Iron Man (2008)

The story of moneyed industrialist Tony Stark is put on an impacted course against a materialistic dictator. Secret weapon? An iron-clad armor made to fight present evil and for future battles.

Director:

Jon Favreau

Writers:

Mark Fergus (screenplay), Hawk Ostby (screenplay),

Stars:

Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard

Nominated for 2 Oscars. Another 17 wins & 50 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Robert Downey Jr.	...	Tony Stark / Iron Man
Terrence Howard	...	Rhodey
Jeff Bridges	...	Obadiah Stane
Gwyneth Paltrow	...	Pepper Potts
Leslie Bibb	...	Christine Everhart
Shaun Toub	...	Yinsen
Faran Tahir	...	Raza
Clark Gregg	...	Agent Coulson
Bill Smitrovich	...	General Gabriel
Sayed Badreya	...	Abu Bakaar
Paul Bettany	...	Jarvis (voice)
Jon Favreau	...	Hogan
Peter Billingsley	...	William Ginter Riva
Tim Guinee	...	Major Allen
Will Lyman	...	Award Ceremony Narrator (voice)

Storyline

Tony Stark is the complete playboy who also happens to be an engineering genius. While in Afghanistan demonstrating a new missile, he's captured and wounded. His captors want him to assemble a missile for them but instead he creates an armored suit and a means to prevent his death from the shrapnel left in his chest by the attack. He uses the armored suit to escape. Back in the U.S. he announces his company will cease making weapons and he begins work on an updated armored suit only to find that Obadiah Stane, his second in command at Stark industries has been selling Stark weapons to the insurgents. He uses his new suit to return to Afghanistan to destroy the arms and then to stop Stane from misusing his research.

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Plot Keywords:

armor | missile | genius | playboy | escape | 

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Taglines:

Heroes aren't born. They're built.

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Genres:

Action | Adventure | Sci-Fi

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Certificate:

PG

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official site [Brazil]

Country:

USA

Language:

English Persian Urdu Arabic

Release Date:

2 May 2008 (Canada)

Also Known As:

Iron Man

Filming Locations:

Palmdale Regional Airport, Palmdale, California, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$140,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

£5,465,103 (UK) (2 May 2008)

Gross:

$318,298,180 (USA) (26 September 2008)

Company Credits

Production Co:

Paramount Pictures, Marvel Enterprises, Marvel Studios

Technical Specs

Runtime:

126 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital DTS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Nicolas Cage and Tom Cruise were interested in playing Iron Man. Cruise in particular was going to act in and produce the film. Cage played another Marvel superhero in Ghost Rider (2007).

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Goofs

In the opening scene where Tony Stark is in the "funvee" with AC/DC playing, drink in hand, there's some kind tape glue residue (like duct tape would leave) on his window that is inconsistently visible between shots.

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Quotes

[first lines]
Tony Stark: I feel like you're driving me to court martial. This is crazy. What did I do? I feel like you're gonna pull over and snuff me. What, you're not allowed to talk? Hey, Forrest!
Jimmy: We can talk, sir.
Tony Stark: Oh, I see. So it's personal.
Ramirez: No, you intimidate them.
Tony Stark: Good God, you're a woman! I honestly, I couldn't have called that. I mean, I would apologize, but isn't that what we're going for here? I thought of you as a soldier first.
Ramirez: I'm an airman.
Tony Stark: Well, you have actually excellent bone structure ...
[...]

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Crazy Credits

This is Marvel Studio's first self-produced film (and the first film to set up the Marvel Cinematic Universe), so the Marvel logo is slightly adjusted: it fully appears, and then is accompanied by the title "Marvel Studios."

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Connections

Referenced in Conan: Dragonpuncher 3: The Punchening (2011)

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Soundtracks

Iron Man
Written by Ozzy Osbourne (as John Osbourne), Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler (as Terence Butler) and Bill Ward (as William Ward)
Performed by Black Sabbath
Courtesy of Black Sabbath
Under license from Downlane Limited

User Reviews

A well re-mastered legend

Since Marvel Comics and CGI started their mystical marriage in the late 1990s, we've had superheroes galore. Hulks, Surfers, Spidermen, not to mention constantly renewed Batmans and Supermans. So what does Iron Man have to offer that's different? A flawed character that becomes honourable is the answer, triumphing in the battle of Good over Evil in spite of being a bit of a prat.

Add to that some of the best features of Robocop, Batman Begins and Terminator II, and you have one of the more satisfying comic-books-turned-blockbuster that we've seen for a while.

Billionaire and genius Tony Stark – with a personality vaguely based on Howard Hughes – is a weapons inventor that gets captured by bad guys in Afghanistan. Forced to work for them, he has other plans. Stark, nicely played by Robert Downey Jr, fashions a hi-tech suit of armour - before going on to save the world in usual exemplary fashion.

This long build-up – to explain how he becomes Iron Man – is arguably the best part of the film. Ingenious special effects give Stark's futuristic Malibu mansion a sci-fi rather than fantasy feel. And the subtle build-up makes us more forgiving as the story slips slowly into comic-book reality.

There are, of course, compromises. It has to appeal to kids as well as adults, so there is none of the gutsiness of Terminator I (or similar adult-orientated sci-fi). And in spite of the heavy moral-political issues at stake, Iron Man stays politically bland – this being the only way to get D.O.D. approval and hence associated goodies like fighter jets and military hardware.

One of the most interesting ideas for me in the film was the idea of 'zero accountability'. This takes the form of having all the wealth, brains and playboy attributes that fiction writers can imagine, but could also be a symbol for U.S. military might, for instance. Stark's first premise, of power being the ultimate deterrent (and hence a peace-keeping force) is undermined when the enemy gets hold of the same weapons and starts killing indiscriminately. Theologians might also muse how power itself has no moral authority. Good guys have to grudgingly beseech permission from whoever wields the biggest thunderbolt.

Iron Man, essentially a symbol of power, abounds in biblical references, even if these come more from the comic book creators than any learning on the part of filmmakers. Jericho, the name given to Stark's finest military weapon, was the city that had to be destroyed, 'as an outward display of faith.' Which makes for great symbolism. Until you consider that modern-day Jericho is in the West Bank of the Palestinian territories, and then Stark's 'rockets' start to look a lot more loaded.

Iron Man's technology has a special feature to avoid targeting civilians. Now this is one military development I would love to see.

The second half of the movie is pure action, but with a well-delivered script and sufficient plot-twists to keep you engaged. Out-of-reach love-interest materialises as Gwyneth Paltrow, who I found very agreeable to watch, and the excellent supporting cast also includes Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard. This is a film that tries to please everyone and largely succeeds. It's a two-hour thrill-ride that offers a new action-hero for our CGI-sated palates.

On a personal note, my big disappointment was the title track – or rather lack of it. Having heard one of the most famous heavy metal riffs of all time in the trailer, I couldn't wait to see Iron Man flying through the skies to the sound of Black Sabbath's rock anthem. Sadly, the riff is all you get (probably cos the words seem to be based on an altogether different story). But if you sit through the closing credits hoping for more, you do at least get a very important extra scene. So you've been warned: don't leave the cinema beforehand!