Plot in 4 Sentences
comingsoon.nelot in 4 Sentences…
Iron Man’s friend is hurt. Iron Man declares war against The Mandarin. Iron Man’s house is blown up. Iron Man comes back and saves the day.
My Small, Non-Spoiler Review…
Iron Man is a fun superhero movie. It isn’t perfect. There are plot holes, but again Robert Downey Jr. gives a spot on rendition of a recently favorited superhero character. Here’s a brief overview of the plot: Happy Hogan is injured in an attack by The Mandarin, the Osama Bin Laden of superhero movies. With his friend hurt, Tony Stark makes the mistake of declaring war on The Mandarin by pretty much giving him an open invitation to his house. The Mandarin does take him up on the offer, comes and pretty much blow the hell out of his house. Alas, Tony survives, befriends a little kid, does some investigative work and eventually saves the day. It’s exciting, it’s funny, it has some heart, it is, in my opinion, the best of the trilogy.
Those Who Would Be The Cast…
Robert Downey Jr. Shocking, he was fantastic, again. Like I said before, without him, Marvel has nothing. Pay him. Love him. Make a ton of money. His humor is great and we were able to see some of that inner turmoil really come to the surface.
Don Cheadle. I thought he brought a lot to the role. Was his role necessary? Not really, but his banter back and forth with Tony and their teaming up at the end was classic. Reminded me of the great 80s movies of, well, the 80s. The action was non-stop and was done perfectly.
Gwyneth Paltrow. A little bit of a larger role in this outing (not much though). I think she is a fantastic actress. I think that over the three movies she has developed this character and fleshed her out to be more than simply an assistant who always gets in trouble and looks good on camera. I enjoyed that they allowed her to show her inner badass at the end. It showed that she could really be used as an asset in later Marvel adventures (Rescue in Avengers 2?).
Guy Pearce/Ben Kingsley. I’m pairing them together because they are the villains. Guy Pearce has always been one of my favorite actors who glows in supporting roles. I felt he brought on a better villain in this movie than any of the other Iron Man movies. Not a perfect villain, but a more developed one. Ben Kingsley is the man. He is a man of many faces and it looks like he has a lot of fun with this role.
Jon Favreau/Rebecca Hall. Like before, I’m pairing these characters up because they are only side characters to push the story along. Happy Hogan is a great sidekick to Iron Man, and while he has more of a role connected to the plot, he doesn’t do much after his injury. Rebecca Hall sets up some stuff, looks pretty and then doesn’t do much. She brought what she could to the role. I admire that.
…and here… We… Go… (Spoilers)
“Iron Man 3” was not a perfect movie, but for me it was the best of the series. It had humor. It had drama. It had a TON of action that was done beautifully. Don’t get me wrong. Don’t think that I am saying they dropped the ball on the last two. Far from it, well, except the second one. The first one was a shot in the dark. Using a character that most felt was secondary, they were able to build something amazing that was cultivated with The Avengers. They didn’t use their more popular characters such as the X-Men or Spider-Man. They used a man in an iron suit to set the stage for something that I can say is fantastic. This movie just shows you how they understand what works and are running with it. I had a lot of fun with this movie.
The thing that I loved about this movie was that SHIELD was non existent. Finally, a movie about Iron Man and not about Iron Man and SHIELD. They allow Tony to grow and become human, even giving him human flaws.I loved the panic attacks that were brought on by post traumatic stress from the battle in “The Avengers”. It made him more human, which is important since he is really the only truly human character Marvel has developed so far. Yes, Bruce Banner is human, but it is not like he can die because he will simply Hulk out and Steven Rogers is human but he’s been enhanced. Tony is the only character that once he steps out of his gear he is totally vulnerable and I liked how that concept has affected him emotionally. I was also a fan of Tony going low tech and being forced to use his brains instead of his suit. It made him more of a hero in my eyes and not someone who simply is badass because his suit is badass. Now everyone knows that if you fight Tony Stark, he doesn’t need the suit to beat you. Lastly, the story. In my opinion it was the most intricate story of the trilogy. You have the good versus evil story. You have the love story.. You have an almost father/son relationship. You have political espionage. It just had so much that I loved that it made me lose myself in the story. It was more than it has been in the past and I loved that.
Now here is the kicker. I warned you in the headline so if you have not seen the movie, look away, or don’t. It’s whatever you wish. I warned you though….
I will admit that when I realized The Mandarin in the movie was fake and he was in fact just an actor, I felt betrayed. I felt used. I wanted to jump up and scream. How can you do that to The Mandarin? The setup was amazing. He was so diabolical. Everything was perfect. Ben Kingsley played him with such a terrifying tone that I was afraid of him and his beliefs. But I can’t deny that his character had me in rolling on the floor. Only a fantastic actor such as Kingsley could pull off the duality of The Mandarin/Trevor character and make it a success. To be such a sinister character and then suddenly, literally in the time it takes to walk out of a bathroom, he can alter that character to become such a goofy character. In any other situation this shocking change wouldn’t have worked and while I understand why some really hate this change, I grew to appreciate it mostly because I figured that the only way a character like The Mandarin, who they seemingly developed to be a human terrorist without magical powers, could defeat Tony was to create his own suit to fight him and I did not want to see that again. I can say that I liked the idea that The Mandarin was more than just a man. He was an idea. He was something that could get into the human mind and fill it with fear. Did it matter that the person portraying The Mandarin was a drug addicted idiot? No, because in my mind it was almost as if that character had multiple personalities. There was his sinister side, which was The Mandarin, and then there was the comical side. Was this change needed? Hell no. But it did make sense in today’s society. All the time we hear about individuals who could be considered monsters. Individuals who we have never seen in person, but what we know about them makes them evil. I’ve never seen Osama Bin Laden, but I saw his videos. I saw what he was capable of. Would the fact that he may have been a pill popping drunk change the way I feel about him? Perhaps a little, but it would never overshadow the terror that he brought to our nation. Like The Mandarin. It wasn’t who he was personally. It was the beliefs he brought that were the true villain of the story. Tony is powerful enough to take down an army of Aliens. Is he powerful enough to combat a countries fear of destruction? That’s the point. In the end, Tony can fight just about anyone, but he can’t fight the word of a madman. Even Tony Stark has his limits.
The next villain, and I guess you could say the main villain of the story is Aldrich Killian, played by Guy Pearce. I will admit, I’ve always been a fan of Guy Pearce. I have enjoyed him as an actor since I first saw him in “LA Confidential” He is simply a great actor. Was he perfect for this role? Meh, but I thought he pulled it off. Let’s start at the beginning of the movie. Was his introduction as a limping, long haired goof a tad extreme and a bit that has been done a million times? Yes. It was stale. We’ve seen the disfigured person who had been knocked down their entire life suddenly become beautiful and strong and evil. But it was a starting off point for a character that I felt had a great deal of layers, like an onion or a piece of cake. You could compare Aldrich to Tony in a lot of different ways. Aldrich was Tony’s mirror image, like Hammer was in the second movie. Both individuals were stricken with a disability (Tony’s chest, Aldrich’s physical disability). Both were left abandoned (Tony in Afghanistan, Aldrich on the roof) and it is here that we see how these two similar individuals begin to deviate and change. Where Tony used his disability and situation to better himself, Aldrich allowed it to consume him and fuel his hatred towards everyone. His obsession for power drove him to become the villain that he was in the film. Was it a perfect villain? No. It was cookie cutter style, but I felt it was the best villain this series has seen. Yes, Vanko’s drive to destroy Tony was awesome, but it never went anywhere until the end of the movie. Here, Aldrich was constantly attacking Tony. He was always there. Always a threat and I loved that.Was he the greatest comic book character? No. Not by a long shot. But did he work in this movie? Absolutely.
Final Thoughts…
Iron Man 3 was not a perfect movie. It had plot holes. It had character flaws. In the end though I had a blast watching it. It was a popcorn movie and I liked that it didn’t try to go beyond that. It was made to entertain. It was developed for enjoyment. Yes, there are things that have made comic geeks go crazy, but at least it took a chance and ran with it. Hopefully this will be the last standalone Iron Man movie. Not that I think they couldn’t churn out a few more, but I think it would be simply overkill and trying to make a buck. No, I think the series is done and I think Tony will be best suited simply as an Avenger, which I am totally fine with.
-BM