The Invincible Iron Man DVD Review

VITAL STATISTICS

Street Date:January 23, 2007
Feature Run Time: 83 Minutes
Rating: PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality
DVD SRP: 19.98
Based on: The Iron Man origin written by Stan Lee and art by Jack Kirby and Don Heck.

FROM THE DVD:

“Past and present collide in this epic adventure that reveals the origin of Iron Man. While raising the ruins of a long buried Chinese kingdom, billionaire inventor Tony Stark digs up far more than he bargained for. He unleashes an age-old prophecy that foretells the resurrection of the Mandarin, the emperor of China’s darkest and most violent dynasty. In order to confront the destructive force, Tony creates an armored suit infused with high-tech weaponry. To stop the evil that he himself has raised from the earth, Tony must become his greatest invention ever—Iron Man! The newly born champion must travel to the four corners of the earth to battle the Mandarin’s henchmen, the Elementals—four magical warriors who harness the power of the elements—earth, water, wind, and fire—with deadly chemistry. But is the Iron Knight, as he his known in the prophecy, strong enough to defy fate and turn back the malevolent forces hell-bent on earth’s destruction?”

THE STORY

The Invincible Iron Man tells the origin story of how Tony Stark, billionaire playboy and genius scientist, becomes the hero and defender in the futuristic suit of armor, Iron Man. This is a retelling of the story as laid down by Stan Lee, and although it pays a nod to the original story, does not adhere to it. This story, like others in the animated line from Lionsgate, is a re-imagining of the original story, changing it for the modern day and ultimately for a more dramatic telling.

The main elements of the Iron Man origin are there; the billionaire and womanizer Tony Stark, an explosion that damages his heart so that he must use technology to save himself, the original gray armor, his friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes, and his archenemy, The Mandarin. There are large differences, however with Rhodey being an engineer rather than a pilot, and the Mandarin being a more supernatural villain from the past rather than a technological powered warboss.

For the hardcore Iron Man fan, these changes may be a hard pill to swallow, but in this new day of retelling and re-imagining of our beloved characters, we will have to accept that this will happen time and time again. I did feel, however, that the creative team behind this DVD did a good job with the content in updating and repackaging it for today’s generation. The story is strong, except for the how the conflict resolves itself, but as a whole, I felt that this DVD was a strong showing in the Lionsgate/Marvel collaboration.

REVIEW

As a whole, The Invincible Iron Man is probably the best looking title to date. The CGI characters where very well done and actually added to the feel of Iron Man and the Demon Elementals that he fights. One of the special features talks about this, about how they didn’t have to worry about getting any emotion from the CGI characters, and it shows, they have a very mechanical and robotic feel, which adds some nice flavor to the mix.

As mentioned before, the story was well done, even if it diverged from the original storyline, like in the case of The Mandarin. I don’t know if I’m just starting to accept the fact that they will never quite do it just like the original, or that I’m impressed with how they decided to repackage it. I guess it’s a little from column A and a little for column B. My one big complaint about the story though would be in its end. I felt they went a little to cliché with how The Mandarin is stopped and ultimately defeated. I think they should have gone back to the drawing board, instead of using this tired ploy. One might call it, “The Invincible Iron Man: The Power Of Love.”

Another thing that stood out to me was the mature content of the film. There were a couple of sensual scenes that felt a little out of place. The violence was a little mature as well, with people dying and getting hurt. Not that this is a bad thing, many often think of the mock violence in old series like GI Joe where no one gets hurt is silly, and they’d be right. It just seems like a weird move on the part of Marvel and Lionsgate to go for that PG-13 rating. I know I’d be a little uncomfortable having my young nephew watch it with me. Again, not a bad thing per se, but something that parents of young kids need to know and consider when renting or buying this movie.

SPECIAL FEATURES

The special features of the DVD has some really great items.

Alternate Opening Sequence – A voice over showing the history of The Mandarin and the prophecy pertaining to Iron Man.

“The Origin of Iron Man” featurette – A nice feature telling how the creative team took the origin story and changed it for the DVD. It had some great interviews with the producers, writers, and Marvel Editor-In-Chief, Joe Quesada.

“The Hall of Iron Man Armor” featurette – A great nod to the comic book Iron Man with the many suits that have shown up and how they were used.

A Look at upcoming Marvel Animated Feature Dr. Strange – Doctor Strange fans will be very excited to see the opening sequence of the upcoming film. It looks to be pretty spooky.

Trailer Gallery – Just the ability to re-watch the trailers that are at the beginning of the DVD.

BOTTOM LINE

The Invincible Iron Man is probably the best that Lionsgate has come up with to date. It is a good film overall and is worth viewing. Some minor flaws in the story may detract from the overall experience, but the action scenes are great, the art and animation is superb, and the nods to the original story were a nice touch.