Iron Man [DVD] [2008]

Iron man series is a great collection to have. I purchased all three set to upgrade my original collection to the new 4k version. With the steelbook case, it's a no brainer. Then Best Buy drops the price to $14.99 each which is an added icing on the cake. The part 3 is good. But the 1st two are the best. Happy buyer!!!

Beautiful artwork and finally a 4k release! I love the back cover art progression through the trilogy. Where it all began for the MCU

Fabulous transfer. No grain. Looked 3D at times. Beautiful steelbook. A bald Jeff Bridges, made a great villian. Sound could of been louder. Doby vision would of even made it better.

Yep. This is definitely the Iron Man movie. It showed up 2 days earlier than it’s listed arrival date so that was cool. What wasn’t cool was that the case came snapped it two right out of the shipping package. The discs were fine but I still wouldn't mind having a case that can actually close :P

This was very entertaining and looked great in 4K. I have been waiting to see this, and I’m glad I purchased it.

Iron Man has been a classic for a long time in the marvel comic books. This story is more action packed than spider-man would ever be because one man has made the ultimate weapon for justice to stop all his buyers from making his inventions into weapons that could kill 1000 lives for no reason.

Great movie,the picture and sound quality is really good.This is a must own! I have no complains.

Comic book films in 2008 were still on unfirm ground, in terms of popularity amongst audiences and critics. Ever since the seemingly one-two punch of critical and box-office failures Steel and Batman & Robin, comic book movies were largely avoided like the plague in the Cineplex and the studio board rooms. Blade released the very next year and did well at the box office though malnourished with some critics, but it was enough to get some more projects off the ground. X-Men, Spider-Man, Hellboy and Batman Begins all helped lift comic book films into new heights, despite the majority of films based on comics released between 2000-2007 were utterly forgettable at best to cinematic infamy at it's worst. But around the time when Fantastic Four and Elektra were disappointing audiences with their underwhelming films, Marvel planted the seeds that would sow the most popular films over the next decade, the legendary MCU. But I didn't think it would work, like at all. I didn't think that an interconnected universe with various comic book characters would appeal to the average Joe. I mean the most hyped film for me in 2008 was The Dark Knight, and I figured that would kill any chances of major lasting power to the MCU, despite a 2 month release difference between those two films. I also figured that hiring past his prime Robert Downey, Jr. and the director of Elf, Jon Favreau, were follies of epic proportions. May 2008 came around and audiences and critics were floored by their love of the newest hot property in town, Iron Man. Most people around that time didn't even know that Tony Stark/Iron Man was a comic book character, they probably knew the Black Sabbath song more than the comics. He didn't have the same recognition as others such as Batman and Spider-Man, but Marvel managed to make the film work. Tony Stark is a genius-playboy-philanrhropist-billionaire weapon manufacturer overseas in Afghanistan demonstrating the latest in Stark technology. After a successful demo, his convoy is attacked by the Ten Rings terrorist group, seriously injuring Stark and killing the rest. The group save Stark from certain death by jerry-rigging a car battery powering a magnet that is keeping the shrapnel from his attack from plunging into his heart. He is ordered to build them a bomb that will kill thousands of people. Partnering with a fellow prisoner/scientist, he decides to build a suit to aid in their escape. After a bittersweet, yet successful, escape, Stark ends his weapon making ways and decides to don the mantle of Iron Man. Trying to balance the tightrope act of protecting his identity as Iron Man, his growing relationship with assistant Pepper Potts (Gywnetth Paltrow) and growing trouble with Stark CEO Obidiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Ten Rings and the US government, he must do whatever it takes to be Iron Man. I had opted to pass on seeing this in theaters, decidedly waiting on the DVD to come in from Netflix, and view it on my TV. To say I was thrilled with the movie, was an absolute shock! I mean I had saw that everyone loved it, and did amazing box office, but I still was skeptical that it could be that good. Man, I was floored by how the film was that good, and still love it today. Downey, Jr. was the key reason the film worked, that and impressive direction from Favreau, despite never having helmed anything of this scope or calibre. They were a perfect symphony of playing the right notes with the right set of instruments at the correct time and rhythm band pitch. The casting was very impressive, as is the sound, special effects, camera work, set and sound design. The only negative was the screenplay. It wasn't finished before filming, had a fairly standard issue plot, but with the comedic instincts of Favreau, he insisted upon improv, and it works! This film is a great start to the MCU and is a must see for any fans of action or comic book films. The original 2008 DVD and BluRay had some amazing discs are the time, when it came to picture band sound quality, the BluRay especially being a demo worthy disc. Over the course of ten years, the release changed hands from Paramount to Disney, and it kinda scared me, honestly. Disney has grown particularly stingy to extras, has had some still prevalent audio tinkering that requires a change to your audio set-ups and have even used some less-than-ideal DNR to reduce film grain on their 4k discs. Unfortunately, the Disney touch has struck again. The 4k disc carries only the film on the disc, and at first, it looks like a good picture. But then, you start noticing that it looks oddly smoothed over, like it was a digitally shot film. That'd be okay, except this was shot on 35mm film, so it doesn't look as I feel it should. There is still grain present, but it's largely frozen in place on scenes, but luckily the details are still intact. Skin, costumes, sets and colors all benefit from the increased resolution (A 2K DI, so it's an upscaled image) and the HDR10 makes it pop when it's well-lit and colorful. The shadow and blacks are also very nicely resolved and do not suffer from any noticeable crush. Still, I hate how Disney scrubbed the grain away just to make it fall in line with the look of Iron Man 3 (shot digitally, of course). But all is not lost, as the original 2008 disc is included and still looks gorgeous and filmic, as it should! Yes, it's in 1080p, but it upscaled nicely on a 4k tv, though the pleasant HDR10 was missed. The audio has the infamous "At-mouse" sound, that being a Dolby Atmos track, but it's still a nice listen. After turning up the volume a bit, it starts to rock the house with a lovely soundfield that takes advantage of the 11.1 surround sound and sounds relatively nice, despite that flaw. The standard blue still carries the terrific 5.1 DTS-HD track and still packs punch without a need for adjustments! Moving to the extras are also an irritating time, as Disney dropped Disc 2 of the excellent (and OOP, yet easy to find, Paramount 2-disc set) extras disc and just give us the stuff that was on the original single disc. Included is BluRay Live capabilities, an interactive museum of Iron Man suits, and deleted scenes. Despite it having released over a decade ago, it would've been nice of Disney to have Favreau record an audio commentary track for the 10 year anniversary, or at least get the love commentary recorded at an expo 12 years ago. Heck, I would've accepted just the second disc from the original set, but Disney is charging a premium just for a flawed 4k disc and no new extras on disc or even any old extras. Luckily, the digital copy included, does have the missing extras and a brief, all-new featurette, but it's all in vain. It is worth it to own Iron Man, but until a proper 4k release can be had, I'd stick with the standard BluRay for the time being. Unless it's on sale, then by all means snatch it up.