Iron Man

Iron Man is a 2008 American superhero film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name. Directed by Jon Favreau, the film stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a billionaire industrialist and master engineer who builds a powered exoskeleton and becomes the technologically advanced superhero, Iron Man. Gwyneth Paltrow plays his personal assistant Pepper Potts, Terrence Howard plays military liaison James Rhodes and Jeff Bridges plays Stark Industries executive Obadiah Stane.

The film was in development since 1990 at Universal Studios, 20th Century Fox, and New Line Cinema, before Marvel Studios reacquired the rights in 2006. Marvel put the project in production as its first self-financed film. Favreau signed on as director, aiming for a naturalistic feel, and he chose to shoot the film primarily in California, rejecting the East Coast setting of the comics to differentiate the film from numerous superhero films set in New York City-esque environments. During filming, the actors were free to create their own dialogue because pre-production was focused on the story and action. Rubber and metal versions of the armors, created by Stan Winston’s company, were mixed with computer-generated imagery to create the title character.

Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures, the distributor, planned a $50 million marketing campaign for the film, which was modeled on Paramount’s successful promotion of Transformers; Hasbro and Sega sold merchandise, and product placement deals were made with Audi, Burger King, LG and 7-Eleven. Reviews were very positive, particularly praising Downey’s performance. Downey, Favreau and Paltrow will return in the sequel Iron Man 2, scheduled for release on May 7, 2010. Downey also made a cameo appearance as Stark in The Incredible Hulk.

Tony Stark gambles at a Las Vegas casino, leaving his deceased father’s friend and business partner, Obadiah Stane, to accept a prestigious award for him. Tony Stark is the head of Stark Industries, a major military contracting company which he inherited when his parents died in a traffic accident. Tony himself is an engineering genius, having earned multiple degrees and awards for his company’s advanced technological products, many of which he has invented. However, Stark is also a heavy-drinking, womanizing playboy. As Stark leaves the casino with his entourage, he is approached by reporter Christine Everhart, whom he charms into a one-night stand at his Malibu house. When she awakens the next morning, Stark is gone, and she is coldly greeted and helped out by Pepper Potts, his personal assistant.

Stark flies off to war-torn Afghanistan with his friend and company military liaison, Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, for a demonstration of Stark Industries’ new weapon, the “Jericho” cluster missile. On the way back, however, his military convoy is attacked. His escort is wiped out and Stark is critically wounded by one of his own company’s bombs.

Waking up in an Afghan cave, he discovers an electromagnet embedded in his chest, placed there by fellow captive Dr. Yinsen. Powered by a car battery, it keeps shrapnel from working its way to his heart and killing him. Stark has been captured by a terrorist group known as the Ten Rings, whose leader, Raza, orders Stark to build a Jericho missile for him.

Instead, during his three months of captivity, he and Yinsen begin secretly building a crude suit of armor, powered by a miniature “arc reactor” which also runs the electromagnet in his chest. Finally, the terrorists grow impatient and give Stark 24 hours to finish. Unfortunately, the terrorists become suspicious before the suit is fully activated, so Yinsen makes a suicidal attack in a desperate bid to buy time. Once the armor is ready, Stark charges through the caves. Near the entrance, a dying Yinsen tells him not to waste his life. Forever grateful to Yinsen, Stark burns all the munitions the terrorists have accumulated and then flies away, only to crash in the desert; Stark survives, but his suit is destroyed. After being rescued by Rhodes, Stark announces at a press conference that his company will no longer manufacture weapons. Stane tells him shortly thereafter that his decision is being blocked by the board of directors of Stark Industries.

Stark focuses his energies on building a better version of his power suit, while making an improved arc reactor for his chest. Once the new reactor replaces the old one, Stark realizes Potts is his only friend, and Potts gives Stark a gift: his first miniature reactor, encased in glass and bearing the inscription “Proof that Tony Stark has a heart”. After much trial and error, Stark develops first a “Mark II” armor suit, then an improved red and gold “Mark III”.

During Stark’s first public appearance after his return, he spots Potts wearing a backless blue dress – her delegated choice of birthday present from him, and recognizes his romantic feelings for his assistant. As they are about to share a kiss, Potts interrupts by asking for a martini. While ordering the drinks, Stark is accosted by Everhart, who shows him pictures of Stark Industries weapons, including Jericho missiles, recently delivered to insurgents. He realizes that Stane has been supplying both the Americans and their enemies, and attempting to remove Stark from power. Enraged, Stark dons the power suit, flies to Afghanistan and rescues Gulmira, Yinsen’s village, from the Ten Rings. As he is flying away, Stark is detected by the United States Air Force, which dispatches two F-22 Raptors to try to identify the mysterious flying object. The fighters are ordered to destroy the target. During the resulting dogfight, Stark has time to reveal to Rhodes, called in as a consultant, that he is the unidentified target. One of the planes is accidentally destroyed when it collides with Stark. The pilot ejects, but his parachute does not deploy, so Stark rescues him before escaping.

Stark sends Potts to hack into the company computer system. She discovers that Stane hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark. The group reneged on the deal upon discovering who the target was, which ultimately seals their fate when Stane has them eliminated later. She also learns Stane has recovered the pieces of the original power suit and reverse-engineered his own version, one much larger, more powerful, and less “conservative” than Stark’s. As she leaves Stane’s office, she meets with Agent Coulson of S.H.I.E.L.D., a newly-established counter-terrorism government agency, who has been accosting her and Stark about an interview concerning Stark’s escape from the Ten Rings.

After she leaves, Stane discovers what she has done. He goes to his scientists and is angered when they admit that they cannot duplicate the arc reactor technology that Stark created. Later that evening, Stane ambushes Stark in his house, using a Stark Industries device to paralyze him. While revealing his plan to take over Stark Industries, Stane removes the arc reactor from Stark’s chest and leaves him to die. However, with assistance of his workshop robots, Stark gets to Potts’ gift and re-installs his original reactor. Meanwhile, S.H.I.E.L.D. agents, guided by Potts, break into Stark Industries to arrest Stane, only to be attacked by Stane in the now functional Iron Monger suit.

Although his original reactor is underpowered for his latest armor, Stark races to the rescue. Stane’s armor suit is bigger and has more weapons than Stark’s, though not quite as sophisticated (it never fixed the icing problem that the old Mark II had). Ultimately finding himself outmatched, Stark lures Stane atop the Stark Industries building. With no power left, Stark instructs Potts to overload the full-sized reactor in the building. This unleashes a massive electrical surge that knocks Stane unconscious and sends him falling through the ceiling into the reactor itself, apparently incinerating him.

The next day, it is revealed that the press has dubbed Stark’s alter ego “Iron Man”. Rhodes gives reporters a false explanation of what happened. Before speaking, Stark briefly makes an attempt to establish a romantic relationship with Potts, but is put on hold considering she has not forgiven him for leaving her at the party without explanation when he decided to help Gulmira. During the press conference, Stark starts to tell the cover story given to him by S.H.I.E.L.D., but then instead announces openly that he is Iron Man.

In a post-credits scene, Stark is visited by S.H.I.E.L.D. Director Nick Fury who notes that Stark is not “the only superhero in the world” and states he wants to discuss the “Avenger Initiative”.
(www.wikipedia.org)

The Internet Movie Database

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. Written by John Vogel {jlvogel@comcast.net}

The playboy wolf and genius Tony Stark is the successful CIO of the Stark Industries, a weapon company founded by his father. His second in command is Obadiah Stane, who worked with his father, and his loyal and professional secretary is Pepper Potts, who has a crush on Tony. While in Afghanistan to demonstrate the ultimate Jericho missile developed by his company, his military convoy is attacked and Tony is seriously wounded on his chest and kidnapped by a group of rebels that wants him to assemble a missile for their use. Tony stays with his abductors for three months and develops a powerful metallic armor to escape from the cave where he is arrested. He decides to stop manufacturing weapons in his company under the protest of Obadiah, and dedicates his time to improve the armor, manufacturing it with gold and titanium and installing a propulsion system to fly. However, Pepper discovers that Tony was betrayed by Obadiah, who is using Tony’s data to build prototype armor for him, transforming it in the ultimate weapon. Written by Claudio Carvalho, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

NY Times

The world at the moment does not suffer from a shortage of superheroes. And yet in some ways the glut of anti-evil crusaders with cool costumes and troubled souls takes the pressure off of “Iron Man,” which clanks into theaters today ahead of Hellboy, Batman and the Incredible Hulk. This summer those guys are all in sequels or redos, so Iron Man (a Marvel property not to be confused with the Man of Steel, who belongs to DC and who’s taking a break this year) has the advantage of novelty in addition to a seasonal head start.

And “Iron Man,” directed by Jon Favreau (“Elf,” “Zathura”), has the advantage of being an unusually good superhero picture. Or at least — since it certainly has its problems — a superhero movie that’s good in unusual ways. The film benefits from a script (credited to Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway) that generally chooses clever dialogue over manufactured catchphrases and lumbering exposition, and also from a crackerjack cast that accepts the filmmakers’ invitation to do some real acting rather than just flex and glower and shriek for a paycheck.
full review

Rotten Tomatoes
Give 98% for tomatometer

Downey is at his charismatic best, rendering believable Stark’s transformation from self-indulgent jerk to socially conscious crusader. Calvin Wilson. St. Louis Post-Dispatch

Iron Man is the best superhero film to come along since Batman Begins, and is one hell of a way to start off summer of 2008. JoBlo. JoBlo’s Movie Emporium

One of the strongest entries into the superhero movie canon of recent years. While featuring a few flaws, this is one of the most entertaining comic book adaptations in last few years. Wesley Lovell. Oscar Guy

Amazon.com
You know you’re going to get a different kind of superhero when you cast Robert Downey Jr. in the lead role. And Iron Man is different, in welcome ways. Cleverly updated from Marvel Comics’ longstanding series, Iron Man puts billionaire industrialist Tony Stark (that’s Downey) in the path of some Middle Eastern terrorists; in a brilliantly paced section, Stark invents an indestructible suit that allows him to escape. If the rest of the movie never quit hits that precise rhythm again, it nevertheless offers plenty of pleasure, as the renewed Stark swears off his past as a weapons manufacturer, develops his new Iron Man suit, and puzzles both his business partner (Jeff Bridges in great form) and executive assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). Director Jon Favreau geeks out in fun ways with the hardware, but never lets it overpower the movie, and there’s always a goofy one-liner or a slapstick pratfall around to break the tension. As for Downey, he doesn’t get to jitterbug around too much in his improv way, but he brings enough of his unpredictable personality to keep the thing fresh. And listen up, hardcore Marvel mavens: even if you know the Stan Lee cameo is coming, you won’t be able to guess it until it’s on the screen. It all builds to a splendid final scene, with a concluding line delivery by Downey that just feels absolutely right. –Robert Horton

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