Iron Man DVD Review
Brian Eison;)
Iron Man DVD Cover ArtThe second biggest movie of 2008 and the 21st biggest box-office money maker ever finally hit DVD last week and it hit hard. Iron Man was a huge blockbuster for Marvel Films and it is obvious from all of the various DVD releases on the market they are hoping to make the same sort of splash on the home entertainment market as well. You would assume that just based on the box-office for the film, great DVD sales would be a given. It would seem Paramount and Marvel doesn’t want to risk such an assumption as they are flooding the market with a ton of different “special” editions of the film or more accurately its packaging upon its release.
A few of these releases are to be expected in today’s DVD marketplace. You have a standard movie only edition for those casual fans of the film for a low price. Of course you will then also have a multiple disk release as well with special features for those with a bit more love for the property for a bit higher price. And each of these 2 variants will of course be available on standard DVD as well as Blu-Ray. With the digital market being what it is you can also forgo buying a DVD at all and just purchase (we hope) the film as a download directly to your computer. That seems like it should about cover it right? Wrong.
Long ago collectables made there way onto the DVD market and the makers of comic-book movies caught onto this trend quickly. Often these special editions or DVD packages aren’t much more expensive than the standard editions it is simply a matter of where you choose to or have to shop to by them. It is my thought that the hope is to partly stem the tide of illegal downloads by offering something with the film that you have to purchase the DVD to have or an even bigger hope is that these different versions will have fans buying more than one copy. But really, how many different editions would they really produce? Let’s break it down shall we?
- Best Buy 1 - Custom Lithograph created by Marvel artist Gerald Parel.
- Best Buy 2 – An Iron Man mini-bust
- Borders – A book featuring sketches by Bob Layton and “the top 24” comic cover of Iron Man.
- Circuit City – Access to exclusive Marvel Digital Comics featuring art by Adi Granov.
- Costco – A giftset that includes 3 Iron Man bobbleheads.
- Kmart & Sears - $5 off the 2-Disc edition with any $25 Craftsman purchase. (really?)
- Target - Deluxe Edition includes exclusive Mark III mask packaging.
- TransWorld - FYE and Suncoast exclusive Steelbook package on the 2-Disc edition.
- Walmart 1 - Their single disc includes the 1st episode of the new Iron Man animated series.
- Walmart - 2-Disc Edition has a comic expanding the Nick Fury story from the film.
That my friends is a lot of different special and not so special editions of packaging and trinkets for the first week of a DVD release. It makes me wonder if they have another half dozen in store for the Christmas season. The only one that stood out to me was the Target release where the disk case was made to look like the faceplate from the Mark III armor from the movie. I just thought it looked pretty cool and still do as it sits on my desk.
Stepping away from the packaging and noncollectable collectbles, what about the special features on the 2 disk edition? I think they range from your standard toss ins to really excellent looks into the making of the film. Let’s take a look at what they have to offer:
- The film (a shock to everyone)
- Deleted and extended scenes
- I Am Iron Man – documentary on the making of the film
- The Invincible Iron Man – a look at his comic history with various creators
- Wired – inside the visual effects for the movie
- Robert Downey’s screen test (he really needed to screen test?)
- The Actor’s Process – Downey, Bridges and Favreau work thru a scene
- Picture galleries
- Additional trailers
The only things that stood out to me were the “Wired” and “I Am Iron Man” features. Both were really cool and pretty involved looks at the making of the film from preproduction to the premire. If you are at all interested in the film making process I think these two features are well worth the time spent watching and the extra price of the two disk edition.
Of course the real reason to consider buying any of these packages in the first place is the film itself. Watching it on DVD made it my third viewing and it has not lost any luster in my eyes. Besides being the second biggest movie of the year at the box office it is also still easily my second favorite movie of the year as well. It also renewed my interest in what will come next in this series in about a year and a half (at least according to Marvel). So I highly recommend you buy an copy of this film, especially if you are one of the dozen who have not seen it yet, just maybe not all of the not so special editions available.
Reader Comments (8)
is that target-mask-thing available on Blu-Ray? i might just have to get that if it is.
They had Blu-Ray and standard on display when I bought mine.
Brian that only the USDM versions I know in Australia there are atleast 4 different version available not including the Blu-Ray variants.
I went with the Target version too...that package is just too fucking sweet.
That's what she said!
LOL :D
HA!!!!
Sick burn!