Robert Downey Jr. plays Tony Stark, the owner of the largest weapons manufacturing company in existence, a company that he inherited from his father when he was young. Raised by his father's best friend, Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges), Stark has grown up wanting for nothing. The movie opens up to Stark riding out to a military test site in the Middle East, and being attacked and kidnapped. Quite frankly, this opening was one of the most original I've seen, at least as far as superhero origin stories go. Most of the time, these movies start off a little slow, until whatever tragic event happens to cause the person to become super and start saving lives. Instead, Iron Man starts off with the big explosions and the start of the event that will forever change Stark's life.
Stark was in the Middle East showing off one of his newest toys, and it seems the group that captured him would like him to build some missiles of their own. Needless to say, Tony doesn't like this idea much, but because of the shrapnel slowly pushing towards his heart, he has to remain hooked up to a car battery powering an electromagnet, so escape doesn't seem like a very viable choice. Let's just say though, Tony doesn't really take his incarceration lying down. Instead of working on the rocket, he starts to build a robotic suit, breaks out and thus Iron Man is born.
Upon returning to the states, Stark is relieved to see not only American food again, but also his faithful assistant, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who takes on a role very similar to Bruce Wayne's Alfred (the close confidante part, not the father figure thing). I have to say, the chemistry between Stark and Potts was pretty dead on. Since Pepper is supposed to be one of the few people in Tony's life who knows his secret, and is very devoted to her boss, their relationship is very important. In fact, the interaction between the two is really precious, the flirty banter between them borders on workplace sexual harassment, and it works out really well.
When Tony realizes that his company has been secretly playing both sides of the proverbial fence and selling their goods to both sides of the war, he decides to do something about it. He takes the prototype that he designed in the desert caves and perfects the system. With his new abilities, he starts taking out terrorist cells.
As you would expect from a blockbuster superhero movie, a super villain will emerge, and a rather large and destructive battle will ensue. I don't really want to get into this part because it is a nice little twist, but I will say the final fight between Iron Man and his foe is just a great example of how a superhero movie should be done. Quite frankly, the whole film just feels that way.
The Iron Man: Ultimate 2-Disc Edition comes chock full with features. There is a massive 7-part making-of documentary, a 6-part history of the character, a visual effects featurette, and Robert Downey Jr.'s screen test, though there is a distinct lack of a commentary track, which is highly unusual. A nice little tidbit is a very brief glimpse at the new Iron Man animated series. It's all pretty good and enough to make any fan of the movie salivate. I do have to say though, I also got a chance to see the film on Blu-ray, and quite frankly, if you have the means to watch it in high-def, then do it. While the experience in standard definition is still solid, this is the type of movie HD screams for.
