Directed By: Shane Black
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gywenth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kinglsey and Guy Pierce
What It’s About: Tony Stark/Iron Man hunts down an international terrorist known as The Mandarin.
Rated PG-13 (for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content)
Runtime: 130 minutes
By Aaron Sanders, Diversions Editor
The proclaimed beginning of “Phase 2” of the Marvel Cinematic Universe kicks off with a whimper with Iron Man 3. While not entirely “bad,” Iron Man’s latest adventure feels off.
The genius billionaire playboy philanthropist Tony Stark has lost his spark, so to speak, after the events of The Avengers and is struggling to maintain his composure in a world that he is no longer confident he can protect. After a cheesy opening flashback sequence, we are reunited with Stark as he is testing out his new suit, the Mark 42 (yes, 42), which attaches itself to Tony Stark by sending its pieces flying through open space. Now, cue a detached introduction of Iron Man’s iconic arch-nemesis, The Mandarin (Ben Kinglsey), in the form of an over-edited video package. After delivering a televised threat to the Mandarin in response to a bombing that injured his friend Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Tony Stark is shell-shocked and decimated by the Mandarin’s assault on his Malibu home. Stripped of his gadgets and presumed dead, Tony Stark attempts to take down the Mandarin armed only with his bare wits (which turns out to not be as fun to watch as it sounds).
Lethal Weapon screenwriter Shane Black’s attempts at injecting some humanity into the Iron Man saga are stressed, but accomplish their goals, for the most part. For instance, as a result of the alien invasion in New York, Tony Stark has periodic anxiety attacks that come off as absurd on-screen. Not that having a vulnerable Tony Stark is a turn-off, but his “anxiety attacks” feel frivolous and not as crippling as one would believe.
Unless you live in another universe, you have undoubtedly heard something concerning the “big twist.” I will not describe it here, but I will say the criticism is deserved and at the same time undeserved. On one hand, Marvel is well aware of the fan service their passionate fans expect of them and they do deliver (Thanos in the post-credits scene of The Avengers). But on the other hand, Marvel has the right and an obligation to exceed or divert from those expectations. I personally wasn’t as enraged as some other fans, but I did feel a tad silly when a character turned up not being who I thought he was.
Not unlike The Dark Knight Rises, the “Iron Man” time is lacking. Tony Stark is physically in his suit for only 25 to 30 minutes out of the nearly two-and-a-half-hour runtime. Those other two hours are spent growing Tony Stark as a much different man from the one we first met in that jeep in Afghanistan. The metamorphosis of Tony Stark from egotistical persona to an actual superhero
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is impressive and serves as a sound point against all those pious DC/Batman fan boys. Excuse me, I digress.
Overall, Iron Man 3 is missing that familiar, rebellious aura of the first film. Perhaps it’s the absence of the AC/DC soundtrack. Or maybe that was the intention all along. Phase 2 of the Marvel Cinematic Universe is here. And it’s different.
Courtesy of www.aceshowbiz.com