Iron Man 3 does a lot of things really
well—it knows exactly what it is supposed to be, and then proceeds to fall into
that niche in some places and completely buck it in others. In other words, it
does a nice job of taking some unexpected turns while delivering some of the
classic Iron Man standbys we have come to know from the franchise. That being
said, these tweaks can be a little hit-or-miss, and the result is a really good
flick that falls just short of being truly exceptional.
Tony Stark is back
this time around with a whole new set of problems, both internal and external.
For starters, he has the terrorist Mandarin (played by the stellar Ben
Kingsley) calling out the good old U.S. of A. in the midst of a bombing spree,
Pepper Potts not really feeling the whole living-with-a-superhero thing (by the
way, Gwyneth Paltrow looks insanely good in this movie—her abs especially . . .
but moving on), and a scientist named Aldrich Killian cooking up some evil of
his own. On top of all of that, Stark seems to have some sort of PTSD-like
symptoms from all the crazy stuff that happened in The Avengers. Yeesh.
It sounds like a lot, but the film actually
balances all of the conflicts really nicely (unlike, say, Spiderman 3, because somehow this article just would not seem
complete without some acknowledgement of the massive train
wreck/Tyler-Daswick-dream-killer that was, indeed, Spiderman 3). Everything is well-developed and believable, and the
central villain is the best out of the three movies thusfar. Iron Man is in
danger, and it shows.
The only qualm I
had with any of the conflicts came with Stark’s PTSD. It served the movie well
in terms of adding some complexity to Downey Jr.’s usual
cocky-playboy-millionaire shtick, and it was good acknowledgement of The Avengers, but I thought it was
somewhat random. There was no evidence of any mental trauma in The Avengers at all—they all just sat
around eating shawarma at the end—so to have this suddenly thrust upon Stark
seemed like more of a plot device than some genuine development in his
character.
At the end of the
day, however, this is a superhero movie, and you pay to see superhero-action.
In this respect, Iron Man 3 delivers
on all fronts. Without too many spoilers, just know this: Iron Patriot (formerly
War Machine) is finally given his due, the armor variations that you see in the
trailers definitely come into play in the best possible way, and the sequence
with the airplane might be the best scene of the film. It is spectacular—people
applauded in the theater.
Then comes the
final battle. Without too many spoilers, it both proceeded and concluded with
heavy, pivotal moments. The first one worked really well for me—some viewers
might see it coming and some might not, but either way it brings significant
impact. The closer, however, was quite the opposite. The ending of the final
fight—which, mind you, is thusfar the
final scene that we needed/expected in the first two movies—felt like a
rip-off. Things are incredible up to that point, and then I was a little
let-down. By no means is it a deal-breaker, it was just disappointing. One of
the best pure one-on-one action sequences I have seen in a superhero flick was
softened just a touch.
Regardless, what
you have here is the best Iron Man movie hands-down. It has the best action,
the best humor, wonderful balance, and the most interesting Tony Stark to date.
Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley also combine to be the most threatening opposition
our hero has faced yet. A few loopholes and a hiccup with the climax aside,
this is what an Iron Man movie should be.
In the midst of a
rise in realist-superhero flicks, Iron
Man 3 is the perfect example of incorporating mature themes while
maintaining an accessible, popcorn-style approach. Did it do enough to be
great? No, but it was definite quality, enough to warrant a well-deserved 8/10.
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