Iron Man 3 delivers
Iron Man 3
Paramount/Marvel
Robert Downey Jr.
May 2013
Iron Man 3 is the grand finale to the Iron Man trilogy and seventh movie of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In a similar vein to producer Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy the movie delves into who a hero truly is. Is he the man in the suit or is he the superhero.
Additionally it faces the idea of a superhero facing anxiety attacks following the events of The Avengers, though for someone who never saw Joss Whedon’s mashup of characters, this became confusing.
The movie has two great aspects; and at the same time two really stupid ones. The first amazing part is that Pepper Potts, played again by Gwyneth Paltrow, is not treated as a stereotypical damsel in distress. She is instead a tough powerful woman who at times is even more badass than Iron Man himself.
The second is that while Robert Downey Jr. retains the arrogant jackass personality from the previous movies, he also adds to his repertoire a touching devotion to Pepper. Even so much that he goes to seemingly insane lengths to save her.
The problems in the movie come from the movies villains. The first is that in the beginning a guy known as The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, is shown being a tough and threatening individual.
I won’t spoil the big twist but it had both me and my friend slapping our foreheads in despair at the stupidity. The second is that the rogue terrorist isn’t fighting American government over something ideologically interesting and provocative like religion or philosophies but it’s revealed in the last ten minutes of the film in a single throwaway line that it is about one single personally related oil spill.
Essentially, one line changes the villain from badass terrorist to insane environmentalist. This seemed like shameless political poking. Hollywood agenda perhaps?
In the end I have to judge the film by what it is: tt is a strong and generally well written, directed and acted conclusion to the story that began in 2008.
It has amazing action scenes, a number of well thought out jokes (though also a couple grade school level crotch hits) and a surprisingly touching and very believable romance between the main characters.
Finally despite the problems mentioned it does its job of telling the tale of Tony Stark well, I would rate this film a 9/10. It is a great film for any fan of superheroes, explosive action and touching characters but one that would turn off those who are not connected to the idea of this type of fantasy.
P.S. Yes Stan Lee makes his trademarked appearance in another Marvel movie. Sadly not mistaken for Larry King or Hugh Hefner this time.
– Cooper Thompson