Iron Man Three
(2013 review)

4 outta 5

The thing with Marvel’s The Avengers was that it was an uber-superhero movie that blew the genre wide open by being 6 superhero flicks. Iron Man 3 is singular but ambitious since this is kind of indie action thriller with flying robot suits.  At times the movie’s determination to strip Iron Man out makes it seem more like a successor to star Robert Downey Jr. and writer/director Shane Black’s Kiss Kiss Bang Bang as the middle portion of the film has a distinctly noir influenced detective vibe.  While the odd moment may ramble on this delivers the requisite spectacle for the superhero genre with its own unique spin.

Billionaire genius inventor philanthropist Tony Stark (Downey) is also the super-suited hero Iron Man but lately he is obsessively tinkering with more elaborate armour designs.  This is in contrast to the other genius inventor, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who is creating bio-regenerating super-humans, calling his invention the Extremis virus. The USA is currently under attack from a grand-standing terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), and a victim of one strike is Tony’s old friend, Hogan (Jon Favreau, director of the first two Iron Man reprising his role to much comedic effect).  Tony wants revenge against Mandarin but is promptly kicked around in a spectacular action sequence that sees Tony’s mansion fall to pieces and Tony stripped of his armour. With the help of his super-suited friend Rhodes aka the Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle) Tony tracks down the Mandarin but things get more complicated involving Killian, Tony’s girlfriend Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), and a former romantic conquest of Tony and fellow scientist, Maya (Rebecca Hall).       

Considering at one point the attacks stretch all the way to the President of the United States one may wonder why the heck Avengers aren’t being assembled and the flick doesn’t give an answer for that.  On the flipside it’s true to the comic book source because various superheroes are often off on single-fought crusades and don’t go crying to the Avengers when things get tough. Actually this is more of a sequel to Avengers than in Iron Man 2.  A character mentions how a “big guy with a hammer fell out of the sky” which changed global perspective overnight and Favreau’s Hogan complains “The world’s getting weird, Tony!” Stark is a frayed nerve, suffering from panic attacks by having his perspective flipped upside down dealing with Gods and space aliens. There’s also really fun post-credits sequence which features a Marvel movie alum cameo and shows who Tony is narrating the movie’s story to.

Downey’s voice-over narration is one of the quirks of Black’s style that feels similar to Bang Bang.  Like that movie, it’s set at Christmas, sometimes the parade of oddball supporting characters get a bit wearying such as a helpful ten year old or an over enthusiastic Stark fan, and for a significant chunk of the movie Tony is beat up, piecing together clues while packing hidden weapons.  There are also a lot of very funny dialogue exchanges making this probably the wittiest movie in the Iron Man series.  Parts when the Mandarin broadcasts his messages of terror get exceptionally dark and the super-powered Extremis assassins are freaky.  All of the Iron Man movies have talked about the messy relationship with the military industrial complex and terrorism and this one further blurs the line between the guys who seemingly have power and the ones pulling the strings. 

The action is fairly eye-popping like a long sequence set on Air Force One that throws people out of a plane with Iron Man having to save them all at once.  This bit features an unexpected punch-line which pulls the rug out from underneath the viewer.  The movie’s climax is a fantastic battle as Tony jumps in and out of various Iron Man suits.  Sometimes action scenes can be fairly straightforward affairs but Black is constantly throwing twists and having things go wrong for our hero.

Downey Jr. has turned Stark into one the most iconic action heroes and in this flick we get to see Tony frazzled more than he’s been.  His sidekick, Rhodes, gets in banter even though they’re separated for most of the movie.  Paltrow’s chemistry with Downey is solid and Pepper manages to grow beyond the usual kidnap bait.  As the Mandarin, Kingsley has a menacing baritone vocal delivery and when we see the character pop up later Kingsley channels a different side that is really fun.  Pearce is decked out as a pure 1980s action-movie villain, white suit, slicked back hair, steely gaze, and he gets more interesting as the flick unrolls.  A fairly wasted character is Hall’s scientist who seems to be a big deal then turns out to be fairly worthless to the story. 

If there is a downside to Iron Man Three (as the end credits call it) it sometimes doesn’t know what type of movie it is. It also doesn’t help that the 3D is superfluous.  However, it is one of the more stylistic entries into the Marvel Cinematic Universe and the twists will keep you engaged and entertained.  If this is Tony Stark’s last starring role, this is a great note to go out on.