What do you get when you cross Kiss Kiss Bang Bang with Iron Man? To use a widely accepted term: A bad-ass film. Iron Man 3 is blasting into cinemas around the UK this week with jokes about Croydon and Downton Abbey to please fans. While the film makes me want to use unusual adjectives like ‘dazzling’ and ‘delicious’ which I’ll refrain from, I can simple state Iron Man 3 is a superhero extravaganza which you don’t want to miss. All our favourites as back, Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, John Favreau, Paul Bettany, and they’re joined by Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin, a character who will turn everything you think you know about villains on its head.
This is the first Marvel film in a long time to be smart. The others have often been enjoyable but it’s refreshing to say a lot more effort has gone in to making this film intelligent and relatable to the real world. Iron Man 1, which was a fun film seems like a lifetime ago, and Iron Man 2 was largely forgettable, so this is Iron Man getting back on track. Tony Stark’s development is really beginning to take shape, he’s starting to ask question about himself and trying to understand the world that he lives in. He’s at a stage where he’s becoming more than a man in a suit, this film is really about that journey, becoming a hero without the armour.
The film is about the fall out from The Avengers. It’s Christmas time and Tony Stark still has a lot of demons from New York City and he’s trying to process a universe with gods and aliens. He can’t sleep, and without his suit he feels helpless, which triggers anxiety attacks. The key to the whole story is told through a flashback to 1999 when he was still very Tony-Starky and less Iron Man-like. He’s trying to seduce a beautiful girl (to great success) and just generally having a good time. Back in the modern day we get to see an emotional Stark as he opens up to Pepper Potts, and it’s a running theme in the film for him as we explore his vulnerable side and his attempts to embrace and overcome that. We’re introduced to the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who spreads his propaganda through viral videos that play out across US television networks. A chilling figure creating fear through America, he is the epitome of the behind-the-video-camera terrorist that the world is all too familiar with now days. When the Mandarin destroys Stark’s lavish home (which is done with a beautiful action sequence of destruction) the billionaire genius has to flee and hide. This is the making of Stark becoming the hero without the suit, learning how to get by without it, and this is also when we see the film become less Iron Man, more…a Shane Black film (which is when it gets really awesome!)
A lot of Shane Black is in this film, his usual plot devices: It’s set around Christmas, there’s (small) references to the actors real lives, the smug looking over the top henchman, the opening voice over, a kidnapping – it’s all in there. This is less like a superhero flick, more like the action-buddy cop-black comedy that Shane Black has become so accustomed to. It also re-unites Black with Downey Jr. again and you just have a feeling they get each other and have a lot of fun working together. Shane Black and his co-writer Drew Pearce take a lot of risks with this film but with these risks come huge pay offs. It would have been so easy to play it safe, to please the fans with a typical superhero flick and be done with it, but where’s the fun in that?
While the fall out after the big climatic scene is just washed over – coming in just over 2 hours maybe there wasn’t a huge need to give more detail than what we see – there are some moments in the film that are so amazing, you have to see them to believe them. In part this is down to the fantastic writing for the Mandarin, who’s first meeting part way through the film with Stark is one of the best hero-villain showdowns in cinema history, but it would be a crime to post any spoilers. This is an absolute must watch as it kick starts blockbuster season. RDJ is on form as ever, not only providing the comic relief (at one point berating a young boy) that we associate with this role but really getting to sink his teeth in to frailties of Tony Stark and remind everyone of what a powerful actor he is. Gwyneth Paltrow gets to test her action skills with a more physical role this time round and Guy Pearce and Sir Ben Kingsley are superb in their own very different roles. The action scenes are big – with the odd forgivable dodgy CGI in there. This film is an evolution; the humour is sharp and quick witted, more so than any Iron Man film in the past but it’s also a more personal story. Just like it did in 2008, Iron Man has raised the bar for it’s competitors and its up to them to up their game, or get left behind. As Joss Whedon recently said in regards to his Avengers film, where does he go from here? Iron Man kick started ‘The Avengers Plan’ and we’ve come full circle, with Iron Man 3 starting the journey to The Avengers 2. Now this character has been through so much, we have to see the effects and growth come 2015. And in case you’re wondering, yes do stick around if you want to see a post credit scene.
RATING: Easily the best Iron Man film yet, and better than The Avengers. (7.5-8/10)
Iron Man 3, Directed and Co-Wrote by Shane Black is in UK cinemas now.
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