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Jan 27, 2019
10:48:52pm
billyrust All-American
Iron Man - 2008. First MCU film
I don’t remember the details of seeing Iron Man the first time, if I saw it in theaters or at home. Not that it wasn’t memorable, I remembered a lot of it as I watched today.

First off, incredible casting. Almost perfect. The only one I didn’t really care for was Rhodes (Terrance Howard version), but that might be because I was too accustomed to Don Cheadle. I don’t remember having any objection to Howard the first time. I just think Cheadle does a better job at matching RDJr’s acting, especially comedy.

RDJ was brilliant of course. Interesting to read that Jon Favreau initially wanted a no name actor, so that Iron Man would be the star and focal point, not Tony Stark. Luckily, as soon as he decided on RDJ, he pushed the studio into it, who were reluctant because of his troubled past.
RDJ has the comedic timing and the improvisational skills necessary to make this film fun and light hearted at times, but can still provide emotional and dramatic depth, creating a well rounded character. As to Favreau’s concern, RDJ was able to seemlesy meld Tony Stark and Iron Man into one character, whether in the suit or not. As the last line of the movie states, he is Iron Man.

I love Gwyneth Paltrow. So now I love Pepper Potts. The chemistry is pretty good with her and RDJ. Would have liked more screen time. But I liked what we did get.

Director Jon Favreau as Happy, good enough. Not really a factor in this movie

Jeff Bridges. Need I say more.

Leslie Bibb as the reporter. Yes please.

One of my all time favorite Stan Lee cameos, getting mistaken for Hugh Hefner.

Paul Bettany as Jarvis. Love it

As for the plot. A great introduction/origin story. Few details that I would change.

1: The terrorists give them the means to build a weapon for them, but then seldom check in on their progress or maintain a strict surveillance of their actions? Please. It should have been much more of a delicate balancing act, Stark building something that looks like the Jericho missle, but can be easily transformed into what he needs for the suit. There should have been no way they would be able to set an explosive at the one door the terrorists use to enter their “lab”. Made them look really really dumb. Too dumb

2. As great as Jeff Bridges is, I didn’t like the decision to have him be the ultimate bad guy in this movie. It would have been better served to have him sit in the wings until revealing his defiance of Tony in IM2. I mean, there wasn’t anything set up in this movie to have Obadiah put out a hit on Stark in the first place. He hadn’t yet given up the weapons business. It was because of Obadiah’s action that led to outcome. Good for comic book Karma stories, bad for logical villain decisions.

I would have had the terrorist hit be what it looked like at face value, them acting alone, wanting the weapons. After Tony’s change of heart (yes, pun intended) then you could have Obadiah go behind his back with the transactions, to keep the company going. Just don’t have him immediately turn into a super villain. Have him stew on the new Tony Stark until making his move in the sequel. That would also address the common flaw that, whereas Tony took days and weeks to fine tune and learn the suit, Obadiah mastered it his first time.

Marvel CU does seem to have a bad reputation on handling villains. My Obadiah Stone would be much more like Michael Keaton’s character in Spider Man, my favorite MCU “villain”. Just doing what needs to be done for business. More sympathetic. Until finally he has no choice.

Otherwise, an incredibly entertaining movie and successful first step into the MCU. The introduction of post credits scenes tying movies together was genius. Here we get the introduction of Nick Fury putting together a team at Shield.
The Captain America shield in the lab Easter egg. They did a great job of teaching fans what to look for in each subsequent MCU movie.
The CGI still holds up after 10 years. The end battle wasn’t 30 minutes of CGI-fest Michael Bay destruction, which is a win. It didn’t drag on, or have lulls in the middle. The comedy was there without it being too forced.

This movie stands on its own. Had they never made another MCU movie, it still would be worth watching. I give it an 8.5 out of ten. Well done MCU and the powers that be. Oh, it was weird seeing Paramount producing this, and not seeing the familiar Comic Book Marvel intro. Kinda like Episode VII not having the Fox Studios intro.

Next up, a few months later that year 2008, The Incredible Hulk... stay tuned.
billyrust
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billyrust
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Dec 30, 2019
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Related Threads Topic: So i decided to do a rewatch of the MCU leading up to Endgame, as it will likely be the end of the MCU as we know it now (billyrust, Jan 27, 2019 at 9:54pm)

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MCU #2 - The Incredible Hulk - 2008 (billyrust, Jan 28, 2019 at 9:02pm)

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billyrust All-American
1/27/19 10:48pm

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