'Iron Man 3' Movie Review

 Iron Man 3 Movie Review       

BY IAN TAN

‘Marvel’s Iron Man 3’ marks the Armored Avenger’s fourth outing to the big screen, this time without his other superhero buddies by his side. Jon Favreau takes a back seat to the executive producer’s chair while Shane Black steps in to take directorial duties. So, is Marvel’s third installment to its most successful franchise able to impress after the epic scale and scope Joss Whedon provided us with his superhero team-up extravaganza, ‘The Avengers’?

As a Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) fan, I would have to say it’s a yes. ‘Iron Man 3’ boasts a number of action and character beats that rival even ‘The Avengers’, which indicates that Marvel is certainly improving with each continuing movie (It’s only ‘Iron Man 2’ that upsets this pattern). This movie is probably the most character driven film of all the Marvel movies, putting Tony Stark out of his comfort zone and into the outside world where even his suits are not able to help him. In fact, bulk of the movie features Robert Downey Jr. outside the iconic suit.

A new threat in the form of The Mandarin instills terror within fellow Americans as well as Tony Stark himself by interrupting live telecasts to reveal himself to the world, and to inform everyone, even the president, that no one is safe and that “we’ll neverr see him commingg…” Also to be cautious with is Tony Stark’s biggest nerd fan turned suave and professional scientist/businessman Aldrich Killian, whose proposal of the Extremis project is given a no-go by now CEO of Stark Industries, Pepper Potts. The stakes are definitely much higher now for our steel-plated hero… (It is in fact steel, not iron, as mentioned by Tony Stark himself towards the end of the first ‘Iron Man’.)

The film is filled with impressive performances all round, with new faces joining the series such as Guy Pierce and Ben Kingsley offering memorable performances as their respective characters. Pepper Potts is given more to do this time as well, having a chance to get physical and join in on the action instead of merely being stressed out and over-protective over Tony. The only player here that seems a little out of place is Rebecca Hall’s Maya Hansen, whose motives tend to change here and there as the story progresses, and results in a rather undeveloped, confused character which the movie could have probably done without.

The story, on the other hand, has much more threads to follow than the franchise’s previous entries and is coupled with some totally unexpected twists and turns to certain story arcs and characters that, to some, might be a well-thought out piece of scriptwriting and storytelling, but a complete disgrace to the original depths given to certain characters and story mythos from the comic books. Nonetheless, the villain of ‘Iron Man 3’ is probably the most dislikable of all the Marvel villains to date, which is a goodie for fans craving for a more grounded but well developed antagonist we can all love to hate.

Marvel also owes kudos to director Shane Black for setting up a number of impressive, exhilarating action set pieces that are at times, mind-blowingly cool. Compared to Marvel’s other ‘solo-hero’ films, ‘Iron Man 3’ offers the most action and use of digital CGI effects. The visuals here are arguably the best among the three ‘Iron Man’ movies, with an array of automated suits each built with its own special functions and abilities to take on an army of baddies. The latest suit Tony has built for himself- the Mark 42 suit, which attaches to Tony piece by piece like magnets is without a doubt the coolest thing he has ever built.

This movie is also given not just a 3D release, but an IMAX 3D one as well. The unfortunate news is that neither version truly adds anything ‘more’ to the film. Much like ‘G.I. Joe: Retaliation’, the 3D only works for one scene in particular, one where Iron Man catches passengers being blown out of Air Force One and landing them safely. (A spectacularly crafted action sequence, nonetheless.) The action in the finale happens at such rapid speeds that, in 3D, the eye isn’t able to catch up with the ongoing action, creating a sense of confusion and dizziness more than hyper-realistic immersion. It is a little sad, looking at how concepts such as the flying armor of the Mark 42 suit as well as the destruction of Stark’s mansion (as featured in trailers) and flying scenes in general would have benefitted from the 3D, if only it had been given a better 3D conversion. A 2D screening of this film would probably leave you a more satisfied movie-goer. J

That aside, it’s still the character story that counts, and that Marvel does better here than in the film’s slightly disappointing predecessor, ‘Iron Man 2’. With an interesting story, good character progression and development topped with some standout action sequences, including new and sometimes menacing villains, ‘Marvel’s Iron Man 3’ is a fun, thrilling action film that, in my opinion, is Marvel’s second best movie to date (the best being ‘The Avengers’, of course), and a great start to the 2^nd phase of Marvel movies to come. Now all we have to do is wait until October, where we return to Asgard once again to join The God of Thunder in the sequel to ‘Thor’… Bring on the hammer!

7.8 out of 10 stars.