Review: Iron Man 3

Tony Stark and Iron Man is back, and after the misstep/retread that was Iron Man 2, in much better form.

I will note now: I will get spoiler-ific, though I’ll keep it separate from the actual review.  There will be a line separating the two sections.  Though, $175 million open weekend?  You should have seen it by now at least.

As for the review?  Well, Tony Stark, facing anxiety from the events in Avengers, is trying harder than before in keeping himself (and others around him, like Pepper Potts) protected.  The Mark 42 suit, for example, is a suit constructed of individual pieces and controlled by small receivers embedded in Stark’s arms.  He runs into trouble though when unexpected demons from his past show up, along with the terrorist known as the Mandarin.

Iron Man 3 is a much better film than the second one was, simply by not rehashing everything from the first film (climactic battle against bigger badder suit? check).  It keeps away from all of the Avengers stuff too, and that I feel is a good thing.  Iron Man 2 suffered a bit as well from trying to connect Iron Man to the whole Avengers universe.  The singular focus helps in a good way.  It’s not as tight as the first film – it feels looser, and some scenes don’t connect well – but it’s still well filmed, especially with the big action pieces that occur (Tony’s mansion, Air Force One, and the harbor sequence at the end).

Everyone that returns from the previous film is good. Downey Jr is impeccable as Tony Stark, as always.  Gwyneth Paltrow is great and is given a lot more to do, which is awesome (though being the damsel-in-distress for a moment again is wearing thin).  Don Cheadle is back as Col. Rhodes/War Machine (or, jokingly, the Iron Patriot) and has some good scenes as well.  The several new cast additions were all good as well, to a varying degree: Guy Pierce is good as Aldrich Killian, the founder of AIM and the creator of the Extremis virus, which acts as one of the plot catalysts; Rebecca Hall plays Dr Maya Hansen well, though I was confused at times with her motivations; and Ben Kingsley is the Mandarin, and part of the spoiler discussion coming.

All in all, this is a good, solid film.  Better than the second film, and a natural progression for Tony Stark/Iron Man to take.

---

There are two bits of spoiler stuff I want to discuss, both good: the post-credits sequence and the Mandarin.

The post-credits sequence, with Bruce Banner as a “psychologist” to Tony Stark, is pretty funny and works well. The one thing I was particularly glad to see what that they didn’t advance any sort of Avengers plot. What I’m guessing is that the Avengers stuff will be limited to post Thor (given how galactic that one will be), if they do that, and Guardians of the Galaxy. The latter seems the more natural fit, since that film will transition into Avengers 2, if they’re going to do the Thanos route with it.

The Mandarin reveal was interesting, and a welcomed change of pace from the norm. Yes, he’s Asian in the comics apparently, but terrorists from anywhere in Asia has been done to death in movies. Making him a drunk British stage actor named Travis is a bold, brilliant move that works, especially in the movie: have someone act as your face while you cause all the mayhem in the background. It’s a clever bit of misdirection. Though, Killian as the main villain was hard to say. I didn’t mind too much, though I’ve heard both positive and negative reactions to him.

There’s also this piece over on Badass Digest that pretty much says that no one saw the Mandarin reveal coming, since Marvel didn’t hype it up. There’s the comparison to JJ Abrams and Star Trek regarding Schroedinger’s Khan as well, though I might have different problems with the film besides that. I won’t voice them until I see the film though, if those criticisms do apply.

So one speculation and one awesome reveal. Dicussions?

Movie 33: Iron Man 2

I think I was able to summarize Iron Man 2 easily on my Twitter page.  As follows:

“good, first one better, but still fun movie to watch – B”

Now, I won’t leave it at that.  I’ll try and write a bit, in case some of you haven’t seen it yet.

Tony Stark, as Iron Man, has successfully brought a near era of peace to the world.  The government want their own Iron Man suit (preferably his), but Stark won’t allow it.  Mainly, it’s the government trying to get contracts out to make power suits for the military (which explains Justin Hammer and the Hammer Corporation).  Ivan Vanko, dismayed over the betrayal of his father by Stark’s father, constructs his own arc reactor and powers his own suit.  Lt. Rhodes gets his own suit.  Pepper Potts is trying to figure out what’s going on with Stark, while also hiring a new secretary with an alter ego.  And stuff blows up.

Actually, I just dissected the trailer.  But it also contains enough of the plot to get you moving.

The movie itself is generally quite fun.  Robert Downey Jr. as Stark is just as comical as the first one (he and Paltrow have the best exchanges in the movie), but he’s also quite serious as times, especially when he finds out that… yeah, I’ll withhold that plot spoiler.  The cast is a little bit unwieldy at times: you have your basic characterizations to know who is good and who is bad, but no where in between.  Scarlett Johansson’s Black Widow suffers the most from that, but she’s also rather secretive in that regard as well, probably because of her focus.  She certainly looks good.  Mickey Rourke as Ivan Vanko (Whiplash) is a suitable villain, being sinister and vicious (almost passive aggressive, in certain regards).  Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer probably suffers a bit as well, simply because we know he’s bad, and he isn’t given much to do except for trying to find ways to one up Stark.

Oh, and I started pondering the various plot holes in the movie as it blasted towards the end.

But I’m nitpicking.  The movie is quite fun when Stark is on the screen, even during the darker moments.  The selected action sequences (the Monaco racetrack, the suit fight during the middle, and the final fight) are all filmed quite well, though parts of the concluding fight seemed rushed.  But it’s also tight and controlled, which is a thankful thing indeed (compare this concluding fight to, say, Transformers 2, and you’ll understand the reasoning).  Favreau has an eye for action sequences, and he films them well.

So, all in all, a solid sequel to a particularly good franchise.  Not a strong step forward, but a good step indeed in establishing the character, and, more importantly, establishing a story arc for the Marvel movie franchise in general.

B

Note: I’d like to add that this had the best Stan Lee cameo thus far in a Marvel movie.  It’s a blink and you miss kind, but also hilarious if you catch it.  Also, once again, stay after the credits.