Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Guy Pearce
Director: Shane Black
Country: USA
Genre: Action | Sci-Fi | Thriller
Official Trailer: Here
Editor’s Notes: Iron Man 3 opens today, May 3rd. For an alternative take, see David’s review.
When it comes to trilogies, especially on the big screen, the third time’s usually not the charm. Just look at last summer’s The Dark Knight Rises for the most recent example of an underwhelming final chapter in a commercially successful, critically acclaimed trilogy. After a disappointing second entry in the Iron Man series, Jon Favreau left for other, presumably greener pastures (Cowboys & Aliens) while writer-director Shane Black (The Last Boy Scout, Lethal Weapon), Robert Downey, Jr.’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang collaborator, stepped in not only to revise Drew Pearce’s script, but also to direct his first big-budget, comic-book superhero/action film. Although Marvel made a similar decision when it entrusted Iron Man to the relatively untested Favreau six years ago, it was a risky decision then and now.
Although Marvel made a similar decision when it entrusted Iron Man to the relatively untested Favreau six years ago, it was a risky decision then and now.
Iron Man 3 might be the first (and likely, last) film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) to open with noir-influenced voiceover narration, courtesy of a ruminative Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) and, of course, Black’s obvious affinity for film noir. The voiceover narration suggests Stark looking back on key events in his life from a relatively safe position (i.e., he’s alive), but the ultimate pay-off – and there is a payoff – feels like a weak punchline to a particularly weak set-up. Just as feebly, Iron Man 3 outs one of its central villains, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a limping, long-haired, bespectacled tech geek with bad skin and even worse teeth, in the opening scene. He’s basically a stumbling, talking caricature, there for Stark’s and, by extension, the audience’s condescending amusement.
Killian, the founder of Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), a not-quite well-funded think tank with an unspecified agenda, wants Stark, still in his me-first, womanizing phase, to join forces (and brains) to accomplish something or other. Stark takes one look at Killian and sends him to the roof, where a gullible Killian waits as fireworks ring in the new year and Stark romances, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), a super-smart scientist just as eager to ally herself with Stark and his billions. Of course, Stark has only one thing on his mind and it’s not science. Stark’s rejection of Killian and his objectified use of Hansen unsurprisingly results in trouble for the reformed, present-day Stark.
The Stark we meet in the present has lost some of his mojo, due, we’re told, to the events depicted in last summer’s The Avengers. Stark seems to be suffering from a mild version of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). He can’t sleep and he suffers from panic attacks. Encountering Norse gods, aliens of the outer space kind, and almost losing your life in a supreme act of self-sacrifice will do that to you, if by “you,” we mean a billionaire inventor and philanthropist with a genius IQ in the Marvel universe. While Stark’s significant other, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) runs Stark Industries, going as far as fending off a present-day Killian (minus the bad skin, bad teeth, and limp) at one point, Stark hides out in his man-cave, obsessively building new Iron Man armor and experimenting with remote controlling the armor.
Iron Man 3 has more problems than just its hit-or-miss attempts at humor or pandering to preteen moviegoers (unnecessary given the success of Iron Man 1-2).
As expected, those Iron Man suits and the remote control plot angle will pay off later in the film, but before we get to that finale, Stark has to be taken down to a low point (though nothing like Bruce Wayne in The Dark Knight Rises). He as to lose everything – and by everything we mean access to his Iron Man armor – before he can made whole again (or something to that unoriginal effect). A new villain, the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), has appeared on the scene. A terrorist by (vague) intent and iconography, the Mandarin initially targets the U.S. president, Ellis (William Sadler). Stark’s old friend and sometime rival, James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), attempts to warn Stark against pursuing the Mandarin, but a typically stubborn Stark persists. Counter to Iron Man 2 where Nick Fury’s (Samuel L. Jackson) presence signaled the attempt to connect Iron Man into the larger MCU, Fury, S.H.I.E.L.D., and the rest of the Avengers are nowhere to be found (S.H.I.E.L.D. gets a one-line mention).
While Rhodes and his alter ago, War Machine, newly re-branded as the Iron Patriot, ineffectively pursues the Mandarin, Stark’s former driver and right-hand man, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), stumbles into a plot that leaves him seriously injured and an angry, desperate Stark foolishly challenging the Mandarin. It’s not a spoiler to say that the Mandarin responds, leaving Stark alone and without the Iron Man armor at his disposal, forcing him to Iron Man I mode (i.e., using anything and everything he can find to fight back). For reasons only Black and Disney executives can answer, Iron Man 3 segues into a buddy comedy, with Stark begrudgingly befriending a preteen, Harley (Ty Simpkins), before reuniting with Rhodes for the MCU version of a Lethal Weapon-inspired buddy-cop comedy-drama, sadly minus most of the humor that made Black’s first claim to fame a genre classic.
Iron Man 3 has more problems than just its hit-or-miss attempts at humor or pandering to preteen moviegoers (unnecessary given the success of Iron Man 1-2). Loose, meandering plotting and a non-compelling, poorly motivated central villain and another villain turned into the punchline of a joke without a set-up, borderline obnoxious product placement, and a chaotically directed dockyard finale the opposite of the penultimate set piece (a thrillingly choreographed mid-air rescue). That finale feels studio mandated, an obvious effort to include as many Iron Man toys to the series fans as possible. Iron Man 3 ends with a counter-intuitive denouement likely to be undone by The Avengers sequel, which in turn makes almost everything preceding that denouement superfluous.
Related Posts
Review: Iron Man 3 (2012)
Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)
Review: Love Is All You Need (2012)
Review: Generation Um… (2012)
Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)
