Christopher Nolan once asked when preparing to make The Dark Knight Rises, “How many good third movies in a franchise can people name?” The good news is that we can add Iron Man 3 to that list, kicking off what is looking to be one of the best comic book/sci-fi movie summers of all-time.
Similarly to last summer’s third Dark Knight movie, Iron Man 3 is very much a “rebuilding” movie — both literally and figuratively — for Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.). In the aftermath of the alien invasion at the end of The Avengers and nearly dying trying to escape an intergalactic wormhole, Stark is suffering from anxiety and fears of his place in the universe and his role as one of earth’s defenders. His response is to keep tinkering with his armors, building dozens of different models. He does this to the detriment of his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who now largely runs Stark Industries and former bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau, who has a significant role despite not directing the film this time around). However, the story really begins on New Year’s Eve in 1999, when Stark, still in his playboy years, blew off a meeting with scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) in order to have some fun with another, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall). Consequences of blowing off the meeting with Killian come to a roost for Stark in the present day at the same time a new super-villain terrorist, the Bane-like (including the odd accent) Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), threatens the United States with viral videoes depicting horrific crimes. The President (William Sadler) enlists War Machine — Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle), who has been rechristened The Iron Patriot — to hunt down the terrorist.
Counting Downey’s lead role in The Avengers and his cameo in The Incredible Hulk, Iron Man 3 marks the fifth time Downey has portrayed Tony Stark. If you are worried that Downey’s charm in the role has worn off, don’t be — he’s just as perfect as Stark as he was in the first movie. In fact, Stark spends far more time in this movie outside of the armor than in, which would be a major issue if anyone other than Downey played Stark. The trademark humor is not only here, it thrives — with new screenwriters Drew Pearce and Shane Black (the latter also directed) — easily capturing Stark’s sarcastic sense of humor, even during tense and action-packed parts.
This not only means that Iron Man 3 is a far better movie than the let-down of Iron Man 2, it’s nearly as refreshing as the original film. Iron Man was a breath of fresh air after several years of “dark” superhero films — heck, the original Iron Man is a hell of a lot more fun than Sam Raimi‘s Spider-Man trilogy put together! Iron Man 3 picks up the slack that Iron Man 2 dropped in its decidedly darker tone. Every bit of Shane Black’s sense of fun that he brought to the screenplays of Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (which also starred Downey and Black also directed) is here. The action sequences are smooth, well-planned, and far easier to follow that most “shaky cam” action sequences of other recent action films. The film’s climatic final battle is finally one worthy of Iron Man’s potential, and is much better overall than the final battles in the two prior films.
The film’s flaws are few, and mostly have to do with the fact that this is a third movie and obviously somewhat unoriginal. As always, Stark’s kryptonite is his hubris (is Iron Man the only cinematic superhero who largely creates all of his own problems and super-villains by being a jerk?) and Iron Man 3 contains the same theme of the ills of military power in the wrong hands. It’s as if the screenwriters combined the storylines of the original film and 2 — which, on one hand, is a fine way to wrap up a three-film arc but at the same time slightly feels like plot leftovers. Super-villains also need to learn not to keep incriminating details of their evil plans in their electronic archives, especially when the superhero is a technical genius. Tony also pulls a trump card trick at the end that could’ve saved him a lot of trouble in the first place if he did it forty minutes earlier. But I went along with the ride because I was enjoying it… with me, superhero movies get a pretty free pass in the logic department.
It seems whenever an Oscar-winning actor stars in a Marvel film he steals the show, and Kingsley definitely does so this time around (I won’t ruin the reasons why). Paltrow is also given a much more expanded role and even participates during the action sequences. While that somewhat follows recent comic book storylines featuring Pepper, it’s sort of an odd choice considering Rhodey is right there to pick up the slack (most of Cheadle’s screentime is spent outside of the armor, which must have been nice for him as an actor).
But Iron Man 3 certainly does a great job of wrapping up the first three films as a “trilogy” even if that wasn’t the initial intention. I’m curious where Marvel and Downey will go with the character from here — Downey hasn’t officially signed for any more Iron Man films or for The Avengers 2 — and I certainly hope this won’t be the last time we’ll see Downey as Stark. The again, how could it be? The Iron Man franchise is still too much fun.
RATING: Nearly as good as the original, and just as much fun (8/10).
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