Iron man 3 Review

Director: Shane Black

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, and Don Cheadle

Original Release Date: May 3rd, 2013

May 3rd 2013, I remember that night very well. The anticipation was high, the summer weather was in perfect equilibrium, and I was in line waiting to see Iron man 3; the beginning of Marvel’s Phase 02. Everyone wanted to see this movie. Marvel Studios were finally hitting their stride, they had given us not only one of the most successful movies ever, but one of the best comic book films period. At this point in the game Marvel really could do no wrong, or could they?

I remember leaving the theatre feeling confused, I remember thinking "what did I just watch?" The only emotion I could comprehend was disappointment and a huge sense of betrayal. Iron man 3 is my least favourite Marvel film, and with very good reason. The movie had everything going for it but it just fell through the cracks. I tried my hardest to get everyone to avoid this movie like the plague, but obviously everyone was going to see it, it’s the sequel to the Avengers for fucks sake! you’re not going to just stay at home playing with your thumbs when the summer movie season was kicking off with a Marvel film. As the case with most Iron man movies the last time I watched this was when it premiered back in 2013, and I've been very glad that I haven’t revisited it, until now that is. Seeing as how Tony Stark is playing such a crucial role in Age of Ultron, and since I'm apparently a completionist with a masochistic streak I went back and trudged through Iron man 3 for a second time.

The movie picks up six months after the Avengers and Tony Stark isn't having the best of times. Suffering from ptsd after having a near fatal incident involving a crazed Asgardian, aliens from another dimension and a tactical nuke. The only solace that the billionaire playboy philanthropist has is his Iron man suits, which he is churning out at an almost inhuman pace. Pepper and Rhodey are both worried for Tony’s well being but he doesn't seem to care. Enter the Mandarin, the leader of the Ten Rings terrorist organization that was responsible for Tony’s kidnapping in the first film. The Mandarin has a bone to pick with America and is going to teach the President a few history lessons. When Tony Stark foolishly calls out the terrorist leader he finds his entire world destroyed, as he goes on a journey to find out who exactly is Mandarin the.

You almost had me Iron man 3, you almost did. I was so close to actually loving you! That’s because the first half of this movie is one of the best Marvel films. With such a solid build up to the Ten Rings and their plot I couldn't help but remember the fun ride I had back when I first saw the film. I always wanted a darker Iron man, maybe it’s because I can’t stand the character. I always thought that Tony Stark needed a real humbling experience, Iron man 2 sort of tried to deliver us that; but that movie was one huge misstep, but hey at least it wasn't as bad as this. Now the movie does have some very good points. 

This is the best RDJ has been since the first Iron man movie, he could play the character in his sleep at this point. I found that giving the character ptsd was a very smart and realistic choice. The guy’s world literally blew up in the Avengers, for the past two standalone films all that Stark has had to deal with was terrorism, now he’s taken part in a dimension hopping war.

The movie has a creeping sense of dread the moment the film starts, you know something big is going to go down and Shane Black does create a very terrifying faceless terrorist corps that seems to have eyes everywhere. I love the Ten Rings, I think that it’s one of the better “realistic” takes on a comic book characters powers and completely makes sense in the world that's in the MCU. They seem to pop up everywhere and actually pose a threat to our hero, who after the second movie seemed to be able to stop all of his problems with the press of a button. Tony Stark needed a very intimidating threat, and we got that for the most part.

Now this movie has been out now for two years, so what I'm going to talk about is basic common knowledge in the comic book movie community. I need to get this out of the way because it’s a topic that will pop up in every Iron man 3 review until the end of time, we’re going to talk about the Mandarin. The Mandarin is probably Iron man’s only iconic foe, he’s the iron avengers Joker. Of course the character is a little racist in the comics, throwing at us all the typical Chinese stereotypes that Stan Lee could think of, but I think that might be a tiny bit unfair. I don’t see anyone having a issue with Red Skull and Hydra, but they’re Nazi’s so its fine apparently. I'm not going to get into that issue because it’s another thing entirely. Now it could be argued that the Mandarin is still a racist character in this movie, but I'm pretty sure with the way the plot unfolded trying to give us a message in xenophobia that it’s all intentional.

Now Ben Kingsley can be a damn fine actor and sure he’s in a lot of very questionable projects to say the least, but the casting was perfect. Ben Kingsley gives a truly terrifying performance and for the  few scenes that we have with him he was easily becoming the best MCU villain since Loki. He had a motive other than just wanting to destroy America, he was a guy sick with how the States were slowly infecting other cultures and taking bits and pieces from other countries, and using them for their own machinations. Sure, the reasoning is flawed but he’s a villain and it’s a motive I can get behind. The scene where the Mandarin gives his “last” lesson is probably my favourite scene in the movie it showed that the Mandarin really was a force to reckon with and wasn't going to play nice.  Tony Stark never even had a scene with the guy which made him even more terrifying, all we got were his cronies. Superpowered infused former vets that had a real problem with the country, then the third act happened and it was revealed that the guy who we thought was the Mandarin wasn't, he is an actor named Trevor Slattery. Now this twist easily could break the movie for people. My own girlfriend told me that if we weren't with our friend that she would have walked out of the theatre.

Now the guy who was the films real villain was Aldrich Killian, played by Guy Pearce. The problem with this is that we had no build up for this character at all. Most of the movie is focused on the mystery of who the Mandarin is. Killian’s motives for trying to kill Tony Stark is one of the most poorly written plots I’ve seen in a movie it was like a two year old wrote it. Okay Tony Stark stood you up, he does that to everyone! What started out as a purely original villain plot turned into your typical Iron man movie, rich guy hates Tony Stark because he embarrassed him and now wants revenge. It doesn't help that his evil scheme is one of the most confusing and convoluted messes I've seen in a comic flick.

Now Marvel made one of their little One Shot’s called All Hail the King which fixed many of the problems with the Mandarin, it’s revealed that there is actually a real Mandarin. Now Marvel has said that this was always the plan, I highly doubt that. This is just damage control at it’s poorest form. Marvel you made a wrong move, live with it and learn from your mistake instead of trying to pander to a certain group of people. You only get one shot at delivering the Mandarin to viewers effectively for the first time. Seeing as how Iron man 4 isn't even in the works I don’t see why this was necessary, we aren't going to have the Mandarin be the next big Avengers threat. You don’t need them all to take him down, you just need Iron man.

Now the Mandarin stuff isn't the only problem with this movie, Iron man 3 is riddled with issues. For the entire movie Tony Stark’s new MK-42 armour seems to not be the best tool in the shed. It’s unreliable in it’s functioning and seems to fall apart all the time (a running gag in the movie hyuk!). Now yes, they say in the movie that it’s just a prototype, but I don’t see a MK-3.2, when Tony Stark makes a suit that thing is the best damned thing that he can make. Even the other suits you see in the movie all serve a different purpose, functions that MK-42 doesn't even display, so how can it be a prototype? What’s it leading up to? The MK-7 took a direct blow from Thors hammer, and it STILL GOT UP! MK-42 falls apart from being hit by a truck or a freaking pole. Yeah I get it that no one is in it and it’s designed to detach and  couple together at a moments notice, but the thing should be able to stay together once it’s in it’s full form.

Remember in Iron man 2 when Tony Stark created a new element? Yeah I do to, it’s the same element that saved his life and gave Stark Industries (and this is a direct quote from Stark himself in the Avengers)“Self sustaining-energy source”. Well I guess that element wasn't that self-sustaining because the MK-42 needs to be recharged every ten minutes. But hey it’s all for laughs, which is what this movie is all about at the end of the day.

Tony Stark’s humour is cranked up to an obnoxiously annoying degree, I think every other line is a sarcastic quip at someone .Yes your movie is funny but that doesn't make it good. I found myself laughing at some of the jokes but when the plot to your movie is absolute shit not even your funny jokes can save it.

Now Iron man 3 was the first post-Avengers movie, this leads to a problem that plagues in my opinion most of Phase 02. Once you have the Avengers team up its really hard to not think of them coming together to take on any threat. Now I don’t expect to see every single Avenger in a movie, but when the President of the United States get’s kidnapped and is being held hostage for like 8 hours I would like to think that Shield, Hawkeye, Black Widow or Captain America would show up to help Tony Stark. The destruction of Starks house is on the news I highly doubt Nick Fury just assumed Stark died in the attack. Shield would be looking for him and for the Mandarin who not only is attacking the country but has a small army of superpowered thugs who really don’t care if they’re noticed or not. Multiple people see these guys, this is what Shield does they investigate this sort of stuff, but you don’t even see them in this, both Iron man movies had Shield in them. They showed up when Tony Stark was being a drunken idiot but not when he is assumed dead?

The end of the movie is also really convenient. Things that were major plot points in the past two films are brushed over with a magic wand. We are supposed to believe that after this movie Tony Stark will never and I mean NEVER be Iron man again. Good luck trying to sell that when he’s an Avenger and obviously will suit up again in Age of Ultron. The entire sacrifice of his super hero identity would only work if

1. This was RDJ’s last run as the character and Marvel studios were planning on retiring the character for good
2. or the character would just be Tony Stark with no Iron man and act as the consultant to Shield.

But we got to sell more Iron man toys so Stark is suiting up again for Age of Ultron.

Now there are some things that are good about this movie, like I said the first half is awesome. For one Brian Tyler’s score is pretty great, I really didn't care for the music in the past two Iron man films, I thought they were really forgettable, but even after watching this abomination I find myself humming it’s main theme. Also the final action scene is really awesome, it almost saves this movie. I do like that Aldrich Killian didn't have another Iron man suit he was a guy with superpowers. Sure some of his powers look ridiculous and make no sense but for the most part it works. Marvel Studios, having a guy breath fire might sound cool on paper but it looks ridiculous on screen, even for a MCU film.

Iron man 3 is a horrible movie, in my opinion it's right there with X-men Origins Wolverine. Now I don’t have a vendetta against the character of Iron man, I actually really liked the first film after I saw it a second time. However this movie still leaves a really bad taste in my mouth. Of course you’ll have to watch it since the things that happen in this movie obviously have leaked into Age of Ultron. The movie does have it’s fans, and I'm truly happy that some people actually got something out of this because this was one of my most anticipated movies of 2013. I was actually excited to see a Iron man movie, but it falls flat. The movie feels like two separate films, one really good one and a second horrible film. Unfortunately for Iron man 3 that second film outweighs the first one.

Iron man 3 is terrible, Marvel Studios can do no wrong some say, I highly disagree because this movie and the one following it (although it is better than this) are riddled with problems I give this crap heap a

5/10