Review 201: Iron Man 3
When an enemy known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) disrupts that which industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) holds most dear, he must rely on his ingenuity to protect those closest to him. Along the way, he discovers the answer to a question which has haunted him: does the suit define him, or does the man make the suit?
The plot is brilliant, with this film you really get a sense of the post-Avengers world we now inhabit as we now see a Tony Stark who is damaged by his experiences during the Battle of New York.
He's suffering from Posttraumatic stress disorder and has confined himself to laboratory/workshop and built a dozen Iron Man suits. This causes friction between him and Pepper as he's ignoring her and making all his suits out of anxiety, so he becomes a very secluded man.
The beauty of this movie is watching Tony Stark dealing with and overcoming his anxiety.
Iron Man 3, like The Dark Knight Rises, is a story of about a man overcoming an emotional struggle. In Bruce Wayne/Batman's case it was overcoming pain, with Tony Stark/Iron Man it's overcoming his anxiety and depression following events of The Avengers. The Dark Knight Rises works better as a psychological exercise whereas Iron Man 3 is works better as a showcase for Tony Stark using his magnificent genius, ingenuity and resourcefullness to work his way out of a tight spot. Tony Stark is genius and a really smart guy as well as a billionaire playboy and it was brilliant to watch him him put his genius to extremely effective use in this movie.
The film also deal with real world topics such as terrorism, the our fear of it, how we deal with it and how having a symbol of terror creates terror (those are shown really well through the propaganda videos featuring The Mandarin) and it shows how terror can be used to scar people and make radical decisions.
grounds the film back in reality than the second film but not without some of the humor fans will surely be expecting.
Writer/Director Shane Black's direction is fun and exciting, the cinematography is beautiful, the special effects are tremendous, the score by Brian Tyler is spectacular, the production design is stylish, the costumes are majestic, the sound effects are terrific, the action scenes are intensely shot, well choreographed, thrilling and expertly staged, the make up is rich, the locations are gorgeous and the ending was superb.
The acting for the most part is superb, Robert Downey, Jr. so owns the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man, he's just awesome. At the begining of this film, we find a more vulnerable Tony Stark whose been damaged by his experiences as Iron Man, he's come down with PTSD in the aftermarth of the Battle of New York, so he's locked himself in his workshop and he's thrown himself into work as a coping mechenism. Though the battle was won, the battle in Tony's mind is far from over. Whenever the wormhole is mentioned, his world seems to stop.
His portrayal of a Tony Stark suffering from PTSD and anxiety attacks is mesmerising, his body language and facial expressions are just staggering and really help to sell his character arc and is some of the best material that Downey, Jr has had to work with up to this point.
This is Tony Stark at his lowest; As well as suffering from PTSD, he is constantly losing access to his resources, his home, his allies, his armour and yet he improvises, faces his inner demons and ultimately perceivers.
Ultimatly his character arc in this film is trying to find out who he is with the armour and realising he doesn't has to be Iron Man all the time to protect the people he loves and learning that they're more than capable of taking care of themselves.
Gwyneth Paltrow is absolutly fabulous as Pepper Potts, she still absolutely adores Tony but she still get frustrated with him as he is in this constant state of building his Iron Man suits and him ignoring her. The love triangle in this film is really between Pepper, Tony and the suits i.e. Tony, Pepper and his obsession with the suits - that obsession with technology. The big question over her and Tony's relationship in this film is: Is Pepper in danger or is Pepper the saviour?
Don Cheadle really starts to come into his own as James "Rhodey" Rhodes/War Machine. In this film, he's very much a foil to Tony's own eccentricities and the way that plays out, executed and the way Downey and Cheadle work off of one another is thoroughly entertaining and a great reminder of the trust and friendship between them.
Despite he character showing potential, Rebecca Hall's Maya Hansen goes on to be rather disappointingly underdeveloped. Hall was perfectly fine in the role, I just wish we saw more of her, got to know her more about her and was given more to do. She has all the foundations of an interesting & compelling character - she's an old flame of Tony's, she's a genius in her own right except that none of these characteristics are developed to their full potential. The execution of the character is also disappointing.
Ty Simpkins is very likeable as Harley, outwardly an innocent little boy from Tennessee, his life gets turned upside down when finds a self-described "genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist" taking shelter in his garage and becomes a valuable asset to Tony in picking himself and fighting in the war against The Manderin.
Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce make for a superbly inspired pair of villains with Kingsley playing both the dangerous terrorist known as "The Mandarin" as well as another surprise role which I honestly did not see coming and found highly amusing, unexpected and provided a lot of brilliantly inspired social commentary.
The Mandarin is a mysterious man with his own logic and his own point of view who's motivated to turn the pyramid of civilisation on its head.
At the other end of the Spectrum, we have Pearce as Aldrich Killian, he's a man who's come into this world with a number of physical disabilities as shown brilliantly in the films cold opening and he's never been able to come to terms with those limitations and has dedicated most of his time and energy trying to overcome them in anyway he can. His tenacity and blind determination in fighting for a better life are seen by some as irritating, as he can often come across as obnoxious, but from his POV he just can't accept the cards he was dealt and being as intelligent as he is gives a real drive to change and become a different person. He also comes across as sinisterly charismatic and lures into his clutches with his rogueish charm and persuasiveness and makes you want to jump in with his schemes. He is also such a pretentious prick, the type of villain, you love to hate.
Jon Favreau & Paul Bettany also return reprising their roles as Happy Hogan and J.A.R.V.I.S. respectively along with William Sadler, James Badge Dale & Stephanie Szostak round out the films large cast with solid performances
Iron Man 3 is a witty, entertaining threequal and if Iron Man does make a return after this then I'll be ready, 4.5/5.
The Anonymous Critic.
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