Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		3.5
Audio		4.0
Extras		1.5
Overall		3.0

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Blu-ray Movie Review

Not so super.

Reviewed by Martin Liebman April 12, 2013

Who will be in control: man or machine?

Sony's animated Iron Man: Rise of Technovore limps out onto the direct-to-video marketplace only weeks before a Summer movie rush headlined by the live action Iron Man 3. Chances are high that the latter is going to find significantly more success with its product. Rise of Technovore is a poorly assembled, lazily structured, verbally babbling, and sometimes completely incoherent Superhero adventure that lacks the charisma of both the comics and each of the Robert Downey, Jr. live action films. Technovore settles instead for a ridiculous and unnecessarily verbose and pompous story fueled by a villain of the same traits. The picture is defined by bland animation, awful dialogue, and repetitive action. It's saved -- barely -- by decent lead character voice performances and a nice assemblage of Marvel favorites beyond the title lead, but that's hardly enough to mask a story that zaps all the fun out of the hero characters and dialogue that brings the movie's pace to a grinding halt, never mind the grind on the ears with its excess of needlessly flowery exposition that neither helps shape the film nor the villain in much of a meaningful manner. It's a drag of an animated movie that might satisfy if one tunes out the story and just watches for the action, but then again the bland visuals and unoriginal action elements are sure to suck the life out of that kind of watch as well.

Iron Man.

Billionaire Tony Stark (voiced by Matthew Mercer) is set to unveil his latest technological marvel, a satellite codenamed HOWARD that has privacy advocates up in arms. The latest in "eye in the sky" technology promises to prevent mischief and mayhem on the ground below before it can even begin, but some fear its usage beyond the duty of true crime prevention. And its opponents are ready to strike. The launch ceremony comes under attack. Many are killed while a new foe (voiced by Eric Bauza), covered in "techno-organic" armor, infiltrates the launch tower. When it faces off against Iron Man, it raves against modern-day technologically enabled corporate and government fascists. In the mayhem, Stark loses a close friend and vows to hunt down his new opponent. He makes progress with help from his overworked secretary Pepper Potts (voiced by Kate Higgins) and by teaming up with the rogue vigilante known as "The Punsiher" (voiced by Norman Reedus). Unfortunately, Stark must contend not only with a highly advanced and unpredictable new villain but also the skill sets of Hawkeye (voiced by Troy Baker) and Black Widow (voiced by Clare Grant), the tandem tasked with tracking him down and brining him in at all costs.

Rise of Technovore is set up for a ripe exploration of the cutting-edge modern political debate on the place of technology in a world that still very much favors and demands privacy. In the film, it's an advanced satellite causing all the ruckus. In 2013 debate jargon, it's the "drone." Unfortunately, the film never really goes very deep with the set-up, and if it does it's most of the way lost in metaphorical double-speak that's too much for a movie of this style. The villain's magniloquent monologues (see?) fall flat; they just don't jive with a movie that, on the other side, features a billionaire playboy who is more flamboyant on the outside than he is on the inside, who flies around with rocket boots on his feet and armor on his body, and who teams up with a gruff gun-toting avenger who displays an oversized skull logo on his chest. The contrast is just too much, even in a basic structural narrative world where the protagonist and antagonist normally clash from complete opposite ends of the spectrum (think Unbreakable) or the hero and villain are really largely the same, only their life circumstances leading them to favor one side over the other (the classic Star Wars setup). In Rise of the Technovore, it just feels like two ideas clashed together with no real harmony. It's a throwaway setup that doesn't work, at least not as presented in the feature-length format.

Just as depressing, the action never truly excels. While dedicated genre fans might eke out a worthwhile watch based on the film's high-flying action elements, there's very little here that's in any way even remotely novel or that rises above the mundane. It's all very much from the superhero animation-standard mold. The action isn't lethargic, nor does it lack focus; it simply never displays as much urgency or polish as fans might expect of an Iron Man movie. Part of that is the life that the core sucks from it, another is the lackluster animation, and finally the generic cadence of it all keeps any of the film's biggest spectacles from becoming truly edge-of-seat, breathless sort of material. The film also yields bland, hazy, lower-end animation that further deprives the film and its audience both from enjoying the sort of high energy, fully entertaining sort of structure a movie of this type should feature. It's a very neutral, almost depressing visual structure that never really engages the audience into the story and the world. On the plus side, Matthew Mercer is excellent as Tony Stark, capturing the sort of cadence in all areas of concern to bring the character to life, as much life as the rest of the movie allows. Norman Reedus, Kate Higgins, and John Eric Bentley as Nick Fury are also pluses to the voice roster.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore features a terribly bland high definition transfer sourced from material that never really takes advantage of the format's high resolution muscle. The picture offers flat, nonexistent detailing. Characters are shaped by simple lines and nearly no features beyond the basics are evident; a few lines meant to replicate scrapes on Iron Man's armor are about as good as real detailing goes. Background elements and even the digital readouts inside Stark's Iron Man suit are hazy and lack anything resembling crisp definition. Colors are just as uninspired. The red and yellow Iron Man suit lacks vibrancy, as does most any natural or manmade background or foreground element. However, these are not necessarily a fault of the transfer but seem to be the result of purely uninspired animation that gives the Blu-ray little with which to work. There is also some banding to be seen across mostly monochromatic skies, and some of the objects in the film show some jagged edges and light shimmering. It's hardly a pristine picture, but it would appear most of the blame lays at the source rather than Sony's technical work on the transfer and disc.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore features several lossless multichannel DTS tracks. Generally, they're of high quality and deliver action robustly. There's a fairly good presence to the Rock-inspired music heard at the beginning of the film. It's generously spaced and balanced with a good surround support element. Clarity is fine, and all of the film's subsequent musical elements may be described the same. The first shootout/explosions/action scene offers a high yielding action environment that throws material around the stage with good balance and heft. Bass is suitably deep, gunfire is adequately potent, and the general din of mayhem is fairly immersive. The track features plenty of whiz-bang activity as Iron Man zips around the stage to largely seamless effect. There's a good low, quiet hum in the background, giving a sense of large, empty silence in the "white room" occupied by the villain. Dialogue is clear and focused in the middle throughout the film.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore contains a few short extras.

• Conceptual Art Gallery (HD): A slideshow of sketches.
• Tale of Technovore (HD, 8:26): A look at the film's Anime stylings, character design, the place of S.H.I.E.L.D. in the movie and how it foreshadows the near real-world future, developing the Technovore character, the film's balance, and more.
• S.H.I.E.L.D.: Protecting the Marvel Universe (HD, 8:19): The filmmakers take a closer look at S.H.I.E.L.D. and its primary players.
• Previews: Additional Sony titles.
• UV Digital Copy.

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

Iron Man: Rise of Technovore doesn't work particularly well on any level. The story and script don't compliment the action; the former is overcooked and the latter nothing special. The animation would have to work hard to appear any more bland. The voice acting ranges from good to acceptable, with the former covering only the lead characters. There's not much here, and while it's something of an apples-to-oranges comparison beyond the name given the differences in budget and style, this Iron Man absolutely pales next to the vastly superior live action films. Sony's Blu-ray release of Iron Man: Rise of Technovore features bland video that's more a fault of the source material than the transfer. Also included is a good lossless soundtrack and a couple of extras. Those still curious after the review should rent before committing to a purchase.