“I do not like the man who squanders life for fame; give me the man who living makes a name.”
-- Emily Dickinson
-- Emily Dickinson
Downey Jr. as Stark Fresh off reviewing a Marvel movie done, at the very least, entertainingly, let's look at one that definitely wasn't. It's a shame that the charisma-less Chris Hemsworth keeps getting the stronger movies over RDJ, but at least RDJ is handsomely compensated for this mediocrity. And what mediocrity is is. Iron Man 3 took a look at Iron Man 2, and said, "Yeah, that was pretty crappy, but we can take it up a notch." That's not to say that Iron Man 3 is a terrible movie. In a (so far) trilogy that includes Iron Man 2, terrible already has its poster child. In fact, everything before the last 5 minutes is an enjoyable, albeit average superhero movie. But then we get to the narrated, crammed-with-exposition ending. There hasn't been an ending botched this badly since the '07 Patriots.
Paltrow as Potts Before this movie, Iron Man had always struck me as the Yin to Batman's Yang. They're both über-rich playboys with the means to fashion themselves into superheroes, but that's mainly where the similarities end. Where Batman uses Bruce Wayne as a disguise, Iron Man needs no such distinction. Tony Stark and Iron Man are two names for the same person. Batman is methodical, investigating and mulling his options. Iron Man is spontaneous, flying by the seat of his pants and hoping for the best. But most importantly, Iron Man is secretly closest to what any of us would be if we had superpowers. We're all just one press conference away from wanting to take credit for the awesome things we'd do. That gives it an innate edge over other superhero movies, where instead of just wishing we could do those things, we're going a step further. We're seeing how we would do it ourselves.
The fact that ever since the first movie, this franchise has squandered that advantage is a shame. They've tried to essentially make him a wise-cracking Batman, dark and tortured and that's never more evident than in this third installment, where Tony Stark suffers panic attacks, and spends half the movie feeling guilty. Don't worry, he doesn't experience any actual growth; such a thing is unheard of in a Marvel movie.
The fact that ever since the first movie, this franchise has squandered that advantage is a shame. They've tried to essentially make him a wise-cracking Batman, dark and tortured and that's never more evident than in this third installment, where Tony Stark suffers panic attacks, and spends half the movie feeling guilty. Don't worry, he doesn't experience any actual growth; such a thing is unheard of in a Marvel movie.
 Kingsley as The Mandarin | Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley give it their all as the film's villains, though Kingsley's adopted accent is occasionally cringe-worthy; never more so than in the opening sequence where he seems to try and invent the word "turrurist." Ultimately, save one pretty clever twist, they're not given enough to do, leaving their motives up to a pretty shaky "we'll make more money on Extremis by being criminals than by just selling it to the government" explanation.  |
Pearce as Killian The movie's end is a dumpster fire. Gwyneth Paltrow, who was held hostage by being injected with "Extremis" - an unstable concoction that gives the carrier superpowers as long as they can control it, lest they turn into a human bomb - ends up saving the day over the titular hero. The overly narrated ending has Tony Stark go on a creative rampage, seemingly capable of anything. He starts by "curing" her of Extremis, while leaving it ambiguous exactly how this was accomplished, or what it entails. Did he just stabilize the effects, leaving her with the powers? I'd rather not imagine an Iron Man 4 where Gwyneth Paltrow does half the ass-kicking. Then we go full-bore into Batman ripoff. Tony Stark is also "cured" of needing the Arc Reactor, and has it removed it from his chest, before throwing it into the Pacific Ocean (sort of a jerk move given how valuable that piece of technology would be to mankind). The movie tries to sell us that Tony Stark is Iron Man regardless of whether or not he has his accoutrements. The movie tries to sell us that they didn't just turn him into a cheap, knock-off Batman. Thanks, Iron Man 3, but I'm not buying.
A few interesting ideas are wasted in a film that seems determined to bury anything that made Iron Man unique
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