Author: Keith Aiken Source: Paramount Home Entertainment and Click Communications Official Website: Iron Man Movie Special Thanks to Scott Neumyer
Marvel Studios got off to a tremendous start this year with IRON MAN, the critically acclaimed box office blockbuster. Smartly directed by Jon Favreau and featuring a cast made up of Oscar nominated and winning actors Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges, IRON MAN thrilled audiences to the tune of $575 million worldwide. Tomorrow, Paramount Home Entertainment will release the film in a 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION on both DVD and Blu-ray. Both are stellar presentations for one of the best movies of 2008. The 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION DVD presents the 125 minute-long feature film in the original 2.35:1 widescreen aspect ratio, enhanced for 16:9 televisions. Picture quality is clean and sharp with strong colors and detail and no artifacting. Audio options include Dolby Digital English 5.1 Surround, French 5.1 Surround and Spanish 5.1 Surround with English, French and Spanish subtitles. In addition to the film, Disc 1 contains 24 minutes of deleted and extended scenes. Most notable are "Rhodey Saves Iron Man on Freeway" in which Rhodey assists in the battle against Iron Monger, and "Rooftop Battle", a final sequence between Tony Stark and Obadiah Stane. Thre is also the long cut sequence "Dubai Party" which, despite a fun bit involving Tony and three gorgeous women, would have stopped the flow of the film dead . There are also previews for STAR TREK, INDIANA JONES AND THE KINGDOM OF THE CRYSTAL SKULL, Universal`s THE INCREDIBLE HULK, and Nicktoon`s upcoming cartoon shoew IRON MAN: ARMORED ADVENTURES. Disc 2 features the excellent documentary "I Am Iron Man", which can be viewed as seven featurettes or as one 108 minute long film. The documentary goes into great detail of each aspect of production from concept to filming to post. The 47 minute long "The Invincible Iron Man" covers the history of the Iron Man character and comic books with interviews including creator Stan Lee, artist Bob Layton, and writer Warren Ellis. While it is nice to see so much attention paid to the original source material, one wishes the focus has been more on the 1960s-80s books that directly influenced the movie rather than the current comics that are so different from the film. Running 27 minutes, "Wired: The Visual Effects of Iron Man" is a very entertaining look at the FX work of ILM, New Deal Studios, and The Orphanage. The performances in IRON MAN are the focus of the featurettes "The Actor`s Process" and "Robert Downey Jr. Screen Test". The screen test is particularly interesting since it presents three scenes not used in the final film that give more insight into the character of Tony Stark. The Onion`s “Wildly Popular Iron Man Trailer to be Adapted into Full Length Film” is a very funny fake news story by the creators of the popular publication The Onion. Unfortunately, it draws attention that the trailer in question is not included in this DVD set. Rounding out the package is an extensive image gallery covering everything from concept art to the theatrical poster designs. The only significant items missing from this collection are the aforementioned trailers and an audio commnetary (which may have been considered redundant after the feature length documentary).
The Blu-ray IRON MAN: 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION includes everything from the DVD set (all in HD) plus four theatrical trailers (presented in 1080p with Dolby 5.1) and a new feature, "Hall of Armor" that gives viewers a 3-D look at Iron Man`s armor. There is also the "BD Live: Iron Man IQ" option which allows users to interect and test each other on Iron Man trivia. As for the feature film, IRON MAN is presented in 2.35:1 widescreen, 1080p High Definition. The picture quality is absolutely amazing, with incredible visual detail and a complete lack of artifacting or flaws. Audio and language options include English 5.1 Dolby True HD, French 5.1 Dolby Digital and Spanish 5.1 Dolby Digital and English, English SDH, French, Spanish and Brazilian Portuguese subtitles. This release is perfect for home theater systems. For both the film itslef and its home video presentation, the IRON MAN: 2-DISC ULTIMATE EDITION -DVD and Blu-ray are highly recommended. ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ For more information on IRON MAN please see the earlier coverage here on SciFi Japan: