Meet Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr). The son of deceased weapons manufacturer, Howard Stark, Tony is an arrogant (yet charming) billionaire and genius who spends as much time building machines as he does chasing the ladies. As a stop on his globe-trotting tour, Tony is visiting Afghanistan to promote his company’s state-of-the-art missile system, the Jericho, when his convoy is attacked and he is taken prisoner by a terrorist group, the Ten Rings. Injured in the attack, Tony is nursed back to health by fellow prisoner, surgeon, and translator, Dr. Yinsen (Shaun Toub). Already possessing a vast cache of Stark Industries weapons, the terrorists want Tony to build the new Jericho system for them as well, and in exchange they will set him free.
Will Tony submit to the terrorists or does he have other plans in mind? Read more after the jump.
Tony agrees to do what the Terrorists demand, but creates a heavy suit of armour, torches the terrorist’s munitions, and escapes. Returning to the US, Tony is a changed man. His loyal assistant Pepper Pots (Gwyneth Paltrow), and pilot friend James Rhodes (Terrence Howard) are happy to see a different side of Tony. He announces that his company will cease making weapons, much to the chagrin of his second in command at Stark industries, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Retreating from the public eye, Tony shuts himself off in his lab, improving the design of his suit of armor, experimenting with lighter metals and adding a propulsion system. Upon seeing a news report about the Ten Rings using Jericho missiles in Afghanistan, Tony flies over there and rescues Yinsen’s village from the insurgents.
Determined to fix his mistakes, Tony sends Pepper to locate the Stark Industries shipping manifests, so he can track the missile shipments and destroy them. Sneaking into Obadiah’s office, Pepper discovers a betrayal, and designs for a reverse-engineered version of Tony’s original power suit. A climatic battle takes place atop Stark Industries between the two iron men. Transformed into an ultimate weapon, the Iron Monger, Obadiah has gone power-mad, and now it is up to Tony to fight him off and prevent his research from falling into the wrong hands…
Iron Man has a run time of 126 minutes and is rated 10 (LSV). This Blu-ray release, the 2-disc Ultimate Edition, presents the film re-mastered in High Definition (HD) and comes packed with special features including:
- Hall of Armor — an interactive 3D gallery of the 3 Iron Man suits. You can zoom in to see closer details.
- Deleted & Extended Scenes
- The Invincible Iron Man — a lengthy documentary about the original Iron Man and the evolution of the character through the ages.
- I Am Iron Man — a lengthy 111-minute documentary on the making of the film with interviews of the cast and crew.
- Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man — a documentary about the film’s CGI effects.
- Robert Downey Jr Screen Test
- The Actor’s Process — run-throughs with Robert Downey Jr and the cast.
- The Onion “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film” — a gag news report by The Onion.
- Image Galleries — there are four extensive galleries here.
- Theatrical Trailers
Iron Man is another Blu-ray title that is BD-Live enabled. BD-Live allows for interactive viewing and enables you to download additional content over the Internet using a BD-Live equipped Blu-ray player or a Sony PlayStation 3. BD-Live is selectable from the Extras menu on Disc 1. Once loaded, you will have access to the Iron Man IQ quiz.
Iron Man was kindly supplied for review by Nelmari Claassens, SterKinekor Home Entertainment Marketing Manager for Sony Pictures. Go to www.bluraydisc.co.za to view the latest Blu-ray news, reviews and competitions featured on SterKinekor Home Entertainment’s newsletter. Sony Pictures can be found on the Web at www.sonypictures.com.
