Hyper Shadow X
Lover of Fate-Chan
The ending was lackluster.
Wait, so this group of rebels managed to kidnap Tony Stark, and he was able to build an iron suit WHILE he was imprisoned? These guys have to be the most incompetent kidnappers ever.
Although I thought the "business world" side of things was handled well, having Iron Man fight mystic opponents has always been an odd fit. The Mandarin -- what little we saw of him -- would have worked better as some sort of Asian Lex Luthorish businessman/arms dealer/crime lord.
And why were the elementals earth, air, fire and water? Aren't the Asian elements earth, fire, water, metal and wood?
Not something I'm likely to watch over again.
While I do site a number of your complaints (I do agree also while the CGI animation was above par, compared to such studio works as IGPX and Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex it was not as good.), I am against your assessment of Mei Lei in terms of her character being "annoying" in the beginning. I honestly thought she was decent up until that revelation of her father's wish and her linkage to the Mandarin. I too felt there could have been more interaction on the Elementals part, perhaps giving them some basic emotions. Then again they were just servants, not necessarily the main character. That to me was where the movie ultimately failed. The main villain was highlighted but beyond that we gained nothing of interest about him.
Mostly I think this has some potential (and I too had no previous experience with any Iron man animation save a few comics back after the entire Onslaught saga and the following Heroes Reborn saga.), but felt the animators wasted it in places. Certainly I felt that Tony Stark didn't play up entirely to my expectations, along with James Rhodes as well. If Marvel expects to capitalize on such interesting characters, better scripts are certainly needed. That's probably why the Ultimates worked so well. They used existing material and scripts instead of hacking apart what they wanted and taking elements to place in this movie. This, to me, wasn't an Iron man movie so much as it had Iron man, one of his key villain (but not heavily highlighted) and then CGI effects. This was one movie I was, while not upset with, disappointed by the potential that didn't live up to its standards.
Unlike some other people, my opinion has nothing to do with the mid-90's Iron Man series, as I only watched about 2 episodes of that and I don't even remember them.
But the movie was merely average for me. I wish they didn't focus so much on the Elementals since, as Chris Wood said, they were freaking boring. The only interesting one was the Earth Elemental, but that was mainly because he had Super Saiyan hair.
Lee Mei was OK in the beginning, but as the movie kept going, she got more annoying, until her character finally collapsed in the finale. The finale wasn't helped by the writers having Mei naked, either, since that created some very awkward shots of the Mandarin's clock covering her body. It would've been better if Mandarin had used his magic to put a copy of his clothes onto her (since she's his vessel and all). 'Course, if this was anime, they would've ditched the cloak and just given Lee Mei Barbie-doll anatomy.
As for the animation, I felt it was rather weak. The 2D animation was OK, but several of the compositing shots (especially when we see characters walk) seemed very non-organic and stiff. And maybe Production I.G. has spoiled me thanks to Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex and IGPX's utterly fantastic animation, but the CGI here just couldn't hold up. It felt like a Mainframe production.
Overall, the film was OK, but I prefer Ultimate Avengers I.
Tempest,
Glad you found my arguments compelling. I do try to be logical about this sort of thing, even composed of large worms as I am...
Actually, I said she was "OK" in the beginning, and didn't get annoying until later on (specifically after she left China mid-movie).I am against your assessment of Mei Lei in terms of her character being "annoying" in the beginning.
And unfortunately with INVINCIBLE IRON MAN once was more than enough (And I actually bought the DVD) and I have no desire for a FULL second viewing (very rare for me). For lack of a better word I was sort of bored by it.
I previously posted that Rhodey should have showed up in the end as War Machine.