Search - The Invincible Iron Man [Blu-ray] on Blu-ray

Cranky Old Comic Fan From The 70's

Brian Glass | Zanesville, OH United States | 03/25/2007

(2 out of 5 stars)

"I'm going to take the con side of this debate. Having not really read many comics in the past 20 years or so I really haven't followed any of the Ultimates stuff. I have had it explained to me by a co-worker that's a big comic buff. It seems to make sense to update some heros' origins. After all Nick Fury and Dum Dum Dugan would be in their ninties these days. I understand that they are also keeping the original origins in place which is fine. Having said that, I don't know if this is an Ultimate storyline or not but I didn't care for it at all.

Taken as a stand alone movie, if viewed by someone with no idea of who Iron Man is, this is really run of the mill. Tony Stark wasn't a very cohesive character. As far as alter-egos go this one is kind of a hypocritical milksap. He makes a big deal out of not building weapons but has an entire room full of indestructible power armor. If the suits are for research why the need for powerful lasers and missles? The writer's seem to face the same dilemma most of Hollywood finds itself in these days. It's politically incorrect to endorse violence but you still have to give the audience a good action packed fight scene. As a result you get unrealistic portrayals of altruistic millionaire industrialists and pacifists with more weapons than Dirty Harry. I may be reading a little too much into a cartoon but the level of some of the violence here (one person gets executed with a gunshot to the back of the head) suggests this is for a mature audience. If this is the case the writers should have given the actions and motivations more depth.

The biggest problem is the time it takes to actually get to Iron Man. Once there the fight scenes are few and far between. The film suffers from the same problem a lot of live action superhero movies suffer from, too much screen time for the alter-ego. The action sequences are lacking visual impact. I think that is partly due to the mediocre quality of the animation. The CG doesn't mix too badly with the hand drawn but it's all just servicable at best.

In the end the movie seemed overly long and convulted with the end being a less than satisfying resolution. Even if I weren't aware of Iron Man before this I don't think I would recommend it as anything more than a rental."

Rebooting Iron Man

Mel Odom | Moore, OK USA | 01/23/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN retcons the Iron Man mythos to a degree. Given that Tony Stark was originally wounded in Vietnam in the 1960s and he would have been in his sixties, something had to be done. So the creators brought the story into "now" and still maintained an Asian flavoring by setting Iron Man up against the Mandarin, one of Shellhead's oldest and coolest foes.

Die-hard purists are going to be disappointed in some aspects of the film, but it delivers enough action and characterization to get the job done. Strangely, though, we don't really get to know that much about Tony or his relationship with his dad, Howard Stark. We don't even get to know anything about why he created the Iron Man armor when he plainly states in the movie that he's never invented weapons. The Iron Man armor has been compared to a human-sized F16 fighter jet loaded to the gills with munitions and destructive power. Not to mention all the other cool, on-board technology.

The plot centers on Tony's efforts to help China raise a sunken city to engender goodwill that results in very profitable trade agreements. However, the Jade Dragons -- a local group -- have attacked the dig site on a number of occasions to stop the city's recovery. But Stark's technology is successful and the city returns to the surface. Unfortunately, that return also heralds of the mystical forces that will ultimately resurrect the Mandarin.

I'm not sure if pitting a technology-based hero against the supernatural was a good idea for a first Iron Man movie. For the fans like me, it wouldn't have been that much of a reach bccause we'd all be familiar with the Mandarin (though I'm pretty sure the comics alluded to the fact that the Mandarin's rings were alien tech at one point and not mystical). But newcomers might be expected to see a technology versus technology battle, and that's really lacking here.

I didn't like the fact that S.H.I.E.L.D. was onstage mainly as the bad guys, or at least an opposing force, without any face time to put a more positive spin on them. Nick Fury and his agents are some of my favorite characters.

There was a lot to like about the straight-to-DVD presentation, though. The use of CGI animation throughout the film was good, and so were the action sequences. One of the other BIG pluses was that a LOT of the other Iron Man armor was shown. The specialized deep-sea armor took center stage during one battle. And many of the other suits were on display.

Some of the scenes felt rushed, and plot development was thin. The Mandarin was late in getting into the mix, though the four Elementals working on his behalf were there, and never quite came to fruition as a real threat.

But the chance to see Iron Man onscreen in your living room is just too good to pass up. Buy this one for comic geeks' night, or for the kids. Then have a seat with your friends or your children, and get down to a night of superheroing Iron Man style."

Good animated version of Iron Man

B. Root | Laramie, WY United States | 03/02/2009

(4 out of 5 stars)

"You can disregard the other customer reviews as they are just people rating their inability to purchase the product they wanted. If you couldn't read the product information page far enough to see that this was a Marvel animated movie and not the live action movie starring Robert Downey Jr that is your own problem. Please don't write negative reviews of something that have nothing to do with the actual product. That is dishonest and doesn't help your fellow online shoppers.

That being said if you like Marvel's other animated movies (The Avengers, The Avengers 2, Dr. Strange etc...) then you will like this movie. The animation is top notch and the voice work is decent. It is a well done Iron Man origin story and I hope to see more animated movies in Marvel's future."

I Liked It

Dan Thompson | USA | 01/22/2007

(4 out of 5 stars)

"I liked it. My wife and I watched it last night (advance copies are sometimes available before the "official" release, a point for the gentleman who doubted anyone had actually seen it to consider) and we both enjoyed it quite a bit. Neither of us are fans of the comic. She's hardly read any (she is a serious comics fan but her reading of Marvel titles centers mostly on the X-Men). I was a fan back when the character first appeared but quit reading in the mid '70s. So we are not burdened with a deep knowledge of all that has happened to Iron Man in his decades-long existence. We took the story as presented and thought it was well written, well acted and well animated. Sure, it's not up to Pixar standards but the animation was as good as the best TV supehero animation (I'm a big fan of the animated Batman, Superman and Justice League series) and better than most. If you don't compare it word-for-word and scene-for-scene with the comic, I think there's a good chance you will enjoy it, too."