusing and yet the comment on the evils of defense industry and its exploitative tactics is worthy ,
downey has a stocky ,dark ,charismatic persona better than brad pitt or cruise any day ,he is as talented as nic cage and his wholesomeness and cheeky humor makes this amusing,as the rather mechanical genius who runs a huge weapon industrial plant .
the flaws are its derived from everything from mary shelleys frankenstein to last years TRANSFORMERS,the robotic clashes get monotonous and none of the set pieces are ingenious or memorable ,the cgi is lacking in authenticity too,alot of flashing toys ,holograms and dark spaces with strobe lights look down right clumsy,
the production design is far inferior to matrix or spiderman .
the transformers is still fresh and on many people's favourite list ,so this is ho-hum except for the downey performance and some tongue-in -cheek dialogue which is original.
the bagram-afghan angle was rather worthy with a yankee trying to save the innocent civilians and the impication of afghanistan being a testing ground for the western defensive technology was again clever ,but the american white villain is obtusely overacted and the afghan perpetrators are just caricatures speaking bad urdu,arabic and farsi-
the funniest line inadvertently is spoken by the white villain, who is downeys assistant ,that too in URDU to an ARAB terrorist -how were they able to accomplish that wonder is something only the script writer can indulge to our inferior intellect .
it was akin to a german talking to a mexican in russian .
still it was fun for a weekend movie and i was not expecting an exorcism in artistic aspiration anyway .
next time iron man can explore miss paltrows iron petticoats and also go beyond the erstwhile iron curtain .
definitely watchable due to downey,paltrow looks sexy in a plain black dress and they never get to kiss -what a shame ,time to redeem the ironman and his virility for the sequel .
usman khawaja
- jbz7879 - Report as inappropriate
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- Mike said...
- Posted on May 02 2008 00:23 you do realize that out of 108 reviews you and 4 other douches didnt like this movie. now why dont you write an article about your week leading up to this movie and explain why you were such a sour turd.
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- Justin Burton said...
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Posted on May 01 2008 18:28
Haha holy s*** I think the icing on the cake for me when it comes to this review are the comments about how GOOD "Elf" and "Spider-Man" were. Elf was a cute kids movie but was hardly anything to rave about and NOT something I would wish on a movie like Iron man. And Spiderman TWO was the only decent and salvagable Spider-Man movie as the rest were cookie cutter and bland as all hell.
This review reads more like a recapp of the movie with snarky comments added in to make it sound like you know what you're talking about. Over 90% of the critics who were present at a screening of Iron Man are raving about it. I hope this movie gets amazing reviews makes millions and has even more successful sequals.
You obviously know nothing about Iron Man because if you did you would know that Robert Downey Jr is the ideal actor to play him. - Report as inappropriate
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- FLETCH said...
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Posted on Apr 29 2008 13:49
Saw a pre-screening of it last night and it’s a huge disappointment.
The review is pretty much spot on. - Report as inappropriate
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- jamie said...
- Posted on Apr 29 2008 13:13 im on the internet ... I ROCK !!!!!!!!
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- jimbobian said...
- Posted on Apr 29 2008 13:11 Iron man was never black you noob face .. only in the what if? comics!!
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- Joe said...
- Posted on Apr 28 2008 19:07 If you're thinking that this is supposed to be like Spiderman or Batman then you are an idiot. All of the super heroes have different personalities and Iron Man's has always been his imperfections. The guy who wrote this is a complete idiot and should do a little research before he quickly compares it to Spiderman or Batman.
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- Euchrid said...
- Posted on Apr 28 2008 12:10 Pointless garbage for popcorn-guzzling, non-brain-engaged teenagers
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- Jon said...
- Posted on Apr 27 2008 15:54 Iron Man is not black, you're thinking of War Machine, who takes Stark's place while he deals with his alcoholism. War Machine is Jim Rhodes, who happens to be in this flick, played by terrance howard. At least know what you're talking about before you post nonsense
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Cast & crew
Director: Jon Favreau
Cast: Robert Downey Jr, Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Shaun Toub, Faran Tahir, Leslie Bibb, Sayed Badreya, Clark Gregg, Tim Guinee full cast
Genre(s): Action/Adventure
Rated: 12A
Duration: 126 mins
UK Release: May 2 2008
US Release: May 2 2008
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