Iron Man 3 is exciting, funny, thrilling and a great possible end to the character
Iron Man 3 could be the capstone of a great trilogy of movies, or merely a brief pause before moving on to the next (hopefully excellent) adventure of Tony Stark. The way the movie ends, I'd be okay if the character wasn't used again. But it also leaves it open for the story to continue.
As long as any further movies are good, I'd be open to that too.
But First, the Story
As the movie starts (after a brief flashback to 1999 where we get a blink-and-you'll-miss-him glimpse of still-alive Yinsen in Switzerland), Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is having difficulty sleeping.
After the events of The Avengers, what with the alien invasion and his near death, he's finding that he is having a hard time controlling his panic reflex and can't truly relax. His girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) has moved in with him and that seems to help, but not enough.
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Meanwhile, a mysterious and ruthless man that goes by the name "the Mandarin" (Ben Kingsley) appears to be behind a series of bombings around the United States, Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle) is kicking it in the spotlight as the newly repainted and rechristened Iron Patriot, and a former acquaintance of Pepper's, Aldritch Killian (Guy Pearce) comes to Stark Industries representing a think-tank of his own. There's an attack on Tony's house, some very fun use of his suits (yes, suits) and some surprising personal growth for our hero.
Iron Man 3 Trailer
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The first thing I would point out is that while the first two movies featured villains and final confrontations with technological creations that were basically dark reflections of Tony and his own technology, this time around, Tony finds himself faced with a purely biological enemy. A very different type of enemy.
And you will be kept guessing quite a lot. I'm not particularly versed in what happens with all of these characters in the comics, but many of you might be surprised with a number the rather interesting twists of both plot and character.
The script—by Shane Black (who also directed) and Drew Pearce—has clearly been written by people who understand the genre and play with the audience's expectations. The final battle scene, for instance, is filled with moments that feel like big, dramatic buildups for heroic moments. Some of them play out perfectly. Others are torn away at the last moment to play with your expectations.
But in a fun way.
In fact, I would be willing to say that this will probably be known as the funniest action movie of 2013. And it's only May. The action is still top notch. But there is seriously so much humor in this one and it all works together.
And it adds up to a great movie to round out the trilogy nicely. They could retire the Iron Man character at this point and I'd hardly complain at all. I know you're probably saying "Oh, but James, if the movie is good and does great business, why should they end there? And three isn't a round number at all!"
Well, first off, what makes you think my name is James? And success should not be the only determination of whether to continue a franchise or not. With this movie, Tony Stark comes to the end of a very personal journey, and I don't feel the character absolutely needs to be featured in any more movies. But I wouldn't say no to any movie that has a truly good idea for where to send him.
And seriously, who told you my name was James? Did Steve tell you that?
Oh, and the 3D conversion of this movie is well-done, but the movie doesn't really take advantage of the format as well as it could. I'd suggest a 2D showing unless you seriously want 3D.
But what do you think?
Personally, I think I prefer the previous two just a tad more (though I don't quite understand those who really didn't like Iron Man 2), but this one is definitely a solid 7 / 10.
Iron Man 3 is rated PG-13 for plenty of sci-fi action violence (pretty bloodless), a bit of brief sensuality and just a little bit of language.
