My wife and I thought it would be fun to try to have a Marvel Cinematic Universe Marathon leading up to the release of Avengers: Age of Ultron. Sure, we could have gotten tickets to the 26 hour long marathon that is playing at select theaters, but unfortunately we have a life outside of these movies, and we have these other beings that live with us, called children, that make a 26 hour long movie marathon kind of hard. Plus, my wife barely makes it through 10 minutes of a movie before she falls asleep. She would probably slip into a coma if I took to something like that. No, we decided instead to take it kind of slow and try to work our way through each of the 11 films that currently make up the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Then I thought it would be fun to offer reviews of these films as we watched them.
We decided to start at the beginning, the film that launched a universe- Iron Man. I should start by admitting that I am not a huge Iron Man fan (Sorry Eric, I know he’s your favorite). In fact, in the upcoming Civil War movie, I am not entirely sure what the whole disagreement will be about, but I am almost positive I will be on Captain America’s side. At least, I was totally positive until I watched this film again. I was convinced that at 7 years old this film would be starting to show a little age, look a little dated. For the most part it didn’t. It still holds up pretty well. I also expected to find a bunch of holes, like they weren’t totally sure they were going to build the massive universe they have, so you would see things or hear things that would end up happening totally differently. Also didn’t happen. We meet Agent Coulson for the first time and he is totally Agent Coulson. Fury even shows up at the very end and basically says that Stark is now part of a much bigger world full of Superheroes. Marvel had their master plan all along.
This movie was just as enjoyable as it was the first time around, and maybe even more now that we know a little bit about where the story has headed. I remember being totally surprised by the success of this film. Iron Man was always kind of lame in the comics, at least I thought so. I just figured the film would flop. It didn’t, as we all know, and it continues to impress.
This is solid movie from a character standpoint as well. It develops the Tony Stark Character really well. He is such a jerk in the beginning. Then, of course, he has a whole new perspective after his vehicle is attacked and he is taken prisoner and forced to build a weapon to help the 10 Rings. I mean, who hasn’t had an experience like that? Of course you come out of it changed. This of course leads to him becoming Iron Man, and Marvel’s resident genius.
My biggest disappointment in this movie is simple. It is a complaint I have had since I saw it for the first time. I get coming back to the good ol’ US of A, and I the first thing you want is a cheese burger. Absolutely on board. What I don’t get is if you are a billionaire, and you live in California, why in the world would you go to Burger King? That’s not happening. At the very least, head over to In-n-Out Burger. I mean, it just almost makes the whole movie unbelievable for me.
Overall, I think this is one of the better films in the MCU lineup. It is easy to see how this movie was as successful as it was, and to see how it would open the door for the movies to follow and lay the foundation for the Avengers. The sequel, on the other hand, well, that’s a tale for another day. 4.5 Stars overall for this great movie. If it’s been a while, check it out before Age of Ultron.
Revisiting Iron Man
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Summary
Overall, it is easy to see why Iron Man was the film to launch the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It is just as fun today, 7 years later, as it was when it opened. A fun film to sit down and revisit before going to see Avengers: Age of Ultron.
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