A lot of people are going to hate Iron Man 3. There’s
no way around this fact. Sometimes when you see a film you can tell in
the first ten minutes that it's going to polarize its audience, especially sequels such as The Hobbit or Die Hard 2: Die Harder. On the
other hand, a lot of people will be able to look past the "flaws" of the film and
love this movie for the exciting change of pace it brings to the table. So
which side of the fence do I fall on? While there are certainly a few things in
this movie that I didn’t quite like I can safely say that I really enjoyed this
film.
Right from the beginning of this film we know that Shane Black
is about to turn this franchise upside down on us. The typical storytelling of
Jon Favreau has been replaced by Shane Black’s sharply written Christmas narrative
style mixed with his affinity for flashbacks. As a result we begin the film
with a flashback to Stark meeting Yensin (as mentioned in the first Iron Man
film) at a 1999 engineering convention. We are also introduced to two other
characters who will shape the events of the film: Dr. Maya Hansen and Dr.
Aldrich Killian. While their meeting is brief and seemingly unimportant at
first, Tony lets us know right away that he had just “created his own demons”.
Sadly, these aren’t the only demons haunting poor Tony, as
he has been thoroughly shaken to the core following the events of The
Avengers. Tony is battling with a massive case of the superhero yips which
have plagued him with self-doubt, hallucinations, mania, insomnia, and
crippling panic attacks. As a result the man has resorted to building suits of armor full time, culminating in creating a total of 42 suits, most of which he deems
as useless. I don’t understand why the studio is so against exploring Tony Stark's legendary status in the comic world as an alcoholic (it would be a perfect way
to deal with his anxiety in this film), but this new interpretation of the post-Avengers
stresses is certainly a suitable way to show the audience an inventive version
of his human weaknesses.
To compound all of these problems, a new terrorist named
“The Mandarin” has begun bombing American targets, working his way towards what
he calls his “Final Lesson for America”. Fans of the comic will recognize the
Mandarin as the closest thing Iron Man has to an arch-nemesis, and his
appearance has been hinted since the first film with the appearance of the Army
of the Ten Rings (Mandarin’s power stems from his use of ten alien rings).
While I can guarantee that this film’s incarnation of the Mandarin is going to
cause a lot of controversy in the movie going community (more on that later),
one thing that any viewer can agree on is that Ben Kingsley knocks another
performance out of the park.
Kingsley’s performance isn’t the only strong suit of the
film, because he’s accompanied by a fantastic cast including Rebecca Hall, Guy
Pearce, William Sadler, and a criminally underused Jon Favreau. But as great as
the entire cast is, the two heroes of the film are what really make this movie
shine. Don Cheadle is fantastic as James Rhodes, and while it was a little sad
to see Terrence Howard abandon the role in the second film I am glad that
Favreau decided that if he was going to trade him out, he might as well trade up as well. At this point I really shouldn’t
need to point out how great Downey Jr. is in the titular role of the film, but I
really need to make a point of it because he is just sooooooo damn good at it. He has taken a legendary character and
managed to make it all his own, just like Heath Ledger managed to do with his
famous portrayal of the Joker.
Shane Black brings a breath of fresh air to a film that felt
dangerously close to becoming stagnant. As much as I love Jon Favreau both as
an actor and a director (any director who relies on practical effects over CG
gets a star in my book), repeated viewings of Iron Man 2 have left me
with an increasing feeling that the film could have been so much more. While
moments of Favreau’s Iron Man brilliance shine through in many parts of
the film, it felt like he may have had to push aside some of his greater
ambitions in order to begin incorporating elements of the upcoming Avengers
film.
While I certainly don’t blame Favreau for the weaknesses of
the second film, I couldn’t have been happier with the arrival of Black to take
over the franchise. Black has been one of my favorite screenwriters for years
with his ability to tell a story better than almost anyone else in the
industry, and his trademark narrative style is evident in the opening seconds
of the film. One of my favorite overlooked films of the last ten years is his
comedic masterpiece Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, and as huge as Robert Downey Jr.
has become in Hollywood due to the Iron Man film I believe his true
comeback was kick-started by his performance in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.
Luckily, Black hasn’t lost a step for taking on this
blockbuster franchise. His talent for witty and touching dialogue pushes
the writing of this film into the stratosphere. This is important because of
the three films this one is probably the lightest on the action, and Tony only
dons the famous armor for maybe ten to fifteen minutes cumulatively throughout the flick. By forcing Tony
to face this new adversity without his armor we have a chance to see the
resiliency and brilliance that is inherent in Tony Stark, and as a result, this
is easily the most human and emotionally connective story of the trilogy. This
simple transition allows the audience to not only see why Tony is a hero, but
also gives the audience a reason to believe that only Stark has the right to
decide who should or shouldn't wear his suits of armor.
Tight camerawork is also key in the film, and the solid
direction mixed with the smart writing gives us a film that never lags and never
feels like the two and a half hour film we are treated to. Best of all, this
flick comes off as sort of an “anti-Michael Bay” action flick, a movie that
does not feel like the overproduced and empty shells that Bay films have become.
True, it’s not as action packed as Bay’s films are, but I would rather have
well flushed out and realized characters over the near eighty minute final
action scene in Transformers 3 that left no lasting impressions in my
mind.
Luckily, when the film does deliver action scenes it
delivers them in spades. This film contains some of my favorite action set
pieces of the last ten years, including an exhilarating mid-air rescue, an epic
confrontation at an oil production facility, and my favorite, a gunfight between
mercenaries and a partially armored Tony Stark at a manor. Fantastic humor and one-liners
are sprinkled through the action scenes, one of my favorite involving a
clueless Tony keep trying to give Rhodes his pistol magazines because he doesn’t
understand that magazines aren’t universal between different models of guns. The talented Black has
a knack for delivering humorous action pieces that are both unique and familiar
for this beloved franchise, and it’s one of the main reasons I think this hand off
between Favreau and Black was such a good idea.
Unfortunately, there are problems with the film, and
I am about to seriously delve into spoiler territory so if you haven’t seen the
film please scroll down past the large END
OF SPOILER TERRITORY banner for my final thoughts and score.
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One of the largest problems I had with the film was the role
of Mandarin, or rather, the absence of him. In a nutshell, it’s revealed in the
middle of the second act that the Mandarin was a made up threat so that Aldrich
Killian could disguise his accidental explosions as terrorist attacks. It’s a
brilliant tactic in storytelling, and I’m amazed that the studio was able to
keep this game changing plot point out of the public eye the way they did. It
kind of reminds me of the trick they initially wanted to pull with Predators,
which in my mind could have been one of the greatest marketing campaigns in
Hollywood history had it worked out.
But these guys succeeded, and as a result we are going to
have a film that a lot of people are going to complain about. Personally I think
it was a brilliant move, but my only issue with this plot point is that
Mandarin is sort of a big deal in the comics, in fact he’s more or less the
closest thing that Tony has to an arch-nemesis in the comics. Pulling a bait
and switch like this on a major character in the film is one thing, but to do
it to what is essentially a villain that they have been building towards since
the very first Iron Man film sort of feels like a cop out.
As a reference, imagine watching the Harry Potter franchise
from the beginning. Imagine all the tension and all the excitement you felt rising
during all those years they built up for the final showdown between Harry and
Lord Voldemort. Now imagine you go to see the final film Harry Potter and
Deathly Hallows: Part 2, and about thirty minutes into the film Voldemort gets
shot in the face by this asshole…
… and now the film revolved around a final showdown between
him and Harry. You’d probably be a little pissed off right? Now imagine you’re
a lifelong fan of the comic, and you’ve been waiting forever to see a
confrontation between Mandarin and Iron Man, but surprise! Bait and Switch!
What makes this even more of a travesty is the fact that it
almost feels like The Avengers perfectly set up the story for the
Mandarin to appear. In the comic the Mandarin received his powers from ten
rings he found on a crashed alien craft, and if you would have put that in the
first or second Iron Man film it would have felt out of place in this
relatively grounded comic property. But now since the failed alien invasion
from The Avengers left plenty of crashed alien craft lying all over the
floor of the Earth it seems like this storyline could finally be realized.
BUT… as much as I may not like this small detail, I can
absolutely say that I did not see this plot twist coming, and it’s one of the
few films that has been able to pull the wool over my eyes in quite a while.
Plus, when you think about it, this could be seen as just a different view on
the character of Mandarin since Guy Pearce brought it up on several occasion
that he was the Mandarin.
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This film was a fantastic new look at an already solid film
franchise. With a fresh perspective on the property, solid writing, fantastic
direction, and outstanding performances all around, Iron Man 3 sets an
early standard for this summer that I find hard to believe any other film can
top.
9.25 out of 10
I like directing my readers to other works they may enjoy, and for a great listen give the gentlemen on the podcast Reel Junkies a shot. A great and funny poscast featuring knowledgeable insight into film.
