*SPOILERS AHEAD*
Iron Man always had a tricky problem. As a character and a comic, Iron Man had one of the harder archenemies out there to adapt for superheroes. Superman had Lex Luthor, Spider-Man had Green Goblin. But The Mandarin, a superhuman Chinese martial artist who relies on 10 alien rings to give him mystical power, was quite a pill to ask the audience to swallow. So for two movies, Marvel went with other guys. However, as Robert Downey Jr. nears the end of his Tony Stark run, would they really go through 3 movies without ever showing Iron Man’s seminal foe? We’ll get to that later, but for now let’s just get into the review.
Iron Man 3 besides the issue of stakes and villains, also had to deal with a new director at the helm, and making a post-Avengers story work. I think it mostly succeeds. I’m not sure if I would have said that after the beginning of the film, though. Right away Shane Black’s stamp is noticeably jarring- There’s direct narration now, the timeline is jumping around, and similar to
Iron Man 2, everything with Tony is going a mile a minute. But once we get past that- about when Gweneth Paltrow shows up- things settle down, and the movie finds its legs. I can’t stress enough what an M.V.P. Pepper Potts has been to this series, and she might be my favorite love interest from any superhero movie out there.
But it’s RDJ and his toys we came to see. Fast-talking Tony Stark is as good as ever as played by Downey. The interesting new conflict his character faces are what haunts him from “what happened in New York.” This is a pretty neat setup, and while not as directly referenced as many might have hoped, the panic-attack device keeps the aura of the events of
The Avengers cloaked over the entire film, even as it manages to be completely its own thing. The movie is in fact so singular, the post-credits sequence doesn’t even tease a new film (likely much to the chagrin of die-hard MCU-ers). Stark breaking down might rub some viewers the wrong way- it does make him seem like a bit of a p***y compared to past outings, but I was more confused as to why only HE seems to be freaking out about what happened. The rest of the world isn’t tripping nearly as much.
Anyway, the rest of the supporting cast is strong too. I am still one of those people who misses Terrance Howard, but Don Cheadle is finally worthwhile as Col. Rhodes here. The Iron Patriot re-branding was a cool evolution for War Machine, and that aspect comes together with the movie’s main plot by the film’s 3rd act. Climaxes/final battles surprisingly tend to be the weakest parts of most CBMs, but I’m happy to report
Iron Man 3 succeeds at this with flying colors. I’d say, in fact, most of the action overall, from the bombing of Stark’s home, to the more hand-to-hand fights, are excellent. One plane-free falling sequence in particular is pretty damn thrilling- especially in 3D.
Getting back to the supporting cast, Rebecca Hall’s scientist Maya Hansen adds a welcome mix of tension to Stark’s love life, and I only wish she could have been in it more. I also have to make mention of a young new character named Harley. Normally I am wary of kids joining the fray for a sequel (see:
The Mummy Returns or
Legend of Zorro) but he actually holds his own, and is a key element to Tony’s character journey. The only criticism I have on this character is that his middle portion of the movie does tend to be the part that drags. A shame, considering how tight the pacing for the rest of the film is.
And then there are the villains. And here’s where we get to possibly the trouble spot of the picture. Guy Pearce is pretty good as the instigator of Extremis, Aldrich Killian. But at the end, he felt like a baddie more suited for a videogame, than a serious action movie. Anyone else think of Wesker from
Resident Evil? I also think his villain felt slightly repetitive, as we’ve seen competitive peers of Tony Stark now in all 3 of these movies. Maybe a little magic is just what the doctor ordered to complement all the science.
The Avengers already opened up this avenue, so why not explore some mysticism? It’s noticeable that Killian has much more screen time than Mandarin, which I thought was odd, until the twist.
Why was this long-awaited character so…”off”? The overt resemblance to Osama Bin Laden works towards the contemporary themes of crisis between the U.S. and the Middle East, so I can let that go. But the video interruption threats were so passé, and we just weren’t seeing enough of this guy. And what was with that voice? After an admittedly awesome infiltration of his stronghold (Tony Stark goes stealth!) We get a reveal that either makes or breaks the movie:
The Mandarin is a rouse. Another means to a point Killian wants to make , while also achieving his goal. And as of this writing I still don’t know what to make of it. I mean I get it, in the context of the movie, it works. I’m not as upset about it as most people, in fact, I thought Ben Kingsley was pretty funny. I have no attachment to The Mandarin, who I always thought was kind of a dumb character.
But that’s not the point. I think all fanbases worry about what Hollywood might do to their favorite adaptations. And something like this is proof positive. Shane Black kind of violates and reinforces those fears with what he did here. I mean, Venom may have been miscast and underdeveloped, Bane might have been completely overhauled, but to straight up say a major and anticipated arch-villain doesn’t actually exist? I've never seen anything like this in a superhero movie before. Imagine if in a Superman flick they said, "Lex Luthor isn't real, he's just an idea." Damn.
As someone who champions honoring the source material, I gotta say I feel the fanboy pain on this one. It can’t be a matter of “well this way is better” because “better” is too subjective. For the sake of plot? For the sake of being grounded? It all gets too muddy, which is why I say, when in doubt, just stick to the source material. Haters have every right to complain this time. I can’t help but think back to the race issues at the casting stage of this movie. But now it’s just ironic. If Mandarin was going to be fake anyway, why not just make him Chinese like he should be? It wouldn't have mattered!
The strongest thing about
Iron Man 3 is that, even with a new director, it goes back to its roots. There’s a lot that harkens back to the original movie, from the back-to-basics idea of Tony as a mechanic, to the fact that he spends a good amount of film time simply working out the kinks of his suit. The first Iron Man loosely used a lot of ideas from the Extremis storyline, and Iron Man 3 takes it the next step by directly focusing on Afghanistan/terrorism angle. Similar to
Spider-Man 3 and new goblin or
The Dark Knight Rises and the League of Shadows,
Iron Man 3 uses story from the first movie to bring its trilogy full circle.