Movie Review: Iron Man 3

When it comes to the Marvel trilogy series (Iron Man, Captain America and Thor so far) there is always one that fans put right in the middle. In the case of Iron Man the third edition, released in 2013, I was somewhat disappointed. Don’t get me wrong the movie has its moments, but a majority of it had me going “What were they thinking?” As always spoilers will be ahead. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

After the first Avengers film Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) has been having panic attacks, thinking about the invasion, battle and his brief space experience. Not getting any sleep Tony begins building dozens of Iron Man suits; putting a strain on his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Meanwhile a mysterious string of bombings are taking place all over the world, and someone calling himself The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is taking the credit for it; however intelligence agencies are confused as to how he and his group are making their bombs as there is absolutely no forensic evidence. After his friend Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is attacked in the latest bombing Tony issues a threat to the Mandarin despite pleas from Pepper and a visit from scientist (and ex-girlfriend) Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall). The Mandarin sends gun helicopters to Tony’s house and destroys it; Hansen and Potts manage to get away as does Tony in another suit, but they are separated in the attack. J.A.R.V.I.S (Paul Bettany) directs the suit Tony is wearing to a rural part of Tennessee. Tony, and a 10 year old boy named Harley (Ty Simpkins), discovers that the bombings are not actual bombs but are soldiers part of an experiment gone horribly wrong. The experiment is called Extremis which is supposed to heal crippling injuries but instead turns the person into an unstable walking time bomb. Tony also discovers, along with Harley and best friend Rhodey (Don Cheadle), that the Mandarin is not who he appears to be (HUGE disappointment here but more on that later), and the person behind it is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pierce); a man from Tony’s past, who wants him to fix Extremis; and gives Tony the proper motivation to stop him. I probably shouldn’t say anymore without giving away the rest of the film.

I said earlier the film disappointed me, and I’m going to give you the reason why. Those familiar with the Iron Man comic books know that the Mandarin is probably Tony’s biggest and most powerful villain ever. I was expecting a big fight between the two based on the trailers, but what happened had me, as well as probably everyone else, annoyed was what they did to the Mandarin. Ben Kingsley’s character was an actor hired to pretend to be the Mandarin by Killian and he had no idea what those films were doing to people. I cannot even begin to tell you how many times my eyes rolled during the film when it was revealed; this was definitely a plot twist no one liked.

However other than the bad plot twist Iron Man 3 still had great moments. Downy Jr. was as always fantastic as Tony, Paltrow in my opinion was at her best (as far as these films go) as Pepper particularly at the end of the film, Cheadle was great as Rhodey and Favreau did well as Happy. Despite the bad plot twist Kingsley was good as the Mandarin films (after not so much), Hall was interesting to watch as Hansen, Simpkins wasn’t bad as Harley (although I admit not seeing him in anything after kinda rendered him a little obsolete) and Guy Pierce was a pretty decent bad guy as Killian (not the worst villain in the MCU but far from the best.) I loved the action in the movie, definitely the last 30-40 minutes with the plane and the big collection of the Iron Man suits; definitely worth the watch. The writing could have been better in a few places (you know where so I’m not gonna rant). Overall the third Iron Man film was a somewhat decent conclusion to the Iron Man movies. I won’t say no if someone were to ask me “Should I watch Iron Man 3?”, but I will say prepare for action and just a smidgen of disappointment.

Movie Review: Iron Man 2

With a small change in cast, new characters and a better villain than the first one, Iron Man 2 proved to be just as successful as the first one. Released in 2010, the sequel to Iron Man showed another side of Tony Stark and we got to see the debut of characters, or new actors, we have come to love over the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Spoilers ahead as usual. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

After announcing to the world he is Iron Man, Tony (Robert Downey Jr.) refuses to give in to government pressure to sell his suit or tech, despite encouragement from his best friend James “Rhodey” Rhodes (now played by Don Cheadle). However what the world, Rhodey or even new Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) doesn’t know is the palladium core in the arch keeping Tony alive is also slowly killing him. Deciding “well I’m gonna die” Tony becomes more reckless (aka really stupid), and it may soon cost him. While competing at the Monaco Historic Gran Prix Tony is attacked by a man named Ivan Vanko aka Whiplash (Mickey Rourke) whose father has a history with Tony’s dad, with electric whips, not caring who gets in his way. Tony manages to defeat Vanko, not without damage to his suit, but Vanko later escapes thanks to Tony’s business rival Justin Hammer (Sam Rockwell), to make suits that would put Tony’s to shame; Vanko agrees to continue his revenge on Tony. Rhodey eventually gets his hands on one of the suits for the government (after a very good fight with Tony) but soon realizes what they have planned for it. Meanwhile Stark meets with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) and the agent assigned to him under the guise of his new PA Natalie Rushman, now known as Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlet Johansson) and they basically give him a wake-up call along with some information about his father that may reverse what is happening to Tony. When Tony realizes Vanko’s plan he teams up with Rhodey to stop him, along with Romanoff, bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Pepper and of course J.A.R.V.I.S. (Paul Bettany) to save the world once again.

Now I will admit I did not like the sequel as much as I did the first one, but I still enjoyed it. Robert Downy Jr. is still amazing as Tony, even when I was annoyed with him (I get the man was dying but did he have to be such a jerk about it). Gwyneth is still great as Pepper as she and Tony constantly bickered which made the scene where they finally got together all the more satisfying. I will admit part of me will always be curious what would have happened if Terrance Howard continued with the franchise, but I think Don Cheadle is fantastic as Rhodey. Mickey Rourke is a great actor and I did enjoy him as Vanko, a man whose only goal is revenge against Tony, he is actually more intimidating when he doesn’t talk but that’s just my opinion. When I heard Black Widow would be making her debut in here I was thrilled to hear it would be Scarlet Johansson, and was even more impressed when I saw her on the screen; seriously can we get this woman a stand-alone movie already? Samuel L. Jackson is so perfect as Nick Fury; I actually cannot imagine anyone else playing the part. Writing might have been better in a few places, visual effects were just as awesome; overall Iron Man 2 was a pretty good follow up to the first one. If you haven’t seen the sequel I would recommend it especially if you are just getting into the Marvel Cinematic universe, but if superheroes are not your thing than no.

Movie Review: Avengers: Infinity War

The latest movie in the Marvel Cinematic universe honestly left me with more questions than answers. It took me four days before I finally watched the movie, and somehow I managed to avoid spoilers so my friend and I were left in total shock and awe. I think my head is still wrapping around what I saw. As this is still in theaters at the date of this blog I am going to be as careful as possible, but just in case spoiler alert. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

After nearly six years Thanos (Josh Brolin) has finally emerged to collect the six Infinity stones (power, space, reality, soul, time and mind). However if he thinks it is going to be easy he has a big fight ahead of him. In his way are members of the broken up Avengers: in New York the recently engaged to Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downy Jr.), Bruce Banner aka the Hulk (Mark Ruffalo) after he crash landed on Earth, Peter Parker aka Spider-Man (Tom Holland) and Stephan Strange aka Dr. Strange (Benedict Cumberbatch), along with his assistant Wong (Benedict Wong). They end up taking their fight with some of Thanos’s children into space, expect for Banner who manages to contact a few friends: Steve Rogers aka Captain America (Chris Evans), Natasha Romanoff aka Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson), Sam Wilson aka Falcon (Anthony Mackie), Wanda Maximoff aka Scarlet Witch (Elizabeth Olson) and Vision (Paul Bettany). After they realize what Thanos is after and one of the stones happens to be in Vision’s head this section of the Avengers, along with James “Rhodey” Rhodes aka War Machine (Don Cheadle) travels to the nation of Wakanda to find a way to safely remove and destroy the stone. They get some help with King T’Challa aka Black Panther (Chadwick Boseman), Okoye (Danai Gurira), Shuri (Letitia White) M’Baku (Winston Duke) and Bucky Barnes aka Winter Soldier/White Wolf (Sebastian Stan). Meanwhile out in space Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Loki (Tom Hiddelston) and Heimdall (Idris Elba) have an encounter with Thanos that leaves many dead, but help soon arrives in the form of The Guardians of the Galaxy: Peter Quill aka Star Lord (Chris Pratt), Gamora (Zoe Saldana), Drax (Dave Bautista), Groot (Vin Diesel), Rocket (Bradley Cooper) and Mantis (Pom Klementieff). About as far as I should go without spoiling the movie, but as always stay until the very end.

Infinity War is a very good superhero movie. Everyone is at their absolute best in this movie, the writing and special effects were so good and overall this is an absolute must watch if you are a superhero fan. Obviously there are a few films you have to watch before you get to this film, but this is something I had to remind myself at the end of the movie: this is only part 1, part 2 is coming out next year. I know a story came out from the producers saying that nothing is going to get fixed, but I am almost positive they are just teasing. I promise you guys will love Infinity Wars.

Movie Review: Iron Man

While this was not the first Marvel film released it was the first in what we now call the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Released in 2008 and directed by Jon Favreau, Iron Man help launch not only a very successful franchise (I know understatement of the century), but it also help revitalize an actors career. In case you haven’t seen this movie, spoiler alert. I DO NOT OWN THE PICTURE.

Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is many things (in his own words from another movie: genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist) heads to Afghanistan along with his best friend Lieutenant Colonial James Rhodes aka Rhodey (Terrence Howard) to showcase the latest weapon by Stark Industries, which Tony inherited from his father, called the Jericho missile. Shortly after the demonstration Tony’s car is ambushed, troops killed and he is captured as well as wounded by a terrorist group known as The Ten Rings led by Raza (Faran Tahir). Much to Tony’s horror he saw the group using his own weapons involved in the capture. He would have died if not for fellow captive Yinsen (Shaun Toub) implanting an electromagnet inside Tony’s chest preventing the shards from going into his heart. Raza wants both of them to build a Jericho missile promising to let them go, however Tony and Yinsen know he will not keep his word and plot to escape. They build an electric generator calling it arch reactor to power a suit, but are discovered. Yinsen sacrifices himself for Tony to complete the suit and Tony avenges his death by blowing up the compound of weapons. Tony finds his way to Rhodey and they get back home where Tony makes a public announcement that Stark industries will no longer sell weapons despite his father’s partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) protests that it will ruin the company. Tony makes a new sleek suit with a more powerful reactor in his chest, along with the help of his assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), but insists on keeping the work for himself. Tony soon discovers Stane has been selling weapons behind his back for years and wants to replace him as the CEO of Stark industries. Tony, along with Rhodey, Pepper, his personal AI system J.A.R.V.I.S (Paul Bettany) and an agent from S.H.I.E.L.D Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) are not gonna let him get away with that plan. While I probably should not say anymore in case of spoilers the last scene with Tony stating “I am Iron Man” is one of my favorite moments in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, as well as the special after credit scene with Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson).

Just like that one of the biggest franchises kicked off and I could not think of a better movie to do it. While Robert Downy Jr. had many successful films after he become sober, he hadn’t really achieved blockbuster status until Iron Man. I had heard of others up for the part of Tony Stark, but watching the movie it is hard to picture anyone other than Downey Jr. playing that character. I enjoyed Terrence Howard as Rhodey and was somewhat disappointed he had a falling out with Marvel (however I have no problem with Don Cheadle for the rest of the franchise). I love Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts the woman who basically ran Tony’s life, the chemistry between Paltrow and Downey Jr.is awesome. Bridges is not the most memorable villain in the Marvel universe, but I thought he did a great job as the psychotic Stane. I also became a fan of Clark Gregg as Phil Coulson, although if you had told me just how big this character would become I may not have believed you. The writing and action were fantastic, and I know there were special effects but it was almost hard to tell where the effects were. I am so thankful the movie did well otherwise we would not have so many of the hottest stars and movies out there today. If you are interested in the Marvel Cinematic Universe you have to start with Iron Man.