"Iron Man" - directed by Shane Black
If any movie has ever had a tougher act to follow I don't know which it is.
"Iron Man 3" is the first solo character out of the gate after the phenomenally successful and equally popular "The Avengers".
You may recall that that little movie powered to a 1.5 billion dollar box office haul last year and still sits as the third highest earning movie of all time after "Avatar" and "Titanic"
It's difficult enough to follow the third highest box office champ but to make matters worse "Iron Man 3" has only one hero to throw around and no inter-dimensional mutant army battles up its sleeve.
And of course the last standalone Iron Man movie was not very good at all.
But Tony Stark and his metal alter ego are strong characters and selecting ace screenwriter Shane Black to write and direct the third movie was a good start.
Black was 22 when his script for "Lethal Weapon" was sold for $250,000 and he subsequently wrote "The Long Kiss Goodnight", "The Last Boy Scout" and "The Last Action Hero" amongst others.
He had acting roles in "Predator" and "As Good As It Gets" and wrote and directed the truly wonderful "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
Black is known for his brilliantly paced, high octane action scripts with huge dollops of humour scattered throughout.
There is definitely a unique style to his work.
Whereas Quentin Tarantino has a foot fetish, Black has a thing for Christmas with pretty much all of his films being set around this time.
"Iron Man 3" is no exception although the yuletide spirit is less obvious than normal.
After the near death experience at the end of "The Avengers" Tony Stark is having difficulties.
Sleep is a problem and he is finding the normality of life without aliens to beat up a tad on the dull side.
At least he has Pepper Potts in his life still.
Clearly she is the most valuable aspect.
He even tells her this very early in the piece.
From the moment that the villainous Mandarin appears threatening America in the familiar terrorist approved videotape fashion we know that his affection for Pepper will be used against him.
The Mandarin is a brutal man who thinks nothing of executing a high ranking oil executive on live TV.
But there's a twist with this villain and all is not as it may seem.
Throw in a second level of villainy in the form of a super smarmy Aldrich Killian (nice work from Guy Pearce) and the plot reveals itself.
Sort of.
This is a film of many deceptions and not all of them are welcome.
The dynamic between The Mandarin and Killian might have seemed clever on the page but on screen it feels like a cheat.
An amusing and somewhat clever one admittedly but there is something unsatisfying about it.
Likewise the apparent deaths of a couple of characters followed quickly by their resurrections are cheap.
Shane Black can do better than this - it is weak writing.
To be fair he is not the only writer so perhaps the odd lapse is not necessarily his.
I was reminded of a line from Black's own "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" where Robert Downey Jr's narrator pokes fun at "The Hunt For Red October" having a shot of the cook. He notes that it is such an obvious shot that 'I wonder if that will be important later?'
Well to that I would say to "Iron Man 3" - doctor at party in Switzerland.
As director Black acquits himself nicely and seems very comfortable with the large budget required to bring this stuff to life.
The action scenes are perfectly fine but there is little of the fun or spectacle of "The Avengers".
The shadow of Whedon's blockbuster falls all over "Iron Man 3".
It's an unfair comparison but an unavoidable one.
"The Avengers" was big, BIG stuff and "Iron Man 3" can't keep up.
It will be interesting to see how "Thor: The Dark World" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" fare in this regard.
In its defence, "Iron Man 3" is going for more of a character study than an epic action movie and there is no denying that it has some success here.
The friendship between Rhodes (War Machine), Happy and Tony is developed further and the relationship between Stark and Pepper has never felt more like a 'real' love affair than it does here.
Perhaps it is the familiarity with the characters and between the actors but mostly it is some smart writing choices that focus on this aspect.
In production terms it is hard to fault "Iron Man 3".
Master cinematographer John Toll does typically brilliant work and the wizards at WETA Digital are unsurprisingly in fine form too.
The 3D is a fifty-fifty call and adds very little to the film. Certainly there is never a "Oh, wow" coming at you moment and the depth of the frame is only moderately augmented with the 3D.
Robert Downey Junior turns in what is arguably his best performance in the role and there is solid support from Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley (who is clearly having a hell of a time here).
Gwyneth Paltrow looks ridiculously good - all toned and tanned and sleek.
Anyone who doubts her beauty will be well and truly put to rights watching the climax of "Iron Man 3".
If you found her cutoff denim shorts scene in "The Avengers" appealing you ain't seen nothing yet!
The other noteworthy female appearance is Rebecca Hall - so good in "The Town" and "Frost Nixon". She is given little to do but does it well enough regardless.
Characters are juggled quite well aside from a couple given scant screentime to the point of being really redundant.
But of course this is the Tony Stark show and that is exactly how it should be.
I am a little puzzled by the relative lack of Iron Man appearances though.
Perhaps the biggest trick that this film pulls is that it isn't so much an Iron Man movie as it is a Tony Stark movie.
There is a distinct lack of in-suit time.
On the occasions when Stark suits up it is brief and often he is only partially armour clad.
He swaps between a dizzying array of suit variants too.
The overall effect is to render the suit a prop much in the same way that a gun is to Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of his action films.
Stark just picks up whatever tool he needs to perform the take-down or rescue that he needs to before dropping it unceremoniously.
He ditches suit variants like Arnie dropping a spent AK-47.
So, yes - this is a movie about Tony Stark the flesh and blood man.
The conclusion could be considered brave in the way that it permanently alters established canon but closer inspection reveals that the effect will be barely noticeable and in fact hasn't been for at least two movies featuring the character.
If I sound vaguely disappointed it's because in truth I am.
Weight of expectation after "The Avengers" aside I was expecting big things from Shane Black.
There are a few of the zinger lines that he is known for but not as many or as good as I had hoped.
The action doesn't excite and amaze in the ways that we have come to expect from this series and indeed from Marvel properties on the whole.
It is still very good action in the action stakes- maybe we have just been spoiled of late in this regard.
A second viewing might remove some of my doubts and there is one booked for tomorrow but for the time being for me at least "Iron Man 3" is very good, not great.
It is without doubt a strong entry in the Marvel Studio's output so far and of course should be seen and on the big screen.
And yes- there is an after end credits bonus scene and it is goofy and fun.
"Iron Man 3" is the first solo character out of the gate after the phenomenally successful and equally popular "The Avengers".
You may recall that that little movie powered to a 1.5 billion dollar box office haul last year and still sits as the third highest earning movie of all time after "Avatar" and "Titanic"
It's difficult enough to follow the third highest box office champ but to make matters worse "Iron Man 3" has only one hero to throw around and no inter-dimensional mutant army battles up its sleeve.
And of course the last standalone Iron Man movie was not very good at all.
But Tony Stark and his metal alter ego are strong characters and selecting ace screenwriter Shane Black to write and direct the third movie was a good start.
Black was 22 when his script for "Lethal Weapon" was sold for $250,000 and he subsequently wrote "The Long Kiss Goodnight", "The Last Boy Scout" and "The Last Action Hero" amongst others.
He had acting roles in "Predator" and "As Good As It Gets" and wrote and directed the truly wonderful "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang".
Black is known for his brilliantly paced, high octane action scripts with huge dollops of humour scattered throughout.
There is definitely a unique style to his work.
Whereas Quentin Tarantino has a foot fetish, Black has a thing for Christmas with pretty much all of his films being set around this time.
"Iron Man 3" is no exception although the yuletide spirit is less obvious than normal.
Sleep is a problem and he is finding the normality of life without aliens to beat up a tad on the dull side.
At least he has Pepper Potts in his life still.
Clearly she is the most valuable aspect.
He even tells her this very early in the piece.
From the moment that the villainous Mandarin appears threatening America in the familiar terrorist approved videotape fashion we know that his affection for Pepper will be used against him.
The Mandarin is a brutal man who thinks nothing of executing a high ranking oil executive on live TV.
But there's a twist with this villain and all is not as it may seem.
Throw in a second level of villainy in the form of a super smarmy Aldrich Killian (nice work from Guy Pearce) and the plot reveals itself.
Sort of.
This is a film of many deceptions and not all of them are welcome.
The dynamic between The Mandarin and Killian might have seemed clever on the page but on screen it feels like a cheat.
An amusing and somewhat clever one admittedly but there is something unsatisfying about it.
Likewise the apparent deaths of a couple of characters followed quickly by their resurrections are cheap.
Shane Black can do better than this - it is weak writing.
To be fair he is not the only writer so perhaps the odd lapse is not necessarily his.
I was reminded of a line from Black's own "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" where Robert Downey Jr's narrator pokes fun at "The Hunt For Red October" having a shot of the cook. He notes that it is such an obvious shot that 'I wonder if that will be important later?'
Well to that I would say to "Iron Man 3" - doctor at party in Switzerland.
As director Black acquits himself nicely and seems very comfortable with the large budget required to bring this stuff to life.
The action scenes are perfectly fine but there is little of the fun or spectacle of "The Avengers".
The shadow of Whedon's blockbuster falls all over "Iron Man 3".
It's an unfair comparison but an unavoidable one.
It will be interesting to see how "Thor: The Dark World" and "Captain America: The Winter Soldier" fare in this regard.
In its defence, "Iron Man 3" is going for more of a character study than an epic action movie and there is no denying that it has some success here.
The friendship between Rhodes (War Machine), Happy and Tony is developed further and the relationship between Stark and Pepper has never felt more like a 'real' love affair than it does here.
Perhaps it is the familiarity with the characters and between the actors but mostly it is some smart writing choices that focus on this aspect.
In production terms it is hard to fault "Iron Man 3".
Master cinematographer John Toll does typically brilliant work and the wizards at WETA Digital are unsurprisingly in fine form too.
The 3D is a fifty-fifty call and adds very little to the film. Certainly there is never a "Oh, wow" coming at you moment and the depth of the frame is only moderately augmented with the 3D.
Robert Downey Junior turns in what is arguably his best performance in the role and there is solid support from Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley (who is clearly having a hell of a time here).Gwyneth Paltrow looks ridiculously good - all toned and tanned and sleek.
Anyone who doubts her beauty will be well and truly put to rights watching the climax of "Iron Man 3".
If you found her cutoff denim shorts scene in "The Avengers" appealing you ain't seen nothing yet!
The other noteworthy female appearance is Rebecca Hall - so good in "The Town" and "Frost Nixon". She is given little to do but does it well enough regardless.
Characters are juggled quite well aside from a couple given scant screentime to the point of being really redundant.
But of course this is the Tony Stark show and that is exactly how it should be.
I am a little puzzled by the relative lack of Iron Man appearances though.
Perhaps the biggest trick that this film pulls is that it isn't so much an Iron Man movie as it is a Tony Stark movie.
There is a distinct lack of in-suit time.
On the occasions when Stark suits up it is brief and often he is only partially armour clad.
He swaps between a dizzying array of suit variants too.
The overall effect is to render the suit a prop much in the same way that a gun is to Arnold Schwarzenegger in any of his action films.
Stark just picks up whatever tool he needs to perform the take-down or rescue that he needs to before dropping it unceremoniously.
He ditches suit variants like Arnie dropping a spent AK-47.
So, yes - this is a movie about Tony Stark the flesh and blood man.
The conclusion could be considered brave in the way that it permanently alters established canon but closer inspection reveals that the effect will be barely noticeable and in fact hasn't been for at least two movies featuring the character.
If I sound vaguely disappointed it's because in truth I am.
Weight of expectation after "The Avengers" aside I was expecting big things from Shane Black.
There are a few of the zinger lines that he is known for but not as many or as good as I had hoped.
The action doesn't excite and amaze in the ways that we have come to expect from this series and indeed from Marvel properties on the whole.
It is still very good action in the action stakes- maybe we have just been spoiled of late in this regard.
A second viewing might remove some of my doubts and there is one booked for tomorrow but for the time being for me at least "Iron Man 3" is very good, not great.
It is without doubt a strong entry in the Marvel Studio's output so far and of course should be seen and on the big screen.
And yes- there is an after end credits bonus scene and it is goofy and fun.
| Rated | M for fantasy violence |
| Running Time: | 131 minutes (1hr 59mins without end credits |
| (Stay for an after credits sequence lasting about a minute) |
| Starring: |
| Robert Downey Jr | --- Tony Stark / Iron Man |
| Don Cheadle | --- James Rhodes / War Machine |
| Gwyneth Paltrow | --- Pepper Potts |
| Ben Kingsley | --- The Mandarin |
| Guy Pearce | --- Aldrich Killian |
| Rebecca Hall | --- Maya Hansen |
| Paul Bettany | --- Jarvis (voice) |
| Jon Favreau | --- Happy Hogan |
| Stephanie Szostak | --- Ellen Brandt |
| William Sadler | --- Sal Kennedy |
| James Badge Dale | --- Eric Savin |
| Yvonne Zima | --- Miss Elkridge |
| Bingbing Fan | --- Dr Wu's Wife |
Good review! I totally agree. While it is certainly enjoyable next to Avengers it is poor.
ReplyDeleteThanks again Erik. Hate to keep comparing it to The Avengers but I found it hard not to.
ReplyDeleteSecond viewing was better for me but to me it is the second best Iron Movie after the first one - certainly way better than number 2.
Have you seen it a second time or will you be?
No I haven't. i might watch it again when it is out on DVD.
Delete