|
|||||||||
DISC ONE You can read our full-length FilmEdge theatrical review from May, but a quick summary recommends IRON MAN as one of the best and most enjoyable superhero movies of all time. Powered at its heart by the charismatic, humorous and complex performance of Robert Downey Jr., the story wins over audiences and gets them on the comic icon's bandwagon from the opening scene. Interweaving character development with the requisite comic-based action layers strength upon strength in director Jon Favreau's faithful and inventive adaptation. Certainly a valid measure of his film's success is that he soldered the Iron Man icon and mythology into the imaginations of a worldwide audience which largely had no opinion or knowledge of either before this May. Before the 2008 summer movie season began, Batman's return in THE DARK KNIGHT was the comic hero film creating all the buzz, yet IRON MAN not only dropped down unexpected from the sky, but packed theaters with newfound fans for weeks on end. Now expect IRON MAN to fly off store shelves as this high-octane hit flies home.
VIDEO: The Blu-ray transfer presents IRON MAN in its theatrical widescreen 2.35:1 aspect ratio in full 1080p high resolution, and the clarity of detail is excellent. While some viewers will grumble about the top and bottom blackbars resulting from the extra wide image format, this preserves the fluid, artistic cinematography of Matthew Libatique which adds extra kick to this joyride. Libatique, along with Favreau and production designer J. Michael Riva create a sumptuous and richly textured world for blithe billionaire Tony Stark, and the high-def Blu presentation shows off all the glorious details. If there is one shortfall in the transfer, it's the soft blacks and shadows in the darker scenes, especially in the Afghan caves, where the dark depths of these shots get a bit muddy and lose some of the visual dimension of the marvelous set design. But this is a small flaw forgivable by all but the sternest technogeeks, as the rest of the film including the numerous effects sequences stand up superbly to Blu-ray's minute scrutiny. AUDIO: Your audio system will be doing barrel-rolls thanks to the English 5.1 Dolby TrueHD soundtrack, which exploits Christopher Boyes dynamic yet disciplined sound design. The center dialogue channel remains blissfully clear when the Afghan rockets are exploding and Iron Man is soaring the skies, never once being overwhelmed by the more explosive effects amid such scenes. Surround channels play out good dimensionality across the audio field, delivering the excellent mix from Skywalker Sound, while maintaining incredibly clear detail from the subtlest sounds of Stark's suit servos to the thundering clanks of Iron Monger in attack mode. Audio options include both French and Spanish 5.1 Dolby tracks, complimented by subtitle captions in English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Portuguese. BLU-RAY EXCLUSIVES Disc One also offers two exclusive bonus features created specifically for the Blu-ray edition: The HALL OF ARMOR armor opens the design files of inventor Tony Stark, giving viewers access to 3D rotating views and detailed schematics of the Iron Man suits. Fly around all three version of the Iron Man armor and Iron Monger, zooming in and highlighting description readouts of specific features from the gauntlet flamethrowers of the Mark I, to the high-tech processors of the Mark III helmet and beyond. You'll learn minute details from these close-up exams of the suits as well, such as discovering the high-tensile Kevlar-like fiber coating the interior of the Mark III suit to protect Stark from projectile damage. Plus the 360-degree rotations boast high-def views of the surface and texture detail of the suits which can only be appreciated when viewed in 1080p resolution. Alas, the 360 fly-arounds are not freeform, though various suits and their parts offer different axes of rotation to avoid repetitive 'turntable' views, and the spin moves take only one click to start. It's a fun, simple feature available to even the youngest superhero fans while detailed enough to engage the imaginations of more thorough comic aficionados.
My review of the exclusive BD-Live features will be completed soon and updated here, but for now a brief preview includes the IRON MAN IQ upgrade, which allows access to an in-movie quiz which tests your geekified knowledge of events and trivia as the action unfolds. To access these additional BD-Live features, your Blu-ray player system must be Profile 2.0 or newer and may require firmware or software updates (via Internet connection) before BD-Live features will function properly or at optimal performance. Meeting those specs, your player will access the IRON MAN BD-Live server and offer access to download these exclusive enhancements to your Blu-ray experience. ADDITIONAL DISC ONE BONUS FEATURES Another treasure trove of IRON MAN mythology awaits in THE INVINCIBLE IRON MAN featurette, a six-chapter documentary spanning the entire history of the comic character. Throughout this fascinating 47 minutes, all the major artists and storytellers from Iron Man's comic book history spin the tale of Tony Stark. From Stan Lee's initial, semi-controversial inspiration for the character, through his ascent to the heights of the Marvel brand, and into the newest reimaginings of Iron Man from the latest graphic novels, chapters include: Origins, Friends and Foes, The Definitive Iron Man, Demon in a Bottle, Extremis and Beyond, and Ultimate Iron Man. Viewers can pick and choose the topics of most interest, or watch the entire featurette play out to absorb and enjoy the broadest education on all this Iron Man from the comic universe. DELETED AND EXTENDED SCENES round out the DISC ONE goodies with 11 additional clips edited from the film's theatrical release which are definitely worth viewing as they deepen the story and characters, even in their appendix presentation. These extra scenes include: Convoy Ambush, Craps Table with Tony and Rhodey, Tony & Rhodey on Stark Jet and Military Ceremony, Rhodey and General Gabriel, Tony Comes Home, Tony Begins Mark III, Dubai Party, Pepper Discovers Tony as Iron Man, Obadiah Addresses Scientists, Rhodey Saves Iron Man on Freeway and Rooftop Battle. Some scenes like the Craps Table excerpt are short and were omitted simply because they made redundant points about the characters without advancing the story, while others like Dubai Party may well have expanded Tony's world but perhaps to the pont of distraction from the main plot. The generosity of their inclusion sheds invaluable light on not only the ensemble cast's work together, but on Favreau's editorial choices and priorities as a storyteller. Worth noting again that both of these Disc One additional features are presented in HD quality — often with visible timecodes and editing info in the letterbox bars — which is a rare and appreciated treat for fans and viewers, who so often get short changed by high-definition releases which fill discs with low-res bonus materials. Disc One of IRON MAN on Blu-ray is a highly satisfying stunner of next-gen home entertainment, and it's only the beginning! DISC TWO IRON MAN throttles up for maximum bonus features on Disc Two with hours of additional documentary insights, making-of revelations from rehearsals and on the production set, and marketing media. As the slipcover blurb implies, this second disc truly contributes to the total IRON MAN experience viewers enjoy in this Blu-ray edition — and once again it's presented in eye-popping HD quality, raising the bar perilously high for any future high-def film releases which dare to follow in its stratospheric wake. The bold and deliriously extensive I AM IRON MAN documentary opens the floodgates on the entire production — and I cannot rightly call it a featurette since it's an entire feature-length, 111-minute film of its own! Director Jon Favreau welcomes viewers into the creative laboratory of Marvel Studios, where he and the pre-production team forge their Iron Man story from the legacy of the comic hero into a big screen star, right through to the Hollywood world premiere. Such on-set, on-location, off the chain access to such a major genre production is unprecedented in both its epic scope and personal detail, as every single key member of the cast and crew are interviewed and shown in candid footage. These seven slices of bonus-geek heaven are: The Journey Begins, The Suit That Makes Iron Man, The Walk of Destruction, Grounded in Reality, Beneath the Armor, It's All in the Details and A Good Story, Well Told. Now that you're thoroughly fired up, enjoy WIRED: THE VISUAL EFFECTS OF IRON MAN which examines three special effects houses charged with providing the film's artfully integrated CG images which help Tony Stark and the story take wing. The digital wizards at Industrial Light & Magic, The Orphanage and The Embassy all contribute their expertise and blending pixels with reality, transitioning from stage actors to stunning action seamlessly to preserve the willing, thrilling suspension of disbelief as Iron Man saves the world. Of immense interest are three ROBERT DOWNEY JR. SCREEN TESTS which show the actor's inimitable charm and creative focus as he hones in on portraying the essence of Tony Stark. While the film was chock full of top flight special effects and a solid cast, there is no doubt that Downey made IRON MAN the blockbusting hit it was and remains. This rare, very welcome look at his early efforts to define the role proves his casting was a fortuitous stroke of filmmaking genius. THE ACTOR'S PROCESS delivers further into Downey's formulation of Tony Stark with co-star Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane, rehearsing an important character revelation with director Jon Favreau. Motivations, physical action and performance exploration play out as the duo fine tune their targeting on these friends-turned-adversaries. While an official blooper reel didn't make the cut amid this massive gathering of bonus features, there's still some laughs to be enjoyed in a satire of fans' breathless anticipation for the film, in THE ONION "WILDLY POPULAR IRON MAN TRAILER TO BE ADAPTED INTO FULL-LENGTH FILM" short. The brief send-up of Hollywood marketing turns filmmaking on its ear with a good-natured poke at IRON MAN. Also included are four THEATRICAL TRAILERS, all presented in high-def: the Theatrical Teaser, Theatrical Trailer and International Trailers B and C. Another bonus extra which gains value in the high-def Blu-ray format are the four photo and production art GALLERIES, included albums of Concept Art, Tech, Unit Photography and Posters from the film. The Concept Art gallery breaks down into several sub-menus of categories, keeping the click-through slideshows brief, well-organized and simple to navigate. Capping off Disc Two are the disc production CREDITS for all the talented folk who contributed to the bonus material and disc production itself, and the SUBTITLE controls offered in English, French, Spanish and Portuguese for your enhanced viewing pleasure. SUMMARY — YOU ARE IRON MAN Short and sweetly, this Ultimate 2-Disc Blu-ray Edition of IRON MAN is one of the best releases in home entertainment history, and carves an indelible benchmark of pride for the high-def format. An undeniable value even at its suggested retail price, director Jon Favreau, Marvel Studios and Paramount take top honors for their inexhaustible efforts in launching the franchise with gusto in home entertainment. While the standard DVD release earns similar high marks, this beautifully packaged and programmed Blu-ray edition with its format-exclusive extras make this HD debut a triumph unto itself. Even after enjoying the hours of entertainment microprocessed into this two-disc set, viewers will be left hungering for more — and thanks to Favreau and Downey, more is definitely rocketing toward theaters in 2010. Until then, immerse yourself in the glamorous, dangerous, inventive world of Tony Stark and put IRON MAN in high rotation on your Blu player. |
