![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
philosoraptor42
Iron Man 3 (2013)
Before I start going into my review here, I feel that I need to provide some perspective. Let's note first that the hype has been absolutely INSANE ever since Joss Whedon released "Avengers Assemble" (that's the title on all the versions released over here and yes, you shall continue to share my pain). Let's also remember that "Iron Man 2" was somewhat compromised so that the Iron Man franchise could be used to tie together the various other Marvel superheroes.
Now let's backtrack all the way to the first 'Marvel Studios' movie. Naturally I am referring to "Iron Man". In that year the two big superhero movies were "Iron Man" and "The Dark Knight" and the big appeal of "Iron Man" was that Robert Downey Jr's character was completely different from Nolan's cold and brooding hero. "The Dark Knight" was serious and angsty, but "Iron Man" was light-hearted and fun.
Now let's backtrack a little further to Robert Downey Jr's career prior to "Iron Man". RDJ had a part in Fincher's "Zodiac" which, like the whole of that movie, I've completely forgotten. He also had a small but sweet role in Clooney's "Good Night And Good Luck" and a relatively big role in Linklater's "A Scanner Darkly". However, RDJ wasn't really on the radar much at all until he starred in Shane Black's "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
"Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" was exciting and hilarious and pretty much set the tone for RDJ's role as Tony Stark in "Iron Man". "Iron Man" may have rocketed him into super-stardom, but it was "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which put him firmly back on the map and really made that possible.
"Iron Man" has been known from the beginning as a franchise that is based around fun and humour. Heck, that's arguably true of all seven Mavel Studios movies, particularly "Avengers Assemble". The Marvel movies are ALL about the jokes. And now Shane Black has co-written a script that is hilarious and all we're really missing is Val Kilmer. (For those who haven't seen "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", Val Kilmer is frikkin' hilarious in that movie and you should really check it out. You don't know what you are missing.)
Some reactions I'm hearing to Iron Man 3 don't seem to think it should have been quite so focussed on humour and punchlines. I say no, Iron Man has ALWAYS been about humour and punchlines. Some have said that the director doesn't understand the character. I say no, Shane Black as good as created this character. Iron Man would not have appeared on the big screen in the way he did without Shane Black.
I think the biggest thing I worried about going into "Iron Man 3" was Ben Kingsley. The trailer showed him playing a pretty cliched villain and his track record for picking out movies to work on is really not great. Ever heard of "Suspect Zero" as anything other than a title on a DVD box? Me neither. Kingsley did the Uwe Boll movie "BloodRayne", he was in Mike Myers' "The Love Guru" and he was in "Prince of Persia: Sands Of Time". He is really not fussy about his projects and I was really worried that he simply wouldn't take "Iron Man 3" seriously. Still, I shouldn't have worried. Ben Kingsley is brilliant here and you can rest assured that you can look forward to Kinglsey at his best.
One thing I didn't know which might have concerned me too is that there's a child actor who shows up in this movie. Child actors are often HORRIBLE. It's not said enough that Newt, the little girl in the movie "Aliens", was irritating as hell. It never ceases to surprise me when I hear that people were not relieved when Newt was killed off in the opening to "Alien 3". (Sure, it was shocking, but it was also a relief.) Thankfully, the kid in "Iron Man 3" is both well cast and plays a reasonably small role in the film. There are some seriously funny lines exchanged between RDJ and this child actor.
The problems with "Iron Man 3" are pretty similar to problems with the original "Iron Man" and "Avengers Assemble". One issue is that there are points where events just happen for the sake of it. At one point Tony Stark is looking into the background of the bad guy and the villains happen to turn up in the same place. Why are they there? While they had their reasons, the villains are mainly there at the same time out of pure coincidence. Which is fine, if a little overly convenient for the plot. Still it's not really any different from when Tony Stark's business partner suddenly decides to make some drastic moves towards the end of "Iron man" or when Hawkeye's possession is neatly stopped through a quick blow to the head. We don't worry about the little details sometimes because we are so caught up with the story and, perhaps more importantly, the humour.
Another issue was the central maguffin um... 'fire people'. I mean seriously, these people's clothes should be going up in smoke (though I suppose the fire is in their arms and their chest rather than actually touching clothes most of the time... and people who haven't seen the movie yet are getting seriously confused now, right?) Okay so the Marvel movies now feature gods from outer space, so we need to accept that things are going to get borderline supernatural. There's some explanation involving 'genetic manipulation' and we're supposed to leave it there. But seriously, DNA that gives you fire powers? Really?
Perhaps my biggest issue was with the way things turned into a big fight towards the end. I suppose when you need to end something like this you need the big explosions at the end. You need the payoff. Iron Man 3 makes sure you know when the payoff comes. There's plenty of exciting moments all the way through the movie and I must say, I think some of the earlier set-pieces rather out-do the final battle sequence. Still, it's ALL a lot of fun.
In fact, just in case you were in any doubt as to how much fun you had, the final credits re-cap the whole thing in a grindhouse style credits sequence. It was really awesome and really had me wondering what kind of Marvel movie Robert Rodriguez might make (after all, it's not too long before we see what Edgar Wright decides to do with the Marvel property "Ant-Man").
In between this 'final battle sequence' and those neat end credits, "Iron Man 3" really treats this like the end of a trilogy. A lot of things are tied up without always spending a lot of time on them. It seems that this is perhaps what has upset several of my friends on LJ the most. However, in the end we still get the final message "I am Iron Man" and I was happy with the way things wrapped up.
Before I finish, I should definitely point out that Don Cheadle is used a lot better in the role of Roadie here than he was in Iron Man 2.
Personally I'd say that this was definitely the best "Iron Man" movie and arguably the best Marvel Studios movie. In the end this is going to depend on your taste in humour. When it comes to comedy, tastes can vary dramatically. When it comes to movies, what you laugh at is a much more personal thing than what kind of stories or visuals you prefer. Personally, I was laughing a lot more in "Iron Man 3" than I did in "Avengers Assemble" and there is no doubt that both of them are laying on the punchlines.
As such, for me, "Iron Man 3" is the very best of the 'Marvel Studio' movies so far. Yet ironically it seems like "Thor 2" (of all franchises? Really?) might be about to give us the more serious and brooding counter-part to the ever sweet and cheerful fun of the Iron Man series. (Then again, didn't Iron Man 3's first trailer seem brooding and serious too?)
At this stage in the year (and we've got a long way to go), the best movie I've seen in cinemas over 2013 has been "Stoker". "Iron Man 3" hasn't been the one to knock that off the top spot. But as an action comedy, "Iron Man 3" is absolutely superb.
A+
Ranking the Marvel Studios movies:
7. Captain America: The Last Avenger
I was seriously disappointed with this one. The characters felt flat, the action sequences were unengaging, and I was far too aware that Captain America's bright blue and red costume was ridiculously poorly suited to the stealth mission he was inexplicably pulling off by the end. In the end, I think this movie was taking itself far too seriously. It was a campy scenario and yet the movie decided to play it straight. I felt that was a mistake.
(My review of Captain America here)
6. The Incredible Hulk
I really liked Edward Norton as Bruce Banner, but unfortunately I pretty much disliked everything else. Tim Roth was remarkably flat in his role, since I know that he can do a lot better. Perhaps the biggest problem was that I was actually really bored whenever the Hulk turned up. That OUGHT to be the point when things get exciting, but the Hulk just felt so unrelated to Ed Norton's character in his body language and behaviour that I couldn't really stay interested during those sections.
4=. Iron Man 2 / Thor
Iron Man 2 and Thor were both fairly insubstantial fluffy fun movies. I should note that Johanssen's Black Widow character gets a more exciting action scene in "Iron Man 2" than we ever see in "Thor", and Mickey Rourke is an excellent baddie too. Still, I think "Thor" is perhaps the more fun overall.
(My review of Iron Man 2 here)
(My review of Thor here)
3. Iron Man
The film that started the run of successful Marvel Studios movies. RDJ gives his performance as Tony Stark for the first time and it's still a very fun little movie.
2. Avengers Assemble
Somehow managing to bring together several superheroes from different movies into one story. Joss Whedon's excellent knack for comedy ensures that we get some great interactions between them. Of course, we'd seen multiple heroes interact before in the "X Men" movies, but never quite so successfully as they do here. The way the plot resolves around a 'end of the world' maguffin with a *yawn* big battle scene, meant I liked the second half (that battle scene takes a LONG time) a lot less than the first half. In the end, the best bits of Avengers Assemble didn't involve any action sequences at all. But the character interactions were what kept the movie going and there was a lot of good humour to make it all work.
(My review of Avengers Assemble here)
1. Iron Man 3
Yeah you've just read the review, but let's compare this to the other movies in the Marvel Studios series:
- Great action scenes which genuinely made me say "wow". I think that's probably a first.
- Consistently hilarious throughout. Not exactly the first, but probably the most successful at keeping the jokes coming.
- Includes a child actor without irritating me. (Yeah okay, that's the first child actor to be included. But I think it deserves a mention.)
I'm mostly giving Iron Man 3 the top spot for its humour and when we consider the beginnings of this whole movie series, that feels appropriate to me.
