I haven’t seen the movie yet so I have to ask, I know there are helicopters in the movie (you can see them in the trailer), how much is seen of them? I ask because my squadron is the one who flew them for the movie and I know the crews (they didn’t pick me to be on one of them, which is totally not fair. I’m the biggest dork there, I should have been allowed to go!.)
Saw it at the Arclight. And I saw it. Awe-some. (The credits weren’t that long, jeez.)
Definitely top-notch. Makes a lot of other superhero movies look cheesy. And they stayed amazingly faithful to the comic origins. I did have to cover my eyes during certain scenes, though.
I have a question, but I’ll put that in another thread.
Didn’t she, though? I knew Downey Jr. would rock, but I was most impressed by Paltrow’s performance. Everyone else, at some point or another, got pushed into the background by Downey, but he never quite managed to overshadow her. Very impressive!
What is it with Marvel movies changing girls’ hair color?
Kirsten went red for Spidey, Jessica went blonde for Mediocre Four, and now Gwyneth goes red for the Rusty.
I saw it last night and thought it was pretty entertaing, but ironically, not so much for the action sequences as for RDJr.'s performance. He was a really engaging, fully fleshed character who the audience really got behind. I think some of the best scenes were of Stark in his workshop, putting together the suit and quipping away at his robot helpers.
Downey is also one of those rare actors who can play a “genius,” and actually seem believable. I bought him as bright. I bought him as an engineering whiz.I think Downey’s rapid-fire, stream-of-consciousness, line delivery gives him a manic, racing quality that lends a verisimilitude to the idea that he’s got a brain that works faster than ordinary.
I also liked Bridges as the baddie, and he couldn’t be more different from the Dude.
One question. I’ve never read the comic book and my entiure exposure to the character has been this one movie, so
In the comics, does everybody know Stark is Iron Man? Did the movie break canon by having Downey reveal that to the press?
For the longest time in the comics, [spoiler]Iron Man was said to be Stark’s bodyguard. Then, when his alcoholism got the better of him during the excellent “Demon in a Bottle” storyline, James Rhodes stepped up and replaced him as Iron Man for a while, and later wore a modified silver and black version of the armor as War Machine when Tony became Iron Man again.
More recently, Stark has gone public with his identity, and in the wake of a tragedy caused by inexperienced young heroes fighting a deadly villain, led a movement to have all superheroes reveal their identities to the public and become sanctioned government agents. This caused a “Civil War” among the Marvel heroes, with Iron Man leading the pro-Registration faction and his ex-best friend Captain America leading the heroes who were against Registration. In the end, Cap’s side lost and he was killed by a sniper, and Iron Man became more and more of a macchiavellian character, hunting down his former allies who wouldn’t comply, becoming director of SHIELD, and even creating a task force of supervillains, the Thunderbolts, to bring down rogue (unregistered) heroes. Yes, Robert Downey Jr.'s version of Stark is much more charismatic and cool than the current version in the comics.[/spoiler]
Saw it and loved it. Fast paced, action, humor, great performances, this had it all.
I too thought Gwyneth Paltrow looked great. I don’t usually find her attractive, but when her character was waiting for Tony Stark to get off the plane, I thought: Wow!
A fun movie in what looks like a great summer for movies.
You see a good shot or two amount of them, especially when they rescue him in the desert.
I must not have seen him in a movie before, because i was startled by Terrence Howard’s high voice.
When I first saw him on screen, my reaction was, “I don’t remember Cuba having blue eyes.” Then I heard him speak and immediately said, “Oh … Terrence Howard!”
He was in Crash and Hustle and Flow, IIRC.
We went in with very low expectations and were surprised at how really good this film was. For an action/adventure comic book series, I would rank this up there with Spiderman II as one of those films that actually has a PLOT and a story that makes you care about the characters.
I am kind of surprised that it is such a hit as it doesn’t have the usual 70% of the film being nothing but CGI fight sequences.
A very good film, with lots of things to like about it! (Sorry I didn’t stay until the end of the credits, but after that huge Diet Coke, the nearest restroom was in the cards.)
Just saw it a few hours ago, and damn, wish I’d known about the end-of-the-credits scene! Oh, well - a good excuse to see it again, which I surely will. Downey was outstanding - about time we had a grownup, smartass, overindulged superhero! Action sequences were great - Paltrow was yummy - and didja notice Favreau as Stark’s chauffeur? Although I could see the corporate doublecross coming a mile away…
…I didn’t figure on Obadiah actually having hired the terrorist leader to kill Tony!
Our theater gave the biggest cheer when Iron Man demonstrated his sophisticated target-designator system in the Afghan village. 
I’d give it a solid “A.” Pretty damn good. Better than any superhero movie I’ve seen since The Incredibles.
Does Stan Lee have a cameo?
Brian
Yeah- actually a fairly amusing one.
Blink and you’ll miss it, though.
Actually, there is a certain resemblance, ain’t there?
Moreso every year.
Also trivia - Peter Billingsley (Ralphie of A Christmas Story) is one of the Executive Producers, and he has a small speaking role.
I saw this last night with my 6 and 2 year old sons, and we all liked it (although the buildup to actually seeing the hero in costume was a bit of a wait for my oldest son…he actually said to me twice “Dad, I think we’re in the wrong theater, I don’t think this is Iron Man!” :).
I felt that the movie was great, Downey did a wonderful, convincing job as the corporate playboy turned socially conscious hero. Paltrow looked great (that dress!) and Bridges was interesting (what a look for him, eh?)
Good balance between action and dialogue, too. Never overbearing.
Can someone post a spoiler for the end of credits scene so I can read it? I don’t think I’ll be able to see it again anytime soon, and getting a 2 year old to sit through the credits was too daunting.
Tony walks into his house at night, presumably soon after the press conference, and someone is standing by the large windows, Tony says “Who are you?”, The figure, still in darkness, says " ‘I am Iron Man’? Do you think you’re the only superhero in the world?" Figure walks out of the shadows, it’s Samuel L. Jackson with an eyepatch. He says “I’m Nick Fury, the head of SHIELD. I want to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative.” End. I’ve probably gotten the quotes wrong, but that’s the gist of it.
Did anyone else notice who was in the picture with 4 year old Tony when he built his first circuit board? I thought that was cute.
A teenaged-looking Bill Gates
Yes, I recognized him. Who “played” Tony’s dad in the newspaper photos? He looked very familiar.