Iron Man Blu-ray Disc (Jon Favreau, 2008)

Paramount (USA)
2.35:1 1080p
125 minutes
Audio: Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English, DD 5.1 French, DD 5.1 Spanish
Subtitles: Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, Portuguese
Extras: deleted/extended scenes; The Invincible Iron Man; Easter Egg; I Am Iron Man; Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man; Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test; The Actor’s Process; The Onion joke piece; Stills Galleries

Blu-ray Exclusives--Hall of Armor; BD Live IQ Quiz; trailers

Released: 30 September 2008
Blu-ray case

As I’ve read only a handful of comic books, my familiarity with them is passing at best. Therefore, I thought that Iron Man looked kinda goofy when I saw the trailers. Yet, I attended one of the early Thursday evening screenings that were scheduled due to the enormous critical buzz that had been generated. The movie got better across-the-board reviews than most “serious” awards baits, and there didn’t seem to be any snide dismissal of the story’s origins.

Even with all the hype, I was still impressed by Iron Man. Although it has its share of serious moments, for the most part, the movie is sophisticated fun. (Iron Man stands in sharp contrast to the juvenile silliness that dominates most summer fare.) Much of the wry humor is generated by Robert Downey Jr., who may be playing himself to some extent but also treats his character like a realistic person with realistic intellectual and emotional trajectories. When Downey is in a workshop interacting with machines while he builds his suit, he’s hilarious while admonishing eager-beaver fire extinguishers. Also, while Tony Stark starts out as a sexist, self-centered pig, he always oozes the kind of charm that seduces you into giving him a second chance. The character’s transformation into a humanist is striking and believable.

In the long run, Iron Man may be remembered as a one-man show, but the cast is uniformly excellent. Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow both have great chemistry with Downey, and Jeff Bridges is deliciously smarmy as the villain. Shaun Toub also makes a deep impression as the man who helps Tony Stark construct the first Iron Man suit. Everyone snaps perfectly-timed one-liners, and the supporting players try to give Downey as much sass as he gives them.

Indeed, the actors’ banter is what will stay with you long after you’ve forgotten about the action sequences. By now, you know what to expect of the classical Hollywood formula--the hero gets beat up before he stands tall at the end. The folks who made Iron Man know how perfunctory that journey can be, so none of the action scenes wear out their welcome. The final fight between Iron Man and Iron Monger is a good example; it’s not a protracted display of robot smashing, which would be boring in the extreme (see Transformers).

With the Summer Movie Season at an end, it’s nigh impossible to avoid comparing Iron Man to The Dark Knight. After all, they’re both about billionaires who build themselves into heroes rather than being born with superpowers. However, The Dark Knight is ponderous, pompous, self-important, self-serious, extraordinarily overlong, poorly edited, and filled with Master-of-the-Obvious dialogue and pontifications about “good” and “evil”. Iron Man joins Ang Lee’s Hulk at the top of the superhero genre.

Video:
The 2.35:1 1080p image is quite pleasing to the eye. This isn’t a stylized palette (ala 300), a cotton-candy confection (ala Fantastic Four), or a shot-in-the-dark shroud (ala Christopher Nolan’s Batman efforts). Rather, the movie looks like its set in the real world, with real-world days and real-world nights. Some of the desert scenes and night-time action sequences have noticeable film grain, but this is a natural result of shooting with film and the Super 35 process. Iron Man is no Speed Racer, but it is a clean, sharp, frequently enjoyable visual experience. This is the best Blu-ray picture in my collection.

Audio:
The Dolby TrueHD 5.1 English track is good, old-fashioned, red-meat fun, with zingy surround-sound effects, propulsive music, and crisp dialogue. The sound designers also knew when to give viewers a rest, so you don’t get continuous bombast as with The Dark Knight. Nevertheless, during Iron Man’s flying sequences, the five speakers give you a good sense of object placement (i.e. Iron Man’s spatial relationship to fighter jets and other airborne objects).

Alas, the track’s dynamic range does sound a tad constricted compared to the SD DVD’s DD 5.1 track and the Blu-ray’s DD 5.1 dubs. This was first reported by my good friend John Puccio over at DVDTown.com. Bass response can be curiously muted in some parts, though I’ve had a similar problem with Mission: Impossible 2 (my HD DVD’s DD+ track was much weaker than my SD DVD’s DD track). John is in contact with Paramount personnel regarding the matter; maybe some light will be shed on this matter soon.

You can also watch the movie with DD 5.1 French and DD 5.1 Spanish dubs. Optional English, English SDH, French, Spanish, and Portuguese subtitles support the audio.

Extras:
All of the extras are in high-def video where applicable.

--Disc 1--
There are several deleted and extended scenes that are amusing, but you can see why they were cut from the final product.

“Hall of Armor” is an interactive showcase of the various suits featured in the movie.

“The Invincible Iron Man” is a six-part introduction to the character’s history in the comics world.

Those of you with Ethernet connections can eventually watch the movie with a BD Live IQ Quiz featuring trivia about the movie.

There’s also an Easter Egg featuring Stan Lee. Go to the Special Features sub-menu and highlight the “BD LIVE” button. Click the Down button to highlight a graphic of a robotic arm. Click on the robotic arm to watch a clip of Stan Lee talking about his cameo.

(The lack of an audio commentary is a bit surprising since Jon Favreau recorded audio commentaries for Elf and Zathura, but given the comprehensive nature of the extras, there’s no sense of loss.)

--Disc 2--
“I Am Iron Man” is a seven-part feature-length documentary that covers the movie’s development from conception to its world premiere at the Grauman Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. This is a revealing, intimate look at the creation of a huge production. You can see how there are a lot of cooks in the kitchen, all with their careers on the line. However, you can also see how Jon Favreau marshals the troops with the right balance of assuredness and humility to get the movie done with some semblance of a personal artistic vision.

“Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man” is a stand-alone featurette about how the special effects were created. Whereas the “I Am Iron Man” documentary gives you a sense of the exhaustive journey, this piece delves into the nitty-gritty details of micro-assembly.

You can also watch the “Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test” (in which it’s obvious that the actor already knows how to play the part), “The Actor’s Process” (Downey and Jeff Bridges in rehearsals), and “The Onion: Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted Into Full Length Film” (a joke news piece).

Finally, there are four extensive Stills Galleries and four trailers.

--Miscellaneous--
You get a handsome cardboard slipcover that functions like the Iron Man “suit” since the keepcase’s actual cover art is a portrait of Robert Downey Jr.

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13 September 2008 update:
Apparently, the Dolby TrueHD track triggers “Late Night” viewing modes on some receivers when the audio is bitstreamed. Therefore, if you have a Blu-ray player that can decode lossless audio internally or if you shut off the “Late Night” viewing mode on your receiver, then the audio will sound just fine--fantastic, actually.