It is a movie about a guy who flies around in an iron suit and kills bad guys. It has great special effects. That’s all you need know or that matters. Trying to read any sort of coherant political commentary into it is pointless. It is a fun movie. I highly enjoyed it.
I liked it.
The romantic subplot was good.
Stay for the end of the credits.
It has some major plot holes caused by trying to update a 1970s military setting to a modern one, but civilians won’t see the gaping unsealable holes caused by the march of time and hey, when you are already imagining a simple tiny glowing coil as an immense power source - just go with it.
The flight scenes rock.
I’ve read that Tony Stark changes his worldview after being waterboarded. As far as I know, no mention is made in the movie of hooking up car batteries to genitalia or shoving prisoners into plastic shredders...I guess if American doesn’t do it, it’s not worth showing.
Well, the reviews on Yahoo were good enough to convince my lady friend so we are seeing it tomorrow(Saturday) so I will post a review.
There was a "Man in Black" type from a secret Government agency that turned out to be one of the good guys, and they didn't sugar-coat the depravity of the Muslim terrorists.
The special effects were terrific, and the sound effects were earth-shaking. This will be a good one for people who have Blu-Ray players, 1080p HDTV's, and chest-crushing audio equipment.
-ccm
Here’s Ace’s take on it and I usually find him reliable. Generalized naughty language warnings apply to the whole site:
http://ace.mu.nu/archives/261555.php
“Any FReeper Iron Man Review? (Vanity, but political)”
it was a fun flick, sold out all night at the theatre that I and my daughters went to, we were lucky enough to get three tickets and seats together, many groups had to sit apart from each other. The movie was well worth the price of admission and should give “I am Legend” a run for movie of the year honors. Robert Downey Jr. acted “above himself” if that makes sense, and I really hope that he can remain clean and sober because there has GOT to be a sequel!
More like Rock’em Sock’em Robots. Robo Cop II, and the Transformers piled into one. A quick dig on water torture too. It’s another action movie with lots of special effects.
“I have a really interesting political point of view, and it’s not always something I say too loud at dinner tables here, but you can’t go from a $2,000-a-night suite at La Mirage to a penitentiary and really understand it and come out a liberal. You can’t. I wouldn’t wish that experience on anyone else, but it was very, very, very educational for me and has informed my proclivities and politics every since.”...Robert Downey Jr
Here is a review from Christian Film and Telivision
MOVIEGUIDE REVIEW: IRON MAN
Quality: * * * *
Acceptability: -1
IRON MAN stars Robert Downey, Jr., in the heroic story of billionaire defense contractor Tony Stark. After a new missile demonstration in Afghanistan, Tony is kidnapped by terrorists (using arms developed by Tony’s company) and forced to build the weapon he just demonstrated. Instead, he builds a suit of armor to escape. Back home, he tries to change the direction of the company because terrorists have access to his high tech weapons. His noble efforts are blocked by corporate partner Obadiah, who has his own agenda. Undaunted, Tony builds a new version of the armor suit to stop the terrorists.
IRON MAN is an enjoyable ride with terrific special effects. A battle of good versus evil, it contains minimal foul language and one implied sex scene. However, as a role model, Tony is a womanizer and rarely is far from an alcoholic drink. As he finds his calling to protect refugees from terrorists, those aspects to his character are dropped, suggesting a positive change. The military scenes are too intense for children, though most actual violence is either off screen or between men battling in suits of high tech armor.
For the complete review of IRON MAN, and other current movies, visit http://www.movieguide.org.
INTENDED AUDIENCE: Older children and adults
RATING: PG-13
RELEASE: May 2, 2008
TIME: 126 minutes
STARRING: Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Jeff Bridges, and Gwyneth Paltrow
DISTRIBUTOR: Paramount Pictures/Viacom
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A reviewer mentioned Tony’s change of view but also said there was no lingering on it. He emphasized that this was NOT a movie with a politcal message or agenda.
He just blows things up real good!
Loaded up the teens and 12 year olds to go see the movie yesterday, here was the group consensus:
1) It is as good as Spider-Man 1 and X-Men 1 as far as Marvel comic book movies.
2) Armor was well done, comedy was very subtle but funny.
3) Robert Downey pulled Stark off, very good acting on his part.
4) Political aspect was balanced and Stark being converted from careless playboy to concerned citizen was well done.
5) Everyone was looking forward to Iron Man 2.
Military was treated really well IMHO, as people doing their job. The terrorists were treated as bad guys, there was nothing sympathetic about them.
***MINOR SPOLIERS AHEAD***
The only point of contention was the idea of ‘war profiteering’ on the behalf of Stark’s company. But most of that was due to his partner.
His anti-weapon change of heart is understandable, and it is treated with shock by those who are closest to him (two sympathetic characters — Pepper Potts and Air Force liaison to Stark, Rhodes).
And in the end, when Stark discovers that Iron Man is a weapon after all, he has no compulsions in what is obviously killing terrorists. This is Hollywood/Marvel, a true anti-weapon change of heart would have involved Stark having some sort of attempt at creating weapons to pacify rather than kill.
I also thought it was humorous that after his anti-weapons spiel, his invention of his power source wasn’t marketed and shared with the people. Instead, he poured all of his efforts into creating a flight suit/weapon. LOL.
Personally, give me the original Iron Man who didn’t mind giving Titanium Man, the Mandarin and any number of assorted communists an ass kicking. I guess creating a Islamofascist superhero would be more humorous than deadly. LOL.
But this Iron Man will do too. ;-)
Well I really enjoyed it. For a superhero movie, the acting, cast and pacing was superb. Lots of wonderful visual fx but not so much that it becomes overkill.
The two hours flew by and at the end I wanted more. Looking forward to a sequel.
Let me put it this way: I’m on my way to see it tonight with friends, after having seen it last night with my wife. It’s that good.
Bad politics aside, I have to see it. Good versus evil, heroes, gadgets, action, and a romantic sub-plot - I am so there!