Summer 2007 was a scary time to be a comic book nerd, and for good reason. 2007 produced some terrible superhero movies. From "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer," to what ruined a multi-million dollar franchise, "Spider-Man 3." Times were dark for comic book readers and movie goers alike.
Thank God for summer 2008! It gave hope back to comic book fans. From the remake of "The Incredible Hulk" starring Edward Norton, to a sequel to "Hellboy" that not only was better than its predecessor, but garnered more interest in the comic franchise. Of course, let's not forget the best movie of the summer: the Batman epic that was "The Dark Knight." Finally, Hollywood is producing some quality comic book films for fans out there. With "The Spirit" planned for later this year, and "Watchmen," based on one of the greatest comic books and novels ever written, the future looks bright for fans of comics and movies. But, let's not forget the movie that started this Renaissance of comic films, before "Hulk", before "Hellboy," and of course before "The Dark Knight," there was "Iron Man."
Now, on not one, but two different types of DVDs, the single disc and the two-disc special edition, "Iron Man" is ready for the consumer's shelf. But is it a buy or not? First let's look at the story.
"Iron Man" follows the story of Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), the playboy heir to a weapons manufacturer. A genius in terms of science, Stark would rather spend his time cracking wise and making millions off his father's weapon empire. That is, until his army truck is blown up by a terrorist group. The terrorist group kidnaps Stark, and wants him to build a missile for them. Another doctor is with Tony, who manages to keep him alive by building a magnet that is housed within Tony's chest, to keep his heart from being sliced apart by shrapnel.
After using the missile parts to build a battle suit and watching his doctor friend die, as they escaped, Stark vows to rid the world of his weapons and to help mankind. With the help of his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), he manages to get the materials he needs to make the Iron Man Suit. It later turns out that his company's weapons are being released by someone Stark trusted in his company, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), and that the terrorists were under his orders from the start. The end is a climactic battle between Iron Man and Iron Monger, the latter being Stane stealing Stark's original suit and modifying it into a more powerful version. The movie ends with a special message after the credits where Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) tells Tony about The Avenger Imitative. This makes all comic geeks squeal with delight at just the sheer mention of these words.
This movie is fantastic; it keeps to the comic, the story has a great origin, the actor choices were amazing, and it has a sense of lighthearted fun and humor. The DVDs come in two choices: the single disc and the two disc special edition. The single edition has the movie and deleted scenes and is $19.99 on Amazon. The special edition is available for $24.99 and has everything: deleted scenes, behind the scenes features, screen testes, a featurette with "Iron Man" creator, and great comic book poobah Stan Lee. This set has everything a fan can want. This version is also available in Blu-ray. So if you want to save money, go with the single disc, otherwise definitely splurge on the two-disc. All in all this is a great DVD to buy, a four out of four.