The Video: Sizing Up the Picture
'Iron Man' comes to Blu-ray as easily the most anticipated Paramount title of the year, and perhaps that of any major studio. This is the kind of film you hope will deliver a new demo disc, and the kind of film that you bought a Blu-ray player for in the first place. While I don't think this 1080p/AVC MPEG-4 encode (framed at 2.40:1 and spread across a BD-50 dual-layer disc) is absolutely reference-quality, it's a mighty fine presentation that largely hits the bull's-eye.
The film has a split personality for a visual style. Shot with both traditional anamorphic and Super35 film processes, the early desert scenes have a much starker, grittier quality, while the latter half of the film is much more glossy and slick. As such, while the source is spotless, there are some apparently intentional inconsistencies in contrast, blacks and color saturation.
Some of the early scenes suffer from a color palette that tends to be slightly oversaturated, which mucks up fleshtones a bit and can leave the image looking fuzzy and slightly flat. Darker scenes here also tend to flatten out a bit, while contrast runs hot which results in blown out whites. There is also slight grain here, though I welcomed it as it added a film-like look and offset some of the digital-ization due to the more stylized elements of the transfer.
When the film really kicks into gear and introduces Iron Man 2.0, is when the presentation really soars. Colors are vibrant and lush, blacks excellent, and detail and depth quite wonderful. Fleshtones also become a bit more realistic, giving the film a very polished look yet still retaining a natural and dimensional picture. There are many sequences here (particularly Iron Man's first night flight, as well as the climactic battle) that can easily serve as demo material.
Despite some inconsistencies, Paramount has produced an impeccable encode. There are no obvious artifacts, noise or any motion jaggies. Edge enhancement is also not an issue. 'Iron Man' doesn't quite earn a five-star rating from me, but this is still a generally excellent presentation that shouldn't disappoint.
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