Reaction: IronMan OVA

It's been a good long while since I ran out to pick up an anticipated video release. Well, when the price is right and I just happen to find it when I'm out and about, it's a no-brainer. Besides which, I had thoroughly enjoyed the Ultimate Avengers original video animation (OVA) discs.

Before jumping into the review, I'd like to point out that this release is arguably the coolest cover I've seen in forever. The slip-cover is not only an embossed version of the cover's artwork, but also printed on a glossy foil finish keeping with the theme of our metal hero. It'll catch your attention (and isn't that the ultimate goal of any good DVD package?).

What is there to say that a dozen other comic sites haven't already said? It's good and if you liked the Avengers movies, you'll enjoy this one too. And likewise, it also suffers from the same issues as those others: the plot slows down from time to time. Thankfully, the movie overall is a a decent 83 minutes - not too long but also not too short.

Without giving anything away, my bullet thoughts....

• I really liked the tweaks they made to the origin story. The original comic from the 1960s left a strange unanswered question: how did Tony Stark develop his armour with only spare parts, on his own, and with limited time to do it in? The version in this movie actually makes a whole lot of sense.
• Concept artists for this production were brilliant. The suit redesigns worked out great (and the animators even threw in several cameo appearances for armours that didn't figure directly into the story, including the suit seen in the Avengers movies).
• And the guys behind the pseudo-ancient-Chinese myth and tying it all together with Iron Man's origin were brilliant as well. I often find I shudder with fear every time some non-Asian comes up with an "ancient Chinese legend" as a movie plot, but this one turned out pretty cool. And you didn't have to suffer the wrinkly old Chinese super villain from the comics (well, actually he does show up but not quite how you'd think; and it still worked great, IMHO).
• I was a bit disappointed the signature red-gold suit didn't appear as much as expected (it does get a serious thrashing during the course of the film though). But it's another one of those plot twists that made for a great story (I can imagine if this were a Hollywood production there'd have been a boardroom full of execs scratching their heads going, "but we gotta squeeze that red-and-gold version back in," and to have the screen-writers trying desperately to convince them otherwise).
• But the changes in armour wasn't the wildest plot twist ...not even close. I won't ruin it, but movie pulls off something with the supporting cast that would make even Shyamalan proud...

I can safely say this was definitely a thumbs-up.