002. Review - Iron Man 3

Marvel

Five years ago Marvel Studios officially stepped into the movie-making game with Iron Man, the first film in what would later become known as the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The film not only brought to life one of the company’s flagship characters in an action-packed yet surprisingly complex movie, but also shot the once-languishing Robert Downey Jr. back into orbit, turning him from a forgotten Hollywood punch line into one of the world’s biggest stars.  Fast forward five years and four movies later and Marvel, now owned by the Walt Disney Company, effectively holds dominion over the superhero genre, with a memorable cast of heroes and villains, a plethora of different writers and directors at the helm, and one of the highest-grossing films of all time in 2012’s The Avengers.  With Phase One now complete we begin Phase Two, appropriately enough, with Iron Man 3.

Tony Stark is now a changed man in the wake of Loki’s assault on New York City, struggling to come to grips with the events of that day while still being the person that both the public and his love Pepper Potts needs.  In the midst of this existential crisis comes the grandstanding Mandarin, a cloaked terrorist aiming to destroy America and its greatest hero.  The film is essentially Stark’s fight on two fronts, with the terrorizing physical threat of the Mandarin and the pressing mental danger of Tony’s own deep-seated demons.

As per usual, Robert Downey Jr. turns in a quick-witted and sardonic performance as genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist Tony Stark; it’s arguably the role that he was born to play and, after this film, perhaps one that no one else ever could.  The vulnerability that was buried under layers of snark during the first two films has fully surfaced here, represented in nightmares and panic attacks, and RDJ plays those scenes with a marvelous sense of confusion and anxiety.  The transformation doesn’t feel abrupt, either, but like the natural progression in the character’s arc, something that has been building up over the course of three films; it’s his realization that, for all his wealth and charm and toys, he’s still just a man doing his best to protect what he has left.  The middle third of the film essentially has Stark alone, stranded in a distant town with only his ingenuity and a local boy to help him, and it’s here that we get both the best and worst of the character, that witty self-effacing sense of humor and that debilitating question of how he’s going to survive in a post-Avengers world.  It’s at the conclusion of the trilogy that the best work is put in by Stark and RDJ, the culmination serving as their finest hours.    

Returning players Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle play their parts as Pepper Potts and Colonel James Rhodes well, but although they are given their respective moments to shine, their characters unfortunately seem flat and ineffectual in the face of Tony Stark.  The two have always gotten the rough end of the stick in the Iron Man franchise, but their treatment here is still better than the previous installment.  New villains Aldrich Killian, played by a snidely smirking Guy Pearce, and the aforementioned Mandarin, played with aplomb by Sir Ben Kingsley, are a welcome addition to Iron Man 3.  The Mandarin in particular has been Iron Man’s arch-enemy in the comics for decades, a Chinese scientist-sorcerer with ten magical rings of power; while what character we’re given isn’t exactly what we’ve seen in the comics, it’s still an innovative way to integrate the figure into the Marvel films.  Combined, Killian and the Mandarin add an interesting dynamic to the film by deconstructing the notion of post-9/11 terror, resulting in an evil plot that holds real-world relevance while still being absolutely insane.

Just as Joss Whedon’s fast-paced dialogue and sharply-developed characters are all over The Avengers, director Shane Black’s whip-smart humor and penchant for action sequences is clearly evident throughout Iron Man 3.  Stark has always been one of the quippiest of Marvel characters, but it’s still surprising just how hilarious the film turns out to be, cranking out great one-liners and impeccable comedic timing better than some straight out comedies. Moreover, third installments have such a tendency to fall into that pit of dourness (see Spider-Man 3, The Dark Knight Rises) that it’s refreshing to see a threequel that has an honest sense of lightness and fun. The quick-witted and self-referential humor here is highly reminiscent of the other Black-Downey Jr. combo, 2005’s action-comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

Speaking of which, the action here is much more evocative of older films than it is of the edit-heavy action of today, giving us scenes that are both exciting and easy to follow, with all of those explosive Iron Man visuals intact.  In fact, one could wander into the introduction of the climactic set piece, with a suitless Stark and Rhodes facing off against the Mandarin’s goons on a massive oil rig, and swear that he or she’d time travelled back to a 90’s buddy cop film.  Overall, it’s that mixture of old school sensibility and new school effects that gives the movie its extra punch.

Iron Man 3 is more than a worthy follow-up to The Avengers, a brash, bouncing, and even moving blockbuster that serves as the perfect finale for Robert Downey Jr.’s Tony Stark.  It’s safe to say that, after the trilogy plus The Avengers, there are few comic book heroes as fully realized in film as Iron Man. The successive journey that we’ve gone on with the character has had explosive highs and embarrassing lows, but altogether has delivered an iconic character played by a now-iconic actor.  The film’s ending leaves the future of Stark and Iron Man up in the air, as does RDJ’s talk that one can only keep the superhero gig up for so long.  Even still, all three figures are now forever linked together, and I for one cannot wait to see where their story is headed next.

Grade: A-