Iron Man (film)
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| Iron Man | |
 | |
| Directed by | John Favreau |
|---|---|
| Produced by | Marvel Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and Paramount Pictures |
| Written by | Mark Fergus & Hawk Ostby and Art Marcum & Matt Holloway |
| Starring | Robert Downey, Jr., Gwenyth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and Jeff Bridges |
| Music by | Ramin Djawadi |
| Cinematography | |
| Editing | |
| Distributed by | |
| Release date | May 2, 2008 (US) |
| Running time | 126 mins |
| Rating | PG-13 for intense sequences of sci-fi action and violence, and brief suggestive content |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $135 million |
| Preceded by | {{{preceded}}} |
| Followed by | Iron Man 2 (release in April 2010) |
The Iron Man film was released in theaters on May 2, 2008. The film was produced by Marvel Entertainment, New Line Cinema, and Paramount Pictures and was directed by John Favreau. The Film covers Tony Stark's back story about how he was captured by terrorists in Afghanistan as well as how he uses his resources to build Iron Man Mark 1 and escape. When he gets back to America, he sets to improve his armor, thus becoming Iron Man. As Iron Man, Stark thwarts a nefarious plot with global implications surrounding his business rival, Obadiah Stane, who becomes Iron Monger and sets out to destory Iron Man.
Plot summary
During a trip to Afghanistan to demonstrate his company's new weapon system,Tony Stark is attacked and kidnapped by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. 36 hours earlier, at an award ceremony, US Air Force officer James Rhodes prepares to give the award to Tony, but Stark is absent. Stark's business partner takes the award for him while Tony is playing poker at a casino extravagently. After Rhodes shows his disappointment to Tony that he didn't show up, Stark prepares to leave when he is suddenly approached by a reporter, Christine Everhart. Stark and Everhart end up having a one-night stand. Afterwards, Tony's assistant prompts Everhart to leave. Several hours later, Tony demonstrates his revoultionary multi-warhead cluster bomb missle, Jericho, to the US Air Force. Shortly thereafter, the kidnapping occurs and the terrorists reveal that they want Stark to build them a version of his weapon system, the'Jericho'. Instead, over the next three months with the aid of a fellow captive, Dr. Yinsen, he builds a crude but very strong power armor, powered from a miniature arc reactor Stark and Yinsen built to power an electromagnet "pacemaker", which protects Stark's heart from the embedded shrapnel in his chest. Dr. Yinsen is killed trying to make sure Stark has enough time to prepare escaping, in the ensuing escape attempt, but Stark gets away and is picked up by the Air Force soon after in the desert. Upon returning to the United States, Stark declares that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons, a move which his business partner and second-in-command CEO Obadiah Stane tells him is blocked by the board members shortly after.
During his self-imposed sabbatical from public life, Stark tinkers with the design of his power suit (albeit to several injuries he endures), refining it to be capable of flight, and builds a more powerful and reliable arc reactor, both to power his pacemaker and the suit. Meanwhile, Reza, the leader of the Ten Rings terrorist group, has dispatached his men to recover the Mark 01 Armor, which they find in the desert after Stark abandoned it (from falling from his airborne escape in a comical manner). After finding the Armor, Reza orders his men to rebuild it again. During Stark's first public appearance since his kidnapping, he is shown, by Everhart, pictures of Stark Industries weapons in the hands of terrorist groups (particuarly the Ten Rings), including the system he refused to build for them. He also discovers that Stane has been "dealing under the table" to both sides in the conflict, as well as being the one to shut Stark out of the board while he recovers. Faced with the realization of what his company has done, Stark dons the power suit and flies to Yinsen's village of Gulmira in Afghanistan; rescuing the villagers from terrorists by employing his repulsors and his shoulder-mounted automatic machine guns. Iron Man also grabs one of the terrorists' leaders and leaves him at the mercy and discretion of the vengeful villagers. Reza sees Iron Man flee to the weapon stockpiles. After a brief battle with an enemy tank, Iron Man destroys their weapon stockpiles, but accidentally draws the attention of the United States Air Force and his friend, Jim Rhodes. After a supersonic dogfight between Stark and two F-22s, one jet gets damaged in Stark's attempt to hide, making the pilot eject. The pilot's eject seat malfuctions but Stark manages to save the pilot's life. After this ordeal, Stark reveals to Rhodes that he's Iron Man and Rhodes covers it up by stating that it was "a training exercise".
After viewing the news of the Gulmira F-22 incident, Stane goes on a business trip to the Ten Rings encampment in Afghanistan where it becomes apparent that Stane paid and ordered the Ten Rings to kill Stark. Reza reports to Stane that Stark has perfected his armor desgin into the Mark 03 Armor and because Stane and Reza have a common enemy, Stark, Reza plans to broker a deal: the Mark 01 Armor designs for Stane and in exchange "the gift of iron soldiers" to Reza and his terrorist followers. Stane ultimately betrays Reza by incapacitating him with an amplified sound paralyzer and orders his guards to kill all of Reza's men. After leaving, Stane, over the phone, secretly sets up Sector 16 at Stark Industries to use the armor designs. Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Stark sends his assistant Virginia Potts to find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system she discovers that it was Stane who hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Stane has recovered the power suit prototype, and has reverse engineered his own version.
Realizing that Pepper is aware of his evil deeds, Stane steals Stark's arc reactor to power his suit after also learning that his scientists in Sector 16 can't copy Tony's ingenius invention of making the company's large arc reactor smaller. Stane reveals his involvement in the kidnapping to Tony after he paralyzes him with the sound amplifier so that he can steal his arc reator without resistance. After briefly expounding upon his agenda of world domination and the ideals of power in the corporate business, (particulary stating that Howard Stark, Tony's father, helped the atomic bomb become a reality), Stane leaves Stark for dead. Pepper tells Rhodes about Obadiah's wrongdoings and therefore, he goes to Tony's house where Stark struggles to receive his first arc reator to sustain his life. Stark's incompetent robotic arm system in his garage redeems itself by generiously giving Stark his needed arc reator after he collapsed. Rhodes sees Stark putting on the Mark 03 Armor, admiring its design. He asks if there's anything he can do to help Stark, and Tony asks him to keep the skies clear. After Stark leaves, Rhodes sees another armor prototype and says, "Next time, baby!"(a nod to War Machine). Meanwhile, Pepper and several S.H.I.E.L.D. agents attempt to arrest Obadiah at Stark Industries headquarters but Stane puts on his armor, thus becoming Iron Monger. Just before Iron Monger is about to kill Pepper, Stark as Iron Man interferes and battles him on the streets. Their epic battle takes them to the skies where Iron Man seemingly defeats Iron Monger because Stane's armor can't withstand ice beyond the atomsphere. Afterwards, atop the Stark Industries building, Iron Monger suprisingly bests Iron Man but in a last valiant move, Stark orders Pepper to overload the large arc reator which powers the building. The resulting blast kills Stane and incapacitates Tony. Because Stark's reactor is nearly drained, he is protected from the EMP and survives.
The film ends with a press conference about the battle. Although advised by S.H.E.I.L.D. Agent Cole to claim Iron Man is his personal body guard and corporate mascot, Tony instead announces that he is Iron Man. After the closing credits, Stark is greeted by General Nick Fury , director of S.H.I.E.L.D., who tells him about the Avenger Initiative.
Cast
Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man: Favreau had planned to cast a newcomer in the role,[1] but ultimately chose Downey (a fan of the comic)[2] because he felt the actor's past, including cocaine abuse, made him an appropriate choice for the part. "The best and worst moments of Robert's life have been in the public eye," the director explained. "He had to find an inner balance to overcome obstacles that went far beyond his career. That's Tony Stark. Robert brings a depth that goes beyond a comic-book character who is having trouble in high school, or can't get the girl."[2] Favreau also felt Downey could make Stark a "likable asshole", but also depict an authentic emotional journey once he won over the audience.[3]
Downey had an office next to Favreau during pre-production, which allowed him greater involvement in the screenwriting process.[4] He brought a deeper sense of humor to the film not present in previous drafts of the script.[5] He explained, "What I usually hate about these [superhero] movies [is] when suddenly the guy that you were digging turns into Dudley Do-Right and then you're supposed to buy into all his 'Let's go do some good!' That Eliot Ness-in-a-cape-type thing. What was really important to me was to not have him change so much that he's unrecognizable. When someone used to be a schmuck and they're not anymore, hopefully they still have a sense of humor."[6] To prepare, Downey spent five days a week weight training and practiced martial arts to get into shape,[2] which benefitted him because "it's hard not to have a personality meltdown [...] after about several hours in that suit. I'm calling up every therapeutic moment I can think of to just get through the day."[7]
Terrence Howard as |Lt. Colonel James "Rhodey" Rhodes: A pilot friend of Stark, and the liaison between Stark Industries and the military in the department of acquisitions. Favreau cast Howard because he felt he could play War Machine in a sequel.[8] Howard and his father are Iron Man fans, partly because Rhodes was one of the few black superheroes when he was a child.[9] While Rhodes is roguish in the comics after he met Stark, his earlier disciplinarian character forms double act|a dynamic with Stark, and he is unsure whether Stark's actions are acceptable. "Rhodey is completely disgusted with the way Tony has lived his life, but at a certain point he realizes that perhaps there is a different way," Howard said. "Whose life is the right way; is it the strict military life, or the life of an independent?"[7]
Howard prepared for the role by visiting Nellis Air Force Base on March 16, 2007, where he ate with the pilots and observed HH-60 Pave Hawk rescue helicopters and F-22 Raptors.[10] He was a Downey fan since he saw him in Weird Science (film)|Weird Science, and they competed physically on set: "Robert and his competitive ass almost tore my shoulder trying to keep up with him. Because I'm forty or fifty pounds heavier than him, so I'm in there lifting and I pushed up about 225 and knocked it out ten times. Robert wanted to go about 235, and he did it. So I'm going to push it up to about 245. I took him out running and gave him some nice cramps. He couldn't walk after a couple of days."[11]
Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia "Pepper" Potts: Stark's personal secretary and budding love interest. Paltrow asked Marvel to send her any comics that they would consider relevant to her understanding of the character, which she considered to be very smart, very levelheaded, grounded, and she liked "the fact that there's a sexuality that's not blatant." Jon Favreau wanted Potts' and Stark's relationship to be reminiscent of a 1940's comedy, something which Paltrow considered to be fun in a sexy yet innocent way.[12]
Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/ Iron Monger, : Second-in-command at Stark Industries, who wants control of the company. When Stark declares he'll no longer manufacturer arms, he steals the blueprints for the Mark I armor to create his own, bigger version. Bridges read the comics as a boy and liked Favreau's modern, realistic approach. He shaved his hair and grew a goatee for the role, which was something he had wanted to do for some time. Bridges googled the Book of Obadiah, and he was surprised to learn retribution is a major theme in that particular book of the Bible, something which Stane represents.[13]
Shaun Toub as Yinsen: Stark's fellow captive in Afghanistan. He is a scientist who has traveled the world, and aids Stark in creating the Mark I and keeping it a secret from their captors.[13] He also acts as Stark's mentor, showing him humility during their time together, and his following death being one of the principal reasons behind Stark's decision to change the direction of his company. In the original version, Yinsen was Chinese, but for the movie, he comes from a fictional place called Gulmira.
Faran Tahir as Raza: The terrorist in an alliance with Stane who captures Stark and orders him to creating a weapon for his group. Tahir is an Iron Man reader,[13] and wanted to bring humanity to the henchman. "I tried to find ways to show that although he may be the bad guy, there might be a moment or just a hint of vulnerability at times, where he hasn't made the right calculations or there's a certain amount of doubt. Jon was very receptive to that kind of layering".[14]
Leslie Bibb as Christine Everhart: A "fast-talking" reporter.[15]
Bill Smitrovich as Air Force General Gabriel.[13]
Paul Bettany as the voice of JARVIS (Just A Rather Very Intelligent System). The character of Jarvis has, for years, been Stark's loyal butler, but for the film, JARVIS is now Stark's personal AI which assists him in the construction and programming of the Iron Man suit.
Gerard Sanders as Howard Stark: Tony Stark's late father, who had a business relationship with Obadiah Stane and died sometime before the film takes place.[16]
Cameos include Iron Man co-creator Stan Lee (whom Stark mistakes for Hugh Hefner at a party),[17] and director Jon Favreau as Stark's bodyguard/chauffeur Happy Hogan.[5] Ghostface Killah cameoed in a scene where Stark briefly stays in Dubai while returning to Afghanistan, but it was cut for pacing reasons.[18] Hilary Swank reportedly had a cameo in the film,[19] but this was revealed to be part of a disinformation campaign by Favreau designed to keep "website guessers at bay".[20] Audioslave and Rage Against the Machine guitarist Tom Morello has a brief cameo as a guard. Samuel L. Jackson appears as Nick Fury after the credits, mentioning "the Avengers" to Stark.
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