Iron Man

[vakie]

They really nailed this one. Robert Downey Jr. and all of the cast was great, one of the best scripts for a superhero movie and the special effects were outstanding.

Stay after the end credits for a bonus scene...

[Joe Nazzaro]

I'm off to see it this morning before the lines build up later today. Really looking forward to it.

[glindros]

I can't see it till Saturday, but I've read some great reviews of it so far.

I am really looking forward to this film.

[WorkerCaste]

Iron Man was one of my favorites oh so many years ago I would really like to get to the theatres and see it before it's gone. Right now, things don't look so good for that, though. Ah, well.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

I'm glad to hear you like it, I've had pretty low expectations for it after most of the marvel movies: Hulk, FF, Daredevil...etc. And I haven't actually beeeen to a movie in a long time, so this is exciting.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Just got back from a morning screening; I thought the film was fantastic. And I know it's already been mentioned, but stay until the VERY END of the credits.

[Doom Shepherd]

Yes. Stay to the end. It's the ultimate in goodness.

I liked the film, and my wife loved it. (She loves Downey Jr.) I think it had just the right mix of drama, action, comedy, and even a little social message. And, of course, set-ups for sequel.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Maybe more than sequels. A report just released by Google Money I think, previewed Marvel Picture's plans for the next few years, which include Thor, America and Iron Man 2, all leading into an Avengers film. If they can pull it off, it could be very cool indeed.

I'd be very interested to see what kind of villain they come up with for the sequel. I'm not all that sure they could use the Mandarin, the most politially incorrect Marvel villain ever, with the possible exception of Fu Manchu.

[OmahaStar]

I saw it with a large group on Saturday morning. Ugh. That's right, ugh.

The first hour draaaaaaagggggged. Nothing happen, just set-up, set-up, set-up, with nothing substantial happening at all, just crap in a desert. Big flippin deal.

The second hour was better, and it got better as it progressed, the last 20 minutes or so was pretty good.

Had they chopped off the first hour, I would have enjoyed myself. As it was, I couldn't, it was just so awful.

I did stay for the scene at the end, and that was worth it.

I heard several people say they would rent or buy the dvd and fast-forward through the crap at the beginning so they could get to the "good stuff".

[Joe Nazzaro]

I sort of agree, the first act could have been tightened up by five or ten minutes, but it didn't bother me that much. The problem with an 'origin' story is that you're setting up the characters, situations, conflicts and even the time period the story is set in. That being said, I'm not sure the terrorists needed as much screen time, as they're basically a means to an end (Stark building the first suit) but I guess if you had shortened that act, it might have trivialized the villains and made them cartoon-like. Mind you, the original comic book told the origin story in 13 pages, so any version would seem lengthly in comparison.

[Whyruss]

Well I liked the first hour. There are enough movies out there which are trying to divert the audience with endless stupid action scenes (like in Transformers - which is (even with RE3) one of the worst films I've ever seen). So some background on the characters and the story makes a film better IMO.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Incidentally, if anybody is interested in poking around a bit, there's been some talk on the net about an Iron Man 'brain trust' of Marvel comics writers who were invited to the set early in production by the director, where they basically dissected every aspect of the script. According to writer Mark Millar, he stuck his neck out by getting them to drop the Mandarin from an early script draft, which I think was a hugely intelligent idea. But just the idea of bringing in an elite group of comic book guys in the first place suggests the filmmakers wanted to do as good a job as possible; if so, they richly deserve the success they're currently having with the film. Frankly, I couldn't see the producers of Fantastic Four or X-Men assembling a similar brain trust.

[SmileOfTheShadow]

Re: Editing comments.

I feel like any comic movie's going to have a lot of exposition that you're going to think needs shortening. As a person who kinda knows the iron man story (which I assume most of us do prior to seeing this) it seems pointless to watch him figure out how to build the armor, etc.

They have to: 1. tell the story for people who don't know the story. 2. bring the concept of "iron man" up to modern times. 3. Set the stage for an actual plot and enemy that Iron Man has to face in order to justify parts 1 and 2. That's a tall order for a beginning of a movie, which is why it was long. A tv series would have dedicated the first episode or two to just the Tony Stark builds Iron Suit story. Or longer with how these things get drawn out with like Heroes.

I really enjoyed it. My girlfriend said it was "political", but I was actually pleasantly surprised at how un-political they made it. I know it'd be easy to make some sort of commentary, which they stayed away from. Kudos.

Also liked how they modernized the story. Felt fresh.

Actors did a great job, goes without saying. Robert Downey Jr. basically IS the Tony Stark persona.

Effects were wonderful. A lot of these movies so far there's been bits where it's taken me out becuase of the cgi..this didn't do it for me.

And to Joe Nazzaro who provided the info about Cap movie, Thor, Iron Man 2, then Avengers. You left out that they're doing Ant-Man as well

[frulad]

Ant-Man is still too up in the air as to what they'll be doing with the character, so Marvel is holding off announcing any concrete plans.

[Joe Nazzaro]

Yeah, that's the reason why I didn't mention Ant Man either. Last I heard, it was supposed to be directed by Edgar Wright, but I'm not sure where this fits into his plans. Also, I was under the impression it was going to be played for humor, which wouldn't necessarily fit in with Marvel's grand Avengers plan. But I've been wrong before.