Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Iron Man (2008)

9/21/2024

Iron Man (2008) - Favreau's overrated MCU launchpad

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Carefully calculated stars and action elements inhabit this poster for Jon Favreau's Iron Man

Super weapons dealer Tony Stark is taken captive in Afghanistan and uses his engineering abilities there to create a deadly metal suit. Once he makes it back to California, he has to fight to retain control of his giant company!

Iron Man is written by Mark Fergus (First Snow (2006)), Matt Holloway (Uncharted (2022)), Art Marcum (Shadow of Fear (2004)) and Hawk Ostby (Childred of Men (2006)), based on the Marvel Comics character first presented in 1962, and directed by great New-Yorker filmmaker Jon Favreau (Made (2001)), who also plays a small part in the film. It is the first film in Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) as well as in the Iron Man franchise.

It is undeniably insensitive and in very poor taste to launch a new superhero franchise by setting it amid a real, active war (the US-led War on Terror in Afghanistan), as is done in Iron Man, which ages fast, - and poorly. Less than 10 years after its release, it already looked like an uninspired, jingoistic assortment, - at any rate to everyone who has passed their teenage level of maturity life period. The eternally servile Pepper Potts character, played by Gwyneth Paltrow (Shakespeare in Love (1998)), is a backwards-leaning, weak female component in the film. Terrence Howard (Hustle & Flow (2005)) is neither funny nor very good as Stark's US Air Force liaison and friend. And the action scenes are well set up but mostly consists of one CGI tin man pitted against another.

Jeff Bridges (The Fisher King (1991)) is like a totally different man than we normally know him as the corporate villain here, while Robert Downey Jr. (Due Date (2010)), - in his career's full throttle career comeback role, - is in his ace. The two make this weak franchise opener a bearable if not really worthwhile affair.

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The Jungle Book (2016) - Favreau's great, widest appealing movie to date
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Iron Man 2 (2010) - Favreau and Theroux's boisterous, entertaining sequel

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Elf (2003) - Favreau and Ferrell supply belly laughs and Christmas magic

Something's Gotta Give (2003) - Meyers, Jack & Diane are a killer combo (co-star)

Watch a trailer for the movie here

Cost: 140 mil. $

Box office: 585.7 mil. $

= Big hit (returned 4.18 times its cost)

[Iron Man premiered 14 April (Sydney, Australia) and runs 126 minutes. Development had been ongoing since 1990. The film changed hands from Universal Pictures to Fox to New Line Cinema to Marvel Studios over the course of the following years, with talents Stuart Gordon, Tom Cruise, Nicolas Cage, Quentin Tarantino, Joss Whedon, David Goyer, Nick Cassavetes and others being involved at different times. Downey Jr. was paid anywhere between 500k to 5 mil. $ for his performance (different sources; the 5 mil. $ may well have been a final sales-based compensation whereas the 500k $ was the guaranteed base pay); Howard got 3.5 mil. $. Shooting took place from March - June 2007 in Las Vegas, Nevada, California, including in Los Angeles, and in India. The film opened #1 to a 98.6 mil. $ first weekend in North America, where it remained at #1 for another weekend and then spent another 3 in the top 5, grossing 318.6 mil. $ (54.4 % of the total gross). The 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were the UK with 34.2 mil. $ (5.8 %) and South Korea with 25.1 mil. $ (4.3 %). The film was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Sound Editing, lost to The Dark Knight, and Visual Effects, lost to The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. It was also nominated for a BAFTA and a Grammy and won an AFI award, among many other honors. Roger Ebert gave it a 4/4 star review, translating to 4 notches over this one. Favreau returned with Iron Man 2 (2010), the next in the Iron Man franchise, with returning stars, minus Howard who was replaced over a pay dispute. Downey Jr. returned with an uncredited cameo in The Incredible Hulk (2008) and with an actual performance in Tropic Thunder (2008). Iron Man is certified fresh at 94 % with a 7.70/10 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Iron Man?

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Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

Eagerly anticipating this week ... (17-24)