Iron Man was one of the demo Blu Rays because it was one of the biggest movies released at the time the new format blasted the market, but also it was a good looking HD display. The hook was Iron Man was a real world look at a technological superhero so all the industrial looking effects came across as totally real.
Two years later, a lot of Blu Rays have achieved that look, and other equally impressive looks. Iron Man 2 has a little more outrageous fantasy in it, but the overall feel is still the same. This is really happening, even if it never happened on the set.
So the Monaco race track scene looks like fancy race cars are really splitting in half and flipping over Mickey Rourke. Cars don’t really split in half like they’re whipped by electro-whips without CGI. Even the sketchy shot of Rourke standing in front of exploding cars cleans up better on Blu Ray.
It’s no surprise the picture is totally clear. We’ve come to expect that, and we’ve been disappointed in surprising ways, but that’s another story. Iron Man 2 looks like a Blu Ray they’ll play in Best Buy. You might see a shot here or there where you detect the smallest hints of fine grain. It never looks like an old fashioned film though. It’s HD all the way and perfectly clear, even in the dark fluorescent interrogation room. Just the particles show for a second or two here and there. If you’ve got a big living room you’ll never notice.
You can see all the details in the suit, both the scuff marks in the iron and the wrinkles in Stark’s formal wardrobe. Even at night, the iron suit is so shiny. The opening Stark Expo free fall dive shows off the deep red and gold colors shining against black sky. The explosion of party looks good on Blu Ray too. All the debris detail shows off the destruction of industrial powered behemoths tearing through billionaire bachelor pads and military factories.
Hammer’s air hangar is a shiny white construct so pure it could be the pre-screen for The Matrix. The best shots are probably the superheroes in mundane everyday settings. Nick Fury, Stark and Black Widow in the diner has shiny black leather and the Iron suit sitting on tacky yellow booths.
The S.H.I.E.L.D. Data Vault feature has a Footage Scan Mode that identifies significant items and Easter eggs throughout the film. They pop up and go away quickly so they’re not intrusive, just a bonus to make sure you caught everything. You can explore further in the archive version, sometimes with nice HD animated footage but usually just clips from the movie.
It’s really just a series of menus to scan through, but somebody had to write all the files about the S.H.I.E.L.D. projects and agents. It does include the Marvel Universe, and at least they still credit Edward Norton as the Bruce Banner, since at the time the Easter Egg still referred to the Norton film. I didn’t catch that the first time though, so good call. There’s also pre-vis and animatics, and Jon Favreau’s commentary on the Blu Ray.
The massive behind the scenes disc is in HD also, so if you’re going to explore every facet of the film, it will also look great on Blu Ray. You’ve got 90 minutes exploring each aspect of development and production with soundbites, behind the scenes tours, test images and more. Since it was planned all along and shot in HD, we see the extras in more clarity and detail than we used to on the DVD extras that became standard.
I could do without the EPK style talking heads complimenting each other, but interspersed with that are actual demonstrations of how cool making an Iron Man movie is. Seeing Downey work a crowd of extras is something special you only get with Iron Man. On set footage is what makes it historical. You’ll always be able to go back and see the crew scraping snow off the streets or Scarlett Johanssen training for her first action role. After she makes 9 more, that’ll be historic.
Actually, once they get to post-production, the interviews are actually analytical. By then, it’s just about filmmaking and how things are put together. No more fluff. Smaller featurettes like Illustrated Origins cool because they trace the Marvel history as well as the film connections.
There’s a solid array of deleted scenes, 17 minutes worth. It shows you all the improv they do that doesn’t work. Sometimes they’re just rambling. Sometimes Stark should just do what the scene requires without a lot of backtalk. Half of Gwyneth Paltrow’s part is in these scenes though.
Towards the end of the scenes there’s more fun stuff. There is a bit more of Stark goofing around at his birthday party. I’ll watch more of that. Some extra details about Rhody’s theft of the Warmachine suit are cool too. The scenes are a liittle hazier than the polished feature film, but still HD. Seeing unfinished effects in is pretty cool. You can really notice the elements, imagine what would be filled in if they used the scene.
Iron Man 2 is the Blu Ray you expect. The film looks great, there are tons of extras and they look great too. A lot of it is standard but standards are pretty high so fans of all the minutiae will have plenty to explore.
