Iron Man (Single-Disc Edition) - Blu-ray & DVD | Action Superhero Movie | Perfect for Marvel Fans & Movie Collectors | Great for Home Entertainment & Gifts

I can't imagine anybody else portraying Tony Stark better than Robert Downey Jr. I walked out of the theater at the end of the movie glad that the movie turned out so much better than expected...Full synopsis below:The movie begins with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) visiting soldiers on duty in the Middle East. He is joking with some members of a convoy who seem to be genuinely amused by his persona. Suddenly, the convoy is attacked. The soldiers fight to defend themselves but are quickly killed. Stark flees when a bomb (bearing the logo of his company, "Stark Industries") explodes, severely wounding Tony's chest. Tony is captured and recorded by a group of terrorists.A flashback sequence reveals Tony's history as a child prodigy before taking over his father's technology company at age 21. Colonel James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) attends a ceremony to present Tony Stark with an award for his work, but Stark is not in attendance. Tony's right-hand man (and his father's former partner) Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) accepts the award in Tony's honor. Rhody later finds Tony partying in a casino. On his way out, a reporter named Christine (Leslie Bibb) approaches Stark with some questions regarding the ethics of his weapons business. Stark deflects her questions with some swift quips and the two end up spending the night together.Next morning, Christine is awakened by a voice on a computer monitor. It's JARVIS, the artificial intelligence program responsible for running Tony's house. Christine is greeted by Tony's assistant, "Pepper" Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) as she leaves the house. Pepper helps Tony catch up on some business before Tony heads out to the airport where his plane is kept.In flight, Tony talks with Rhody. Rhody is unhappy about Tony's lax attitude, and Tony tries to get his old friend to relax. Before long they are drunk and leering at the stewardesses.Tony arrives at a military outpost in the Middle East to demonstrate his company's latest project - the Jericho, a super-missile system. After the demonstration, Tony gets a phone call from Obadiah and they are both pleased that the demonstration went well. Tony goes off with the convoy that is soon attacked by terrorists.Much later, Tony regains consciousness in a cave. His chest is hooked up to a strange device. Another captive, named Yinsen (Shaun Tomb), explains that he operated on Stark but was unable to remove all the shrapnel fragments from the bomb blast. Yinsen created a device - essentially a battery-powered magnet - that will keep the remaining fragments out of Tony's heart.The terrorists who captured Tony & Yinsen enter the room. Yinsen translates; they want Tony to build them a Jericho missile. Tony refuses, so they begin to torture Stark.Hours later, the terrorists show off a huge stockpile of weapons-all made by Stark Industries. Tony appears to relent and start building the missile, but has other plans. With Yinsen's help, Tony constructs a tiny version of an arc reactor, streamlined from a much bigger design used at his company's headquarters. The power output is enough to run Stark's heart for fifty lifetimes... or something much bigger for about 15 minutes.Tony designs a way out for them - a powered weapon suit that he will wear and use to defeat the terrorists. Midway through construction, the head of the terrorist group (The Ten Rings), a man named Raza (Faran Tahir) arrives and attempts to torture Yinsen, angry because he thinks Stark is not working on the Jericho as they wanted. Raza gives them one more day to finish.Working overnight, Yinsen straps Tony into the completed armored suit, telling him the way out of the cave. They set off a bomb inside the cell as a distraction for the guards as Tony powers up his suit. Yinsen realizes that they will not have enough time. He grabs a gun and runs off to distract the surviving guards.Tony, fully powered, muscles his way through the cave. The guards try to stop but his suit easily deflects their weapon fire. Half-way out, Stark finds Yinsen, mortally wounded. Yinsen reveals that this was his plan, sacrificing himself so Tony could escape, as Yinsen's family is already dead and he will now see them again. Tony tearfully thanks Yinsen for saving him. Yinsen's last words to Stark are not to waste his second chance.Tony turns his suit on the terrorists, igniting flame-throwers. He destroys their stockpile of weapons and uses a rudimentary jet-pack to blast away from the captive zone. Not long after firing, his jet-pack explodes and he crashes in the desert, but survives.Stark hikes through the desert until a couple of US helicopters fly overhead. A group of soldiers, led by Rhody, come across Tony. Rhody is overjoyed to find that his friend is alive.Tony returns to the United States after three months in captivity. Pepper wants Tony to receive medical treatment, but Tony states that there are only two things he wants: an American cheeseburger and a company press conference. Shortly after, Tony appears before a group of reporters and announces that he intends to shut down Stark Industries' weapons manufacturing division immediately. At the same time, Pepper is approached by Agent Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) of the Strategic Homeland Intervention Enforcement & Logistic Division agency. They want to talk to Tony Stark about his capture. Pepper schedules an appointment for them.That evening, Obadiah confronts Tony about his actions, furious. Obadiah knows that the stock value for their company (and, by extension, their financial status) is going to take a serious drop because of this announcement. Tony wants Stark Industries to move forward with arc reactor technology, but Obadiah thinks that the arc reactor is nothing but a publicity stunt. Through the conversation, Tony ends up revealing his prosthetic power-heart to Obadiah. Stane convinces Tony to lay low for a while so the company can sort things out.Pepper watches a news report on the declining value of Stark Industries when Tony asks for her help. He's created an upgraded mini arc reactor, but can't install it into his chest without someone to help. Pepper accidentally yanks out the cords for the old reactor too soon, putting Tony on the verge of cardiac arrest. They manage to complete the process in time. Tony tells Pepper to get rid of the old model since he's not a sentimental person.Tony comes to visit Rhodes and asks for help with a new private project. Rhody does not agree with Tony's approach; he thinks Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder because of his capture and needs time to recover.Tony turns to his other best friend - JARVIS, the A.I. program - for help. Tony's plan is revealed to be an upgrade to his armored suit (referred to as "Mark 2," with the suit from the terrorist cave being Mark 1).Meanwhile, the terrorists who held Tony captive are searching the desert, gathering all fragments of the original armored suit.Tony decides that the first thing he has to do is to perfect the armor's flight system. Since the leg-mounted jets prove too unstable, he creates arm-mounted stabilizers to balance out the system. Pepper comes in when he is testing the stabilizers and they find that it also creates a powerful repulsion beam that could also be used as a weapon. Pepper leaves a box on Tony's desk.Obadiah visits Tony and reveals that the board of directors have filed an injunction to gain control of Stark Industries. Tony isn't worried; he still maintains controlling interest in Stark Industries.Tony finally manages to perfect his flight system, and is delighted at the prospect of flying.A new armored suit is soon finished, looking like a heavily-streamlined version of Tony's Mark 1 armor. Tony connects with Jarvis to monitor the progress in the suit. Tony decides to take it out for a test flight, and he is thrilled by everything the suit can do. Tony decides to push the limit for higher-atmosphere flying, but at such great heights the suit becomes coated with ice and his power supply shuts down. Tony is barely able to reactivate his thrusters in time to avoid crashing into the ground. Stark returns home, but the armor is so heavy that it crashes through three floors of the house.As Tony recovers from his crash landing, he opens the box that Pepper left behind earlier. It's his original mini arc reactor, encased as a trophy with the message, "Proof That Tony Stark Has A Heart."Tony analyzes more data and decides to rebuild the suit using gold titanium from an old project to solve the icing problem. Tony also instructs Jarvis to add some "hot-rod red" paint to the next suit, codenamed Mark 3. Tony then leaves to attend his annual benefit dinner while the new suit is being assembled and painted.At the charity event, Tony meets with Agent Coulson, who still wants to learn about Tony's incident. Tony then leaves to dance with Pepper and they share a moment together in the moonlight.Tony is then confronted by Christine, the reporter from an earlier scene. She shows him photographs of his weapons being used by a terrorist group the previous day in the Middle East. Tony confronts Obadiah on the matter, and Obadiah reveals that he is the one who filed the injunction against Tony. Obadiah calls himself an "Iron Monger," and has no qualms about selling Stark Industries weapons to both sides of the conflict. Tony returns home, furious.While he is at home, listening to news reports of the worsening situation in the Middle East, he tests modifications to his hand jets, turning them into a weapon. When the new suit is completed, Stark steps in and essentially transforms into Iron Man for the first time, determined to right his company's wrongs.In a Middle East village, terrorists are rounding up civilians for capture & execution when they are confronted by a mysterious figure in red and gold. Iron Man has arrived. Within seconds, he defeats the first group of terrorists, using his advanced weapons to take out several without any innocent casualties. He leaves the group's leader alive and defenseless for the villagers to take their revenge on.While flying to find his weapons, Iron Man is shot down by a tank shell. Getting up, a second shell barely misses him. He responds by shooting a mini-missile at the tank, destroying it. He succeeds in destroying his missiles and taking out most of the terrorists.During the fight, CENTCOM detects the unknown agent. Col. Rhodes is asked about the status of any new developments. He contacts Tony, who claims that he knows nothing about what is happening. In the meantime, Iron Man is confronted by two F-22's. He tries to outrun the jets but they are too much for him. Tony calls Rhodes and reveals that he is responsible for the "unidentified craft." Rhody is furious about Tony sending in unauthorized equipment, and horrified when Tony explains that the "equipment" is actually himself! Iron Man is hit by one fighter jet, sending him flying into the wing of the second jet. The pilot is forced to eject, but the parachute fails to open. Iron Man, still under fire, manages to fly in and successfully deploy the parachute in time to save the pilot's life. Tony convinces Rhody to pass off what happened with the jets as a "training exercise."As Tony arrives back at home, Pepper catches him removing the battle-damaged Iron Man armor.Meanwhile, the Ten Rings terrorist group is visited by none other than Obadiah. It is revealed that Stane paid the Ten Rings members to kill Stark, but they realized who Stark was and demanded a much higher price. Obadiah takes the remnants of the Mark 1 armor they have gathered.Tony tries to talk Pepper into helping him, believing that nothing else matters but stopping the people who he put in harm's way. Pepper is moved by Tony's dedication, and agrees. She goes into Obadiah's office with a tiny piece of equipment designed to copy files from the computer. As Pepper sifts through stored files, she finds a video from the terrorists proving that Obadiah was responsible for Tony's capture.Obadiah comes into the office just as she is leaving, but Pepper manages to get away. However, as soon as he powers up the computer, Obadiah realizes what she was up to. On the way out, Pepper is joined by Agent Coulson and he agrees to help stop Obadiah with his fellow agents.Obadiah meets with his team of developers working on his own armored suit. They have rebuilt the components, but they cannot re-create Stark's arc reactor. Stane is furious; then realizes that he has one other option.Stane arrives at Tony's house and paralyzes him with a sonic weapon. Obadiah yanks out the power source from Tony's heart, taunting him all the while. After he leaves, Tony realizes that he has only one hope for survival - the preserved arc reactor that Pepper gave him in a display case. He gets the power source installed just as Rhody arrives.Pepper, Coulson and several other agents arrive at Obadiah's research facility. They spot the Mark 1 Armor and a storage location where something else was kept. Just then, a gigantic robotic suit comes to life and attacks them - it's Obadiah's counterpart suit, code-named the Iron Monger.Rhody watches Tony suit up, awestruck at the Iron Man costume. As Tony flies away, Rhody spots a new, silver-colored prototype suit... then shakes his head and mumbles "Next time."Iron Man arrives and begins to fight Iron Monger. Jarvis warns Tony that he has only about half power in the suit; the older power source wasn't designed to work alongside the newer suit. The two ironclad warriors have a huge battle. Tony grabs the Iron Monger and climbs higher. Iron Monger struggles but before long begins to freeze up - his suit still has the same icing problem that Tony's other suit had. Iron Monger manages to escape from this, and Iron Man is now almost completely powerless.Tony instructs Pepper to overload the building's arc reactor, which will generate a shockwave strong enough to knock out the Iron Monger's suit. Pepper is hesitant, believing that Tony could also be killed. Tony manages to keep fighting while she builds up power to the reactor. The reactor releases its shockwave, knocking out the Iron Monger, which falls into the reactor, killing Stane and destroying the reactor. Stark's original mini arc reactor sparks back to life, allowing Tony to survive.Days later, Rhody holds a press conference about the incident with the two robots. Tony is impressed with the newspapers coming up with the name "Iron Man," and plans to adopt it. Agent Coulson has released cover stories about Obadiah and the "truth" about Iron Man (who will be referred to as Stark's bodyguard). Pepper thanks Coulson but cannot remember the full name of the group he belongs to. Coulson just tells them to call it S.H.I.E.L.D. and states that they will be in touch again.Tony goes before the reporters once more, and prepares to comply with the cover story. But, before he can even start, Tony Stark throws away his notes and declares "I am Iron Man." The press goes into a frenzy.Much later (after the credits), Tony returns home to find a mysterious man in black telling him that as Iron Man, Tony has become part of a larger universe. Tony asks who the man is. He turns around and introduces himself- Nick Fury, Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. (Samuel L. Jackson). He's come to talk with Tony Stark about an upcoming project- known only as "The Avenger Initiative."Most people on Amazon -- and I count myself among them -- reviewing movies or TV shows primarily review the film or series and not the product. As a rule, I think this is more helpful than focusing on features, extras, packaging, and such. Because these change and usually (though not always) Amazon links the old versions to the new, comments about these can become irrelevant. I am making an exception to this product, the Blu-ray 2-disc edition of IRON MAN, simply because it is the first movie that I bought on Blu-ray. I previously had bought two TV series on Blu-ray, but this is the first film.I recently purchased a Sony Playstation 3, primarily for watching movies, though secondarily for playing games. I limiting my Blu-ray purchases until the prices for the discs come down to around the same level as DVDs. On the other hand, I'm virtually cutting out my purchases of DVDs entirely, since the new format is already on hand. I wouldn't be surprised if overall DVD sales started to drop if more people follow the kinds of buying patterns I'm currently practicing. We are in an in between period. The format war is over and Blu-ray has won, but not enough people own Blu-ray players because they are priced too high. But just as I stopped purchasing LPs and cassette tapes once CDs were released, so I'm ceasing buying DVDs. But my purchasing of Blu-ray is minimal. Mostly I rent from Netflix.Which leads to the question, why buy Blu-ray at all? Well, only if there is enough in the product to justify it. In the case of IRON MAN, I believe what you get justifies the cost. I was a little nervous the first time I put a Blu-ray on, wondering if the difference was going to justify the money I had expended. I'm delighted to say that it did. The main feature, of course, looks extraordinary. But IRON MAN is unique in contrast with the other Blu-ray films and series that I have watched in the format in the amount of extras also in 1080 high-def. I think this will change quickly as Blu-ray matures as a form, but currently many releases have the main feature in 1080 high def, but many of the features in a lower resolution.IRON MAN also has an amazing number of special features that I actually enjoyed watching. Too often special features just seem to be filler, put there to make the purchaser that there is more to the item purchased than there is. And frankly, more often than not I don't bother with special features at all. But I find projects like IRON MAN to be quite fascinating, since it involves combining several technologies to create the final main character, including the main actor, stunt doubles, high tech suits, robots, and extensive CGI. Frankly, going behind the scenes of most movies -- even most very good movies -- is not terribly interesting. But in the case of a high-tech super hero movies, it is very nearly as much fun as the main feature itself. I especially enjoyed the series of short features documenting the making of the film. I find that I enjoyed the movies itself more fully on rewatching than I did the first time through.IRON MAN is important not merely for being a very good movie, but for being the first movie by a new studio that is certain to be among the greatest producer of box office smashes in the next decade. After watching several Marvel characters drive some of the greatest box office hits of the past decade, Marvel has established its own production company. The goal is ultimately an Avengers movie and to that end they are bringing out a string of movies over the next 3 or 4 years, introducing potential new members of the Marvel answer to the JLA. We have already been introduced to Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, and Nick Fury of S.H.I.E.L.D. (and I hope everyone who has watched IRON MAN stuck around after the closing credits to be introduced to Nick Fury, who gets his own movie something early in the next decade -- this will almost certain star Samuel L. Jackson, who gave his permission to serve as the model for Fury in The Ultimate Nick Fury comic release). Marvel has announced movies based on Thor, Captain America, and Ant-Man, all of whom were members of the Avengers in one or another version, along with Iron Man and the Hulk. Marvel's formula, based on IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK, as well as the movies they are striving to cast (the word is that Daniel Craig recently turned down the offer to star in THOR), is to make a character based film focused primarily on a high-profile actor (Robert Downey Jr., Edward Norton, and if he had taken the offer Daniel Craig), and then build the action around him, instead of having the character as an afterthought to the action. It has worked wonderfully in the Spider-Man movies (which was primarily a Sony production). When and if they do an Avengers movie, the cost of the cast alone should be jaw dropping. However, Marvel isn't focusing on the Avengers alone. They have also announced their intention to do a film based on my own favorite Marvel series, Brian K. Vaughan's The Runaways, about a group of empowered teens in California who discover that their parents are super villains, causing them to become runaways (hence their name). Though the Runaways have been tangentially included in Marvel Big Events like the Civil War and the Secret Invasion, they aren't centrally involved in the rest of the Marvel Universe. There will also be a Silver Surfer film, hopefully with Galactus as his foe.My fear is that Marvel is going to be exclusively focused on producing titanic box office smashes. Though I will add that both IRON MAN and THE INCREDIBLE HULK focus on character enough to make both far more than cinematic comic books.My last comment is that as a Robert Downey Jr. admirer, I couldn't be happier that he seems to have conquered his personal demons to enjoy the greatest commercial success of his career. He is a first rate actor who has been in many, many fine movies over the years, often in independent productions, but for a while it looked like his career might be over. Although he proudly points out that even during the years when he struggled with drug addiction and never missed a single day of shooting on any film, after his final rehab and jail stint insurers would not insure his films. I know that Woody Allen had to drop him from one project because they couldn't get insurance for him. Gradually, however, he managed to work his way back. He is especially good to see in this role because his own personal problems parallel those of Tony Stark in the comics. Like Downey earlier in his life, Tony Stark struggles with alcoholism. The film only shows him drinking. I wonder if IRON MAN 2, which was just announced, will show Stark dealing with his drinking. I hope so. It has been the focus on things like this that have made several of the Marvel movies so enjoyable. Although there is great action, ultimately they are about believable, very human individuals who become heroes. The more human you make the characters, the more delightful they become as heroes.Marvel had produced many films before Iron Man with varying degrees of success. Just like doing a bit of DIY, sometimes they managed to bend the nail, but with Iron Man they hit it squarely on the head.Kicking off the film with a incredible opening sequence, viewers get to see action from the start and let the story unfold from there. The billionaire playboy, Tony Stark gets a rude awakening when he is attacked by the very weapons he created. Using his genious however, he comes to understand that he has the power to begin to fight those whom attacked him.By the end of this action packed, story driven masterpiece, you are left wanting to see more, not just of Robert Downey Junior but also of what Marvel can do. Iron Man is the beginning of the much larger story that is the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU)This is how it all began. Iron Man was the first movie based on a Marvel superhero actually produced by Marvel, and as such was the first instalment of the rapidly expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Iron Man was perhaps a strange choice as outside comic book geekdom he probably wasn’t the best known superhero – certainly not universally known like Superman, Batman and Spider-Man – but that didn’t stop director Jon Favreau forging a brilliant movie that catapulted the character to international fame and set Marvel’s ball well and truly rolling.Iron Man is by no means a perfect film (I would have preferred to see more set pieces with the Mark III armour, and it does end with a fairly predictable mano-a-mano bash-up between Stark and his nemesis), but the flaws are outweighed by all the good stuff. The decision to cast Robert Downey Jr as Tony Stark was inspired; his charismatic, witty performance is a joy to watch and he really makes you believe that he could invent all this implausible technology. The scenes showing Stark developing the suits are brilliant and often hilarious. The supporting cast is also superb; the banter between Downey and Gwyneth Paltrow is marvellous, and Jeff Bridges is a seriously imposing presence as Stark’s father figure-cum-opponent. Terrence Howard is also fine as James Rhodes though I prefer the Don Cheadle interpretation of the character in later movies.However the real stars of the show are the brilliantly realised suits. Stan Winston’s team did a truly remarkable job creating beautiful, practical suits, which are supplemented by almost flawless visual effects work. A few more scenes with Iron Man in action and a more inventive finale would have made this a five-star classic, but it’s still damn good fun.Technically the blu ray release is superb: picture quality is almost flawless, though as often seems to be the case with Paramount releases I found myself having to turn the volume up more than usual.If you’re going to get this movie on BD you have to seek out the 2-disc Ultimate Edition. Sadly this is no longer being made so you’ll have to look on eBay or find a private seller on Amazon, but the difference between it and the 1-disc version currently available is like night and day. On disc 1 you get a 40-minute history of Iron Man, deleted scenes and the rather pointless interactive ‘Hall of Armour’, while disc 2 features a brilliant in-depth ‘making of’, a VFX documentary, Downey’s screentests, storyboards and galleries. Although I’d give the movie itself 4 stars, the extent and quality of the bonus features easily bump this set up to the full five.First and best film of the saga, this Iron Man is truly a refreshing new piece in the world of marvel films.Maybe due to the background of the director as a comedian and to the presence itself of Robert Downey, this film has a certain brilliant side that reminds a lot of screwball comedies, that surprisingly naturally cohabits with the action side.The result is a curious and smart mix of genres and an interesting visual look, that switches from classic 50ies style to almost live action and documentarian moments (the first scene when the Iron man reveals coming out of the cave in the desert) to videogame-hitech scenes.The duet between Downey and Paltrow is brilliantly conducted and focuses on a constant romantic and sexual unresolved tension (as in the best Wilder and Hawks old comedies), while Jeff Bridges is quite believable in the role of the villain.The blu ray is definitely good.Surely one of the best comis heroes based filmsWith fabulous actors doing this movie and the story is marvellous with that, How the world can you go wrong. I found this to be very interesting and different and something that makes you wonder can this really happen. When my earlier years I could buy the comic books of superman, Phantom and all the others but never had the interest until just the last few years that has had me sit up and take notice. The impossible is still impossible but you never know what's around the corner do we. Captured and using his only talent as a genius to escape, he builds a suit of armour and becomes our hero. I have missed out on a few things but I'm taking a short cut as I have more reviews to do, I rated this an A grade plus for full on action and adventure that has you marvelling at what he can do and we can't. Hurry now as you wont want to miss out on this as it will have you glued to the chair, relaxing with your popcorn in one hand and a drink in the other don't forget to put your feet up. Enjoy!First of all the moan AMAZON PLEASE STOP MERGING YOUR REVIEWS, IF I CLICK ON A BLU RAY I WANT TO READ PEOPLES REVIEWS OF THE BLU RAY (PICTURE, SOUND, TRANSFER) NOT 200 REVIEWS FROM A YEAR AGO ABOUT THE DVD, how difficult can it be to sort out. Right, well as you expect the picture quality on this disc is superb but it's the sound I have an issue with, the 'True HD' through my Philips sound bar in my humble opinion makes for a very lacklustre experience. Perhaps I have something set up incorrectly although my sound bar has limited settings, it's also the only disc out of 50 or so blu rays I have that turns my DTS off and dulls the sound, compared to some of the discs that are quite amazing and shake my living room. I've not watched it with a proper 5.1 system so I can't comment. All in all, great movie, superb picture quality, just wish it had the same sound options as all my other discs.