Iron Man (2008)

Want to see it?

Seen it?

0
1
2
3
4
5
Rate this movie.

Want to buy it?

Write a review

Discuss it

Add to lists

Recommend it

Get recommendations

Watch trailer

Directed by Jon Favreau.

Starring Jeff Bridges, Robert Downey, Jr., Terrence Howard, Gwyneth Paltrow, Shaun Toub, Leslie Bibb.

Watch trailer

From Marvel Studios and Paramount Pictures comes Iron Man, an action-packed take on the tale of wealthy philanthropist Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who develops an invulnerable robotic suit to fight the throes of evil. Gwyneth Paltrow co-stars as his secretary, Virginia "Pepper" Potts, while Terrence Howard fills the role of Jim "Rhodey" Rhodes, one of Stark's colleague's whose military background leads him to help in the formation of the suit. Jon Favreau directs, with Marvel movie veterans Avi Arad and Kevin Feige producing. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

[more]

Reviews and discussions

Did David Carr Make Robert Down ...
by Karina in Karina on SpoutBlog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"April 2008: David Carr (a former drug addict turned respectable media reporter) publishes a massive profile of Robert Downey Jr (a former drug addict turned respectable media phenom) pegged to Downey’s upcoming film, Iron Man, in the New York Times. At the time, there is a whiff of bad buzz in the air about the film––that the feature can’t sustain the energy of the trailer, that one political party won’t appreciate messages inserted the film apparently to the delight of the other; that audiences won’t buy Downey as a superhero. May 2008-July 2008: Iron Man opens huge and goes on to make a shit ton of money, even earning the respect of critics and, to some extent, the kind of person who reads long profiles in the Sunday New York Times. Late July 2008: An excerpt from Carr’s memoir, The Night of the Gun, is printed in the New York Times Magazine, Reaction is insanely positive, and buzz starts to spread online like wildfire. (It lands in bookstores today.) August 2008: Robert Downey J ... " [More]

Did David Carr Make Robert Down ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Re:A new pack of RESERVOIR DOGS ...
by MattFreakinBarry in Filmgaming

hasn't rated it.

"It almost hurts to try to recast this. Brendan Gleason as Mr. White. Gleason proved his ability to play a seasoned gangster in In Bruges (2008), a performance so good it warrants a second run. Colin Farrell as Mr. Orange. Great chemistry with Gleason in In Bruges. It might be nice to see them in a more father-son relationship. Robert Downey Jr. as Mr. Blonde. With Iron Man (2008) and Zodiac (2007), Downey showed the world there's a new king of cool on the block. Filmspotting's Adam Kempenaar as Mr. Pink. How do you replace the classic performance by Steve Buscemi? With another nasally white guy: Adam Kempenaar of the Filmspotting podcast. Martin Scorsese as Mr. Brown. A fast talking shrew of a director, just like Quentin. Charles Manson as Mr. Blue. Bunker was a real crook playing a pretend crook. Manson can follow suit. Plus, I have a feeling he'll put asses in seats... might be the whole murder thing. Samuel L. Jackson as Joe Cabot. Sammy's the only one who can curse quite as wel ... " [More]

This Town Deserves a Better Cla ...
by BigJeffLebowski in BigJeffLebowski Blog

loved it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"The Dark Knight, the most anticipated picture of the year for myself and innumerable others, has finally arrived following a trail of hype that would crush almost any film. But miraculously, just as Moses wielded his stone tablets, Christopher Nolan has handed us a true gift from the cinematic gods. His second Batman is so visceral, so propulsive, so maddeningly perfect in its execution that it should come with a warning; you do not simply watch The Dark Knight, you surrender your pulse to Christopher Nolan. And even if an intended triptych has been tragically cut short (as Mel Brooks might contend those aforementioned commandments were) what remains is wholly qualified to stand on its own not as a great Batman film, not as a great superhero film, and not as a great action film, but as one of the most distiguished pieces of filmmaking of its generation. This decade, more so than any other, has seen comic-to-film adaptations mature from vacuous thrills to serious art. Sam Raimi ... " [More]

Yet Another Comic Book Adaptation
by JakeStevens in JakeStevens Blog

is neutral about it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"As far as the new wave of comic book adaptations go, this is admittedly one of the better ones. But for crying out loud...really? Did we need this movie? Again, I'll admit that Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark is perfectly cast, Jeff Bridges pulls in a fine performance as Obadiah Stane and most surprisingly, Jon Favreau manages to make this otherwise-by-the-numbers film palatable (you've got your very noticible "acts" and your very literal "arch villain"). OK, OK, OK, it is a very entertaining film. But it's a very dim beacon in a sea of recent superhero/comic adaptation movies...and I mean a SEA (in the last 10 years, what do we have? Sin City, 300, Daredevil, Elektra, Ghostrider, Constantine, Monkeybone, Cat Woman, The League Of Extraordinary Gentlemen, From Hell, Ghost World, Mystery Men, Art School Confidential, Man-Thing, The Punisher, Bulletproof Monk, A History Of Violence, Road To Perdition, Josie And The Pussycats, ANOTHER Superman, ANOTHER Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, T ... " [More]

The Dark Knight: Love Letter to ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"As many reviews have already made clear, The Dark Knight sets the new gold standard for comic book movies. I think a big reason for that lies in the casting of a new heroine for Batman, Gotham City. Dark Knight evokes adjectives like epic and edgy. It feels like something is really at stake, but what? Writer/director Christopher Nolan crafts a handful of brilliant characters, but the one we’re really gunning for is Gotham City herself. While it’s easy to say Gotham City is an allegory for society as a whole, in The Dark Knight Nolan intentionally paints a unique urban environment. The film opens with stunning aerial shots of Gotham City (played beautifully by Chicago). A lot has been said about Nolan’s choice to shoot certain scenes of the film in IMAX, and it’s no coincidence that nearly all of them fill the frame with an urban landscape. There is something truly breathtaking about seeing Batman leap from the roof a building and spread his wing-like cape in IMAX, but what’s equall ... " [More]

The Dark Knight Review
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"Maybe you’re somebody who has no qualms when hundreds of millions of dollars are spent on a movie that amounts to a couple great chase scenes and a rock ‘em, sock ‘em fight with the hero’s girlfriend tied to some time-sensitive death contraption. But I always feel teased. Like I just got back from a date where my interest was exploited for a free meal. The Dark Knight is a diamond in a mound of cubic-zirconia gemstones, two and a half hours of blockbuster at it’s finest, a movie worth the price of a concert ticket. Please, allow me to clear my head of my immediate reactions: The Dark Knight is the shit! It is so awesome I can not stare into the light of its awesomeness without seeing spots. Better than I hoped–and I was hoping for a lot–there were even points where I sat looking at the screen thinking, “Can Christopher Nolan (writer/director) possibly sustain my amazement any further?” The answer: Yeppers, and with a choke-on-its-way-down ending. I’ll shut off the blathering even t ... " [More]

The Dark Knight Review
by paul in paul on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

Hellboy II: The Golden Army
by ShaunHuston in ShaunHuston filmblog

hasn't rated it.

Was this review helpful? [Be the first to tell us!]
"In Hellboy (2004), writer-director Guillermo del Toro developed his adaptation by stitching together a story from two major arcs in the comics (those collected in Seed of Destruction and The Conqueror Worm)*, and re-imagining the characters (Liz and Hellboy in love, Abe Sapien as a mystical brain-y guy), but without changing their basic qualities (Liz's biography is more or less intact up to the point we meet her, as is Hellboy's, Abe is still a fishman of unclear origin; Bruttenholm dies differently, but is essentially the guy you meet in the books). With Hellboy II: The Golden Army (2008), del Toro takes Hellboy and the BPRD and transports them into a world almost entirely of his own making, which is not only within the spirit of the texts, but also produces something unique and special for comic book adaptations: an original story. Most of the time these projects end up being created in the manner of the first Hellboy, that is, built largely from elements taken from the books. T ... " [More]

A Mid-Summer Report Card From S ...
by SpoutBlog in SpoutBlog on spout.com

hasn't rated it.

0 out of 1 people found this review helpful. [What do you think?]
"Corey Mburu Wainaina is 14 year old aspiring video game designer, honor student and one of the world’s greatest players of Super Smash Brothers. I could think of no better commentator with whom to discuss either the state of the nation or the state of summer movies. But, um, luckily we veered off on a far less boring Hancock tangent. STEVEN BOONE: You have an interesting background. Your father is from Kenya and your mother is an American. Another African-American with heritage in Kenya is now famous around the world. What’s his name? COREY WAINAINA: Barack Obama. SB: What do you think about his candidacy? CW: I think it’s nice, but (whispers) it doesn’t matter because it’s lies. SB: What do you mean by that? CW: The government. Killing dudes and joint. SB: “Killing dudes and joint”? What does that mean? CW: The corporations… SB: Are you just repeating back to me things you’ve heard me say or– CW: No, I’m smart. SB: Where did you come by this information? CW: The news. SB: The new ... " [More]

[More reviews]

Review by All Movie Guide

All Movie Guide

liked it.

The curtain rises on Marvel Comics' first in-house production to rousing results as their metal man of iron introduces himself to enthralled moviegoers everywhere. Just as billionaire playboy Tony Stark utilizes his technological know-how to fight evildoers, so does director Jon Favreau use his bag of cinematic tricks to lay the groundwork for yet another top-caliber franchise starring one of the biggest icons of the printed page. Delivering laughs as well as leaps of wonder, this comic-book fantasy gets it right across the board, with its buoyant tone never diluting the grounded dramatics of the story. For the flick to work, though, one needs an exceptional cast -- something this production has in spades. Sure, it's an origin story, but to the cast's credit, none of it ever seems tedious. Even if they basically follow the same superhero mold of yesteryear, the tight ensemble of Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges sells the action romp every step of the way -- so much so that one can't help but want more. It's quite evident that the best is yet to come, not only with this series, but also with big-screen Marvel outings as a whole. With clever shout-outs to the imprint's expansive universe (including a post-credit cameo that'll send the geek Richter scale off the charts), Iron Man sets the stage for as yet unrealized crossover possibilities, a dream barely hinted at in previous book-to-screen adaptations. If future productions can deliver on the story while juggling both the technology and the talent as well as this one did, then it is possible that this is the true start of comicdom's cinematic rebirth, built by the best that Hollywood has to offer. All in all, a fine introduction to a hero that finally dares to tackle weight-of-the-world issues. It's about time. ~ Jeremy Wheeler, All Movie Guide

Tags: comicbook , man , superhero , terrorism , hero
View all