Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3/Paramount/Rated PG-13/130 min./Dir. by Shane Black

In 2008, when the cinematic world was first introduced to Tony Stark in Jon Favreau's "Iron Man", he was a revelation, especially as performed by Robert Downey Jr.  Unlike almost every other superhero Stark was deeply, deeply flawed.  Brilliant, but profoundly arrogant, Stark could've been almost impossible for an audience to relate to, but Downey Jr. gave him such a sly and surprisingly self-depreciating sense of humor that he was not only easy to root for, but surprisingly easy to relate to.  While few of us are genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropists, we are all flawed and most of us try to do the right thing even when it's difficult and so did Stark.

However, in "Iron Man 3", we find Tony Stark a changed man.  After the events in "The Avengers" he's anxious and suffering from insomnia.  Like many brilliant people, he channels his sleeplessness into his work and, as a result, has made more Iron Man suits.  More and more Iron Man suits.  42 to be exact (of course, he only owns up to about 14 in order to downplay his loosening grip on reality).

Unfortunately, he is unable to address his problems directly because of a new threat on the country, a mysterious and publicly flamboyant terrorist known simply as The Mandarin (brilliantly played by Ben Kingsley).  With a disregard for human life and a talent for hijacking the countries airwaves, The Mandarin begins a campaign or destruction that looks to have an end game targeted on the President himself.

Also in the mix are a couple scientists from Stark's past, an idea man named Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and a brilliant biological engineer (don't call her a botanist), Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall).  Conveniently, Killian also has a past with Stark's main squeeze Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), which makes for some romantic tensions throughout the film.

To get too much more involved in plot description would rob the story of some of it's surprises and there are a few.  Suffice it to say that much of the plot involves standard comic book topics (villainous manipulation of DNA, the man behind the mask exploration of a superhero, the "save the innocent or save the girl" dilemma), however "Iron Man 3" approaches these well-known tropes with a fresh sense of humor and a firm sense of character

One of the most impressive things about the way Marvel has approached its "Avengers" films is that it recognizes that each of these characters actually belong to different genres and, therefore, should have directors and writers with a talent and passion for those genres, but grounded in character.  "Iron Man" was a modern action-comedy about a billionaire playboy, so they brought in Jon Favreau, the man behind the male-centric bromance "Swingers".  "Thor" needed a sense of old-school grandeur, so they brought in the modern-master of Shakespeare, Kenneth Brannagh.  "Captain America" was a WWII action epic with a tinge of sci-fi, so they brought in Joe Johnston, the man that directed the WWII action epic with a tinge of sci-fi  "The Rocketeer".  Now with "Iron Man 3", they have a story that feels like an 80's-style action movie, so who better to bring in than Shane Black, the man who wrote "Lethal Weapon" and re-juvenated Robert Downey Jr.'s career with the indy-comedy "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".  Black shines here, both as director, and as co-writer.  The dialogue has all of the machismo humor you could hope for, with many of the lines sounding like they would be equally at home coming from Mel Gibson's Martin Riggs character from "Lethal Weapon".

"Iron Man 3" also has a couple of the best set pieces yet from a Marvel movie.  The rescue attempt on Air Force One is dizzying and easily the best use of 3D in the movie and the attack on Stark's Malibu mansion (some of which is spotlighted in the trailers) is quite impressive.

There have been rumors that this may be Iron Man's final stand-alone film (although Downey Jr. is a confirmed part of the cast for 2015's "The Avengers 2"), and that would be a bit of a shame.  Not that I would want too much of a good thing, but I'm very curious to see where Tony Stark's character goes from here.  "Iron Man 3" leaves him a much more evolved character and I would very much enjoy seeing his character in another adventure with his new sense of purpose and character.  For now though, it's a trip seeing him get there.

In regards to the 3D, if you enjoy 3D movies, you'll enjoy this, but it's certainly not necessary in the way it was for "Avatar" or "Life of Pi".  If you see it in 2D, you won't miss anything.

Grade: A-