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.