Iron Man: Rise of Technovore [Blu-Ray]

Marvel's relationship with anime studio Madhouse continues to produce some odd fruit. The memetic splicing of American pulp science fantasy with the histrionic plotting and compartmentalized emotional exaggeration of Japanese anime makes better soil for grandiose ideas than moralistic introspection. In the spirit of this union of styles, a battle between capitalist pragmatism and youthful idealism is manifested as wild combat between increasingly elaborate forms of man-machine hybrids. Representing the grandest expression of the American Dream, self-made superhero Tony Stark must face the progressive threat of innovation from a young science prodigy who has something to do with secret weapons developer group A.I.M. The libidinous alcoholic billionaire is all set to further his authoritarian, futurist agenda by launching his Big Brother satellite when a terrorist group, led by a teenager sporting a suit of advanced techno-organic armour, crashes the party and appears to kill Stark's military bosom buddy, Rhodesy (aka War Machine). Blood boiling, the already impulsive Stark immediately jumps on the revenge wagon. To keep things complicated (and have an excuse for cameos from the Avengers camp), S.H.I.E.L.D. pursues the grief-stricken superhero as a suspect in his friend's death while he hunts down the real killer. Furthering the crass crossover stunts, Stark joins forces with Frank Castle (voiced by Norman Reedus, who gets top billing despite being a guest star, due to the success of The Walking Dead), better known as the Punisher, to butcher some naughty weapons dealers. When it's not ticking off items on a random fanboy wish list, Rise of Technovore plays around with some pretty engaging mad science concepts. Sure, communication techno fungus is basically another riff on the kind of mass consciousness ideas manga has been obsessed with for decades, but it's still a great deal of fun and provides the opportunity for the animators to come up with some wild visuals. Scattered between the frequent violent showdowns, the writers squeezed in a few dirty little double entendres concerning the sexual tension between Stark and Pepper Potts, and even Stark and Rhodes. The special features for this standalone animated movie are less comprehensive than the content included with the previous Wolverine, Blade and X-Men miniseries, but if you enjoy watching Marvel TV execs geek out over anime and say obvious things about the plot of the movie you just finished watching, you're in luck.