Iron Man 3 Review

Iron Man 3 is a well-paced, kick ass action movie based on one of the most acclaimed storylines ever in Iron Man’s mythos. It is partially for that reason however that I must say it is the most frustratingly disappointing comic book movie of 2013 so far.

What They Say:
Tony Stark uses his ingenuity to fight those who destroyed his private world and soon goes up against his most powerful enemy yet: the Mandarin.

The Review:
It starts off promisingly enough with a flashback to a certain conference Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) and Professor Yinsen (the man who helped him build the armor and heart magnet) referenced in the first movie.  It’s 1999 and Stark is about to bed a scientist named Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) , who wants to show him some new biotechnology she’s developed. En route to this rendezvous however, a misshapen man named Aldritch Killian (Guy Pearce) attempts to talk with him about his new organization Advanced Idea Mechanics, but Stark tells him to go to the roof where they can talk privately. Needless to say however, Stark has other things on his mind…

Flash forward to present day, in which a terrorist called The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) has been attacking various American targets. The President (William Sadler) announces plans to send Col. Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle) in his newly re-christened Iron Patriot armor (which marketing said tested well with kids) to deal with the threat. We find Rhodes having lunch with Stark, whom the government doesn’t want dealing with the Mandarin’s threats. Rhodes is partly in agreement on this as he’s worried about Stark’s health. Stark of course denies this… just before he has an anxiety attack.

Stark Industries meanwhile is functioning normally with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) running things and Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) adjusting to his new role as security head. Pepper has a visitor whom Happy instantly is suspicious of. He calls Stark who has retreated to his lab to work on a new invention. It turns out he’s been doing this a lot since the New York Avengers incident, which has caused Stark sleepless nights  and a severe case of postwar traumatic stress disorder. This is a problem that resonates throughout the movie, even as several plans are enacted against him and everything he holds dear.

Stark’s efforts to fight everything and regain his sense of normalcy are pretty entertaining to watch. Writer / director Shane Black excels in putting Stark through some serious stuff. The action is brutal initially and well-paced with humor and drama interwoven nicely. Black adapted elements of the graphic novel “Iron Man: Extremis” by Warren Ellis and these augment the dangers Stark faces on a personal level. The action is also fast-paced and hard-hitting with some excellent effects work. Also, Black shows the same amount of appreciation he has for the Christmas holidays that he had when writing the script for the original Lethal Weapon movie. Every character gets to shine in the process as eyecatches from various Iron Man lore are utilized. In many respects, this is one heck of an action movie, much better than Iron Man 2 in terms of focus and development.

However, there is a story twist that occurs about 2/3 into the film that truly brings the story down and is very disappointing to see. As a long time fan of Iron Man, it was disheartening to see the story take this direction. We’re living in era of great super-hero movies being produced with the spirit of these characters remaining intact in the process. So in this respect, it’s not a satisfying Iron Man movie and doesn’t get to the level of the first film which kicked off Marvel’s Phase One storylines. The movie will do well at the box office and likely entertain folks wanting to see Robert Downey Jr. do what he does best. He does excel here as Stark gets put through some intense hell emotionally and physically and has to be resourceful enough to put himself back together stronger than ever. However, there are many comic fans who will not like what happens here and may want to see Black run afoul of an alien Predator (which he did in the original Schwarzenegger movie).

I don’t want to be entirely doom and gloom here while writing out my thoughts, though. Iron Man 3 really is a kick ass film, but.. I feel like I just had a date with Molotov Cocktease; it was a heck of an experience but not the one I was wanting when I saw what was in front of me.

Grade: B-