Iron Man is back for the third time! The action is unbelievable; there is a never a dull moment. If you weren’t much into the romance in the other movies, don’t worry; they toned it down! The movie is mainly action, action, and more action!
Iron Man 3 is the sequel to Iron Man and Iron Man 2. It is based on Marvel’s comic-books about super-hero, Iron Man. If you have not seen The Avengers, it is highly recommended; otherwise it will be very difficult to follow.
In it, Genius Billionaire Playboy Philanthropist Tony Stark teamed up with a demigod, a super soldier, and a Hulk to fight an alien race invading earth. He managed to keep his psyche intact. Just intact.
Iron Man 3 picks up six months later with Tony coping with his favorite hobby (No, not drinking and womanizing.) building more suits. He’s just as charming, witty, and vulnerable as ever as he vents with Pepper. Of course, this is a Shane Black movie, so it’s the Christmas season.
Meanwhile, there are a series of explosions that are connected to one man: the Mandarin, portrayed by Ben Kingsley. The Mandarin keeps popping up on forced broadcasts across America. He speaks of War, Violence, Philosophy and so forth. One of Mandarin’s explosions hits close to home for Tony, who in turn, invites Mandarin to his house. This is where the action starts.
Kingsley is at his greatest as this insane terrorist. In this film, he’s not just a crazy Chinese person with supernatural rings, he is an American who is obsessed with the Art of War and has been wronged by the American government somehow.
Another plot point is the American government’s retort to Iron Man, Iron Patriot. Rhodey’s suit, which he straight up stole from Tony in Iron Man 2, has been given a spangle-y paint job and named accordingly.
Yet another plot point is the Extremis serum, which basically turns organisms into invincible demon machines. Thanks to Maya Hansen’s work in the field of what Tony lazily refers to as “Botany,” a new villain named Coldblood has been brought to the screen by James Badge Dale. Those with the Extremis serum can regenerate and explode, not always at will. They’re led by Guy Pearce’s Dr. Aldrich Killian, a nerdy nobody turned rich genius.
Tony, Rhodey, Pepper, Happy, a kid Stark befriends, and Jarvis now work together to restore peace to their respective area of the Marvel universe as Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier gear up to release later on.
Filled with CGI and available in 3D, the sights are amazing. Explosions, holograms, exoskeletons, and more explosions are present for your visual pleasure.
As someone who saw the movie in 3D, Becca feels that people would better experience the movie if they saw it in 3D. 3D makes you feel like it’s more than just a movie; it feels like it’s actually there.
Dan, on the other hand, wears glasses in place of 3D specs and is poor; consequentially, he saw it in 2D. Most of the CGI is great, but a certain suit-up scene in the beginning and a few suits at the end looked especially like a cartoon.
Ultimately, don’t be that person who hasn’t seen the film with the second biggest opening of all time. Go see it and enjoy. Now for those of us who have seen it or are horrible people who don’t care about the story of a film…
Spoiler Alert!
How much does Iron Man lore matter to you? Are you a longtime fan of the classics and call him Shell Head? Do you have a deeper relationship and call him Tony? Do the racist caricatures of the first issues even bother you anymore? Is Mandarin to you what Joker is to a Bat-fan-boy? How would you feel if he didn’t exist?
In Iron Man 3, you find out that Mandarin is just a front for Killian (Pearce). Mandarin is really a character made up by Killian and portrayed by Trevor Slattery, a drugged out actor who’s down on his luck and paid to fool the citizens of America into thinking the explosions across the country are the act of a terrorist, not the Extremis baddies. And fan-boys thought Mandarin’s lack of supernatural abilities would be hard to cope with.
This might sound like an amazing turn of events, but some comicbook loyalists were disappointed. Not only was their favorite villain not a super-powered Chinaman, but he wasn’t even a villain. This is the equivalent of Batman grabbing the Joker, only Joker has no make-up, no smile (or scars, for you Nolanites), and is afraid. Most movie-goers, however, didn’t care due to Mandarin’s second tier status.
This is the biggest incongruence throughout the film but is far from the only one. In it, Iron Patriot is Rhodey’s suit and is named by the government. In the comics, Norman Osborn, Spidey’s nemesis, creates the Iron Patriot persona.
You’ll notice Happy watching Downton Abbey a couple times in the film. There is a reason. Happy is watching romantic scenes between a rich man’s chauffer and maid. In the comics, Pepper doesn’t get with Stark. Her squeeze is Happy (which doesn’t surprise us, considering Tony’s narcissism, alcoholism, and vigilantism).
Even after all of these differences between source and film, Iron Man 3 still stands out as one of the best superhero films. It takes the time to recognize the fact that a comic can’t just be put on film nor can it just ignore the stories of the comics. The trilogy was handled well and won’t be forgotten.
Now the questions arise: Will there be a sequel? Will Robert Downey, Jr., return? Will he return for Avengers 2? Who could replace him?