Iron Man 2 Disc DVD Review

Credits:

Director: Jon Favreau
Writers: Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum, and Matt Holloway
Based On: Iron Man, created by Stan Lee, Jack Kirby, Don Heck, and Larry Lieber.
Cast:
Robert Downey Jr. – Tony Stark/Iron Man
Jeff Bridges – Obadiah Stane/Iron Monger
Terrence Howard – Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes
Gwyneth Paltrow – Pepper Potts
Faran Tahir - Raza

Story:

Iron Man tells the origin story of the popular Marvel Comics character. Tony Stark is a womanizing billionaire industrialist who comes to realize that his weapons do more harm than good. In being forced to create a powered suit of armor to free himself from a terrorist cell, Tony Stark decides to use his greatest creation to become something he’d never thought he would ever be – a hero. Standing in his way is his business partner who sees the invention as the world’s greatest weapon and a way to gain even more power for himself. The resulting battle takes Stark to the limit of his abilities and brings forth a new hero for the world to see.

Check out a complete review of the Iron Man movie.

Review:

This movie has so much going for it. A great cast with a storyline that pays homage to the source material, special effects that blend the Iron Man character seamlessly with the environment, fast paced action, all lend to one of the best comic book films to date. Iron Man shows that a comic movie doesn’t have to be dark and gritty or corny and gimmicky to be a great comic book film. I loved this film and think comic fans and those not even knowledgeable of the material to enjoy it.

DVD Special Features:

Disc 1:

• Feature film
• Deleted/Extended Scenes

Disc 2:

• I Am Iron Man
  -The Journey Begin
  -The Suit that makes the Iron Man
  -The Walk of Destruction
  -Grounded In Reality
  -Beneath the Armor
  -It’s All in the Details
  -A Good Story, Well Told
  
• The Invincible Iron Man
  -Origins
  -Friends & Foes
  -The Definitive Iron Man
  -Demon in a Bottle
  -Extremis and Beyond
  -Ultimate Iron Man
  
• Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man
• Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test
• The Actor’s Process (scene rehearsal with cast)
• The Onion “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film”
• Image Galleries

This initial release of Iron Man DVD’s boasts three different selections. There is a single disc DVD with the movie and deleted/extended scenes, a 2 Disc DVD set with a bonus DVD of extended material, and a 2 Disc Blue Ray Ultimate Edition with all the features of the 2 Disc DVD plus even more.

The biggest let down of this set is the lack of a commentary track. This was such a huge film for so many of the stars and I wished I would be able to sit in with them, hearing their anecdotes and musings about the process. I understand that a commentary track was made and it may come down the line with a box set or another release. That was the biggest let down of this 2 Disc set.

The second letdown was the initial DVD menu screen. Basically it is a CG Iron Man standing and circling around, with HUD widgets flowing around him. My complaint here was that unlike the film, it really looks CG, almost looking like something I would find for a cartoon CG movie and not what I came to expect from the top notch film like Iron Man.

What the disc lacks, it does make up for in some great special features. The obligatory extended and deleted scenes were okay, but didn’t add much to the enjoyment of the film. Most were rather rough and I would have like to see them a bit more polished.

The special effects feature delves into the three studios that helped make the CG effects for the film. One thing I liked about this special feature was that the CG technicians seemed at ease in front of the camera and gave in some cool insights into the making of the effects such as Jon Favreau doing some of the motion capture scenes for the Mark I armor or how they got around a problem with a scene from Robert Downey Jr. where they needed to do more than what Robert acted.

The comics origin, labled “The Invincible Iron Man,” has a bevy of Iron Man creators interviewed for a great piece on the history of Iron Man. There are many writers and artists who chime in, such as Warren Ellis, Stan Lee, John Romita Jr, Gene Colan, and Gerry Conway. There is a ton of information for the Iron Man fan, my favorite being where Gene Colan shows off his full color poster size recreation of his own cover for Iron Man #1.

There is also a great feature about the making of the Iron Man film. It goes into the inspiration of where the movie Iron Man comes from, mostly being inspired by the art of Adi Granov. Granov became a consultant on the film and had to transition from just drawing what looks good to thinking about how a person could fit into the suit and move. You see what it takes to wear the suit, being that he Mark I was 100 lbs of extra weight. Bits of information like this give one a greater appreciation for the film.

Of the three options for Iron Man, the 2 Disc and Blue Ray editions are the best. There’s no question between the single disc and two disc set that you’d be crazy just to pick up the single disc, for a few bucks more, you get so much extra material. If the 2 Disc set had the commentary track, it would have been a perfect DVD purchase. As it is, the Iron Man 2 Disc DVD set is still pretty fantastic.