STUDIO: Paramount
RELEASE DATE: September 30, 2008
STARRING: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, and Terrence Howard
WRITTEN BY: Hank Ostby & Mark Fergus and Matt Holloway & Art Marcum
DIRECTED BY: Jon Favreau
FEATURES: Disc 1
Hall Of Armor
BD-Live: Iron Man I.Q.
The Invincible Iron Man HD
Deleted And Extended Scenes HD
Disc 2
I Am Iron Man: 7 Part Making Of HD
Wired: The Visual Effects Of Iron Man
Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test HD
The Actor's Process HD
Still Galleries And More!

I stand by my theatrical response to Iron Man - that the film is good not great. I said then that "Iron Man is good but don't be surprised if you wish that the armor was a little more chipped and faded and not quite so perfectly "hot-rod red."" But I'll be damned if I'm not going to watch it repeatedly on Blu-Ray, probably more than most three-star films. As most of you know - you don't make a billion dollars worldwide without a LOT of repeat viewers - Iron Man holds up very well on second and third viewing. In fact, the first time through on Blu-Ray I was able to put aside a lot of my complaints and realize that Jon Favreau has made what is simply one of the more enjoyable films of the year. Yes, the villain is still weak and I wish a few of the action set pieces were stronger but that will clearly be improved in the sequel. (Especially if anyone involved reads Seven Things We Want From Iron Man 2.) And what does work about Iron Man - Downey and Paltrow's great performances, the excellent editing - look and sound even better on Blu-Ray. It's a technical upgrade for the most tech-savvy superhero of all time. Iron Man satisfied many, many people in theaters. They will all be just as happy with the two-disc Blu-Ray release and it might even surprise some people who weren't huge fans on the big screen.

Downey gives one of the best performances of the year as Tony Stark, a man with more than a few flaws. He drinks, he womanizes, and, it could be argued, he makes his money off the suffering of others. Tony Stark is a war profiteer. And he's very good at it. The head of the military company Stark Industries only has three real friends - assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), military buddy Rhodes (Terence Howard), and business partner and semi-mentor Obadiah (Jeff Bridges). Tony is on a trip to sell his uber-deadly Jericho Missiles when he is blindsided, kidnapped, and held hostage. Stark refuses to give in and create another weapon of mass destruction for his captors, so he builds himself an early version of the Iron Man suit and blasts his way out. He returns to the States determined to dismantle the entire capitalist war machine that he helped build. Of course, there are some people who aren't too happy about a peace-loving Tony Stark and summer movie action ensues.

You really need to hear the Jericho Missile explode in English 5.1 Dolby True HD. Everything about the audio mix on Iron Man is truly impressive. Like a lot of Summer movies, Iron Man is a sensory experience and the high definition picture and audio are both excellent. I don't think the picture is flawless. Some of the darker scenes looked flatter than I expected, making the CGI effects more noticeable. It's an interesting dilemma with Blu-Ray. The picture gets so good that the CGI gets easier to rip apart. And then it becomes difficult to say if that's a flaw of the video transfer or the movie itself. Sometime Iron Man looked a little too cartoon-y on the big screen and he does again on Blu-Ray. But the audio mix is truly incredible. Thousands are going to come home drunk after baseball and football games in the coming weeks and wake up not just the neighbors but the entire hood with Black Sabbath's opening chords of "Iron Man".

Even more impressive than the video and audio on the Blu-Ray version of Iron Man is the collection of special features. I know I've been reviewing DVD for a while because I'm so jaded that I expected to be a little ripped off with this set. I expected a decent but not great collection of extras with some clearly being held back for another release when the sequel hits theaters. We've been burned too many times. Paramount didn't do that with Iron Man. This is a fantastic collection. My only complaint would be that there's no PIP behind-the-scenes feature like the great ones on recent sets for Transformers and Batman Begins. But that's a presentation issue more than the actual content.

In the order they appear on the menus...

"Hall of Armor"
-This is exclusive-to-Blu-Ray feature is a 360 look at the metallic outfits in the film. They're for hardcore design nuts only, but if you want to build a super suit in your garage, start here.

"The Invincible Iron Man"
-In HD on the Blu-Ray version, this documentary makes Iron Man worth buying on its own for comic book fans. Stan Lee opens the look at Iron Man through out the years with two interesting insights - the real-life inspiration for Tony Stark and the fact that Marvel got more female fan mail for Iron Man than any other character. It's interesting that pundits commented on how many women were coming out for the theatrical release of Iron Man. Stan Lee knew all along. This 47-minute doc looks at this legendary hero from inception through the movie. It's great.

"Deleted and Extended Scenes"
-One of the first things that people usually go for with special features are the deleted and extended scenes. What was left on the cutting room floor? What Iron Man greatness could I be missing? But, let's be honest, these usually suck. There's a reason they're on the cutting room floor. Surprisingly, Iron Man includes over 23 minutes of deleted and extended scenes. There's nothing shockingly impressive. Most just extend things you've already seen. But the quantity is surprising, illustrating the importance of the editor. With all of these extensions in place, Iron Man wouldn't have been nearly as tight a film. I'll just give you the details and a little taste. "Convoy Ambush" (3:26) - An extended version of the opening attack with some more detail about the soldier's escape from the convoy and effort to protect Tony. Good action but too long. "Craps Table with Tony & Rhodey" (1:50) - Tony gambling more post-awards show. Wisely trimmed. "Tony & Rhodey on Stark Jet and Miltary Ceremony" (4:21) - More stewardess on stripper pole action is never a bad thing. Never. "Rhodey and General Gabriel" (0:52) - Pretty self-explanatory. The General tries to stop Rhodey from going back in to find Tony. It's actually a decent scene and short enough that a case could be made for keeping it. "Tony Comes Home" (1:29) - Tony comes home and talks to his computerized house after escaping overseas. Downey does good work but it's not a vital scene. "Tony Begins Mark II" (0:51) - A bit too much of the mid-section of Iron Man was already too technical. This is an unnecessary extension of material left in the film. "Dubai Party" (3:32) - After Pepper comes down and sees the smashed glass, Tony asks her to get the house ready in Dubai for a party. The scope of the scene - just look at the extras and costumes - makes it remarkable that any of it was cut and the end, which features Tony retiring to the bedroom with three bikini-clad beauties should make many male fans smile. Ain't no party like a Tony Stark party. "Pepper Discovers Tony as Iron Man" (0:51) - After the Dubai party, Pepper finds Tony in his Iron Man costume, smoking, bloody, and drinking. Fantastic. Should have kept it. "Obadiah Addresses Scientists" (1:53) - Once again, pretty self-explanatory. And pretty dry. Obie speechifies to his people about the building of his suit for a bit longer. The kid from A Christmas Story still co-stars. I still get sleepy. "Rhodey Saves Iron Man on Freeway" (1:24) - an extended version of the freeway battle that gets Rhodey involved. "Rooftop Battle" (3:22) - a longer version of the climax.

"BD-Live"
-Exclusive to Blu-Ray, fans will be able to play live trivia against others while they watch the movie. It truly is Iron Man's world.

Disc Two

"I Am Iron Man"
-The talking heads come out to play on the second disc of Iron Man in one of the most extensive and impressive collections of featurettes on a first-version release. This is "double-dip" material, the kind of stuff they usually save for Ultimate/Special/Super-Duper Editions down the road. "I Am Iron Man" is a seven-part documentary about the making of the movie that runs feature-length from inception through to the response to the film. Running 109 minutes, "I Am Iron Man" is one of the best making-of documentaries that I've ever seen and I've seen hundreds. It's a perfect combination of interview footage, trivia, and details, combined with actual behind-the-scenes filming. It's clear that Favreau and others allowed access to the making of the film with this special feature in mind. It was not an afterthought. Don't miss it.

"Wired: The Effects of Iron Man"
-A look at the design and history of Tony Stark's technical expertise. Believe it or not, a lot of time and effort is put into every technical element of a film like Iron Man. It can't just be a man-in-suit film. When Tony's working in his lab, it needs to feel real. Learn more about the technical elements behind Iron Man in this 27-minute special feature.

"Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test"
-How did Downey get the part that he will now be linked with forever? Don't miss this. What's truly amazing is how much of it was already there. Downey nailed this part from day one. It couldn't have been anyone else.

"The Actor's Process"
-What an amazing window into the rehearsal process. Favreau, Downey, and Bridges work through a scene and someone happens to have a camera nearby. Actors are going to love this and I wish there was more bonus material like it.

"The Onion: Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted Into Full-Length Film"
-Hilarious clip from OnionTV that satirizes how many times we saw the trailer and how many opinions were formed about it before the movie even hit screens.

"Theatrical Trailers", "Galleries"
-Self-explanatory stuff for hardcore fans.

Iron Man worked in theaters and, unlike a lot of summer tentpole movies, works even better at home. Paramount could have easily slapped the film on a bare bones disc and made a mint. Millions are going to buy this thing and they would have done so no matter what special features were or were not included. Paramount went the other way and produced a Blu-Ray disc that ranks with the best of the year. It's a must-buy.