Generation Iron
The documentary provides insight into the professional sport of bodybuilding today and follows top current athletes from around the world, including New York, Los Angeles, Japan, and Germany as they are on their journey to be crowned Mr. Olympia.
1962, Oldham, Lancashire, England, UK
May 31, 1966 in Heidelberg, Baden-Württemberg, Germany
13 May 1955, Fresno, California, USA
March 18, 2014
It's mostly a polite, controlling-authority-approved peek into the world of competition bodybuilding, though not enough to dissuade fans from taking a look.
March 12, 2014
While Yudin gives us plenty of room to laugh at them, he also acknowledges their capacity to inspire awe - not only at their bulging muscles, but at their willingness to go all the way with the infantile wish to look bigger than anyone else.
September 19, 2013
"Iron" opens a window to an exclusive club and gives valuable insight into a small, dedicated and proudly unique community.
November 08, 2013
Well-crafted, sympathetic and apparently fairly honest, but not as novel as it would have been in the pre-reality TV era, when the home lives of participants in obsessive family units and strange subcultures weren't an entertainment staple.
September 17, 2013
A gorgeous meditation on age-old existential concerns.
September 19, 2013
The oversized men who compete for the title of Mr. Olympia in this illuminating documentary are articulate and serious-minded, with some muscling through adversity to find a way to their dreams.
March 30, 2014
...just about enough memorable quotes, eloquence, personality, and pathos to divert even those of us with no interest in sport.
September 19, 2013
Yudin's deft cameras admiringly capture these iconically sculpted men without overly objectifying them, should the prospect of eyeballing all that posing-strapped beef give any potential viewers pause.
March 16, 2014
Suffers from a reality TV-ish veneer in its decided lack of depth.
October 17, 2013
... we are left to consider natural gifts versus applied science, and ponder why we usually credit the former more than the latter. Like all good stories, this movie about bodybuilding is really about much more.
September 19, 2013
For a documentary about extreme discipline, the filmmakers lack restraint: the movie, about 20 minutes too long, undercuts much of its own momentum.
December 01, 2013
Yudin gets into the psyches of his subjects. Their ups and downs, highs and lows. The need to do well in competitions not only for personal glory but for the sponsorships that feed their families and keep them in the gym.
