Iron Man

This movie poster is an excellent example of the blockbusters of the last few years. Just from the poster you can recognize all the classic elements of a box office hit. It shows a star studded cast, explosions, special effects, and a super hero. This last is particularly interesting. In the last few years we have seen a plethora of super-hero movies, many of which have been strong box office earners. There is also a strong military presence. Howard Taylor is in a air force uniform and helicopters and jets are shown flying in the background. The war has been increasingly present in our movies, even science fiction films like this one. Perhaps the most interesting thing about the poster is that the cast is scaled in order of their importance to the plot, but the largest figure on the screen is not the leading man, but rather the Iron-Man armor. The armor is not so much a character as a prop/special effect, nevertheless, it plays a larger role in the poster than any of the actors. This is partly because of the importance of the armor in the plot of the movie, but it is also indicative of the increasing prominence of special effects in our movies.