The Man of Iron is back and this time he doesn't have a Gamma Radiated Hulk, a Super Soldier, nor SHIELD to save him.
Iron Man 3 has now hit theatres and this time the threat hits right at home.
Mind you, this review is full of SPOILERS for the movie and if you have not seen the new instalment then I would advise for you to come back after; but for all you others who have seen the movie, then stay tuned:
Iron Man 3 is the first instalment of Marvel's Phase 2 project, which shall consist of Captain America: The Winter Soldier, Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and to end it, The Avenger 2; and what better way to begin the next stage than with the Armoured Avenger himself: IRON MAN.
Though Shane Black may have presented the best story for Tony Stark on a personal level, that doesn't necessarily mean that there aren't some major flaws that Die-Hard Fans will find rather disappointing and frankly quite idiotic.
All the previous MCU Movies have stories which show how this Universe is realistic, except for the Avengers which broadened the possibilities for Marvel movies. We now know that the movies can be fantasy like and this is exactly what Iron Man 3 has accomplished. This shows how the Universe is evolving and that anything can happen.
The Exremis Super soldiers, the fight scenes and even the new technology shows just how fantastical this world is getting and they did it without rushing right into it and that is what everyone who has worked on the movies should be proud of.
The movie begins with Tony Stark explaining how you 'create your own Demons' and that is exactly what the movie is about. How Tony Stark created his own enemies.
At the beginning it goes back in time to 1999, to show the loveable, Playboy, Stark used to be at a New Years Eve party alongside Maya Hansen, the founder of Extremis, who he had rebuffed, causing demon no. 1, alongside rejecting disabled scientist, Aldrich Killian, creating demon no. 2. Stark's cockiness from a decade ago almost caused the death of him.
The Extremis was intended for it to allow its host to recover from crippling injuries, through regeneration. Though this was a success, it also granted them the unexpected ability to breathe fire?!
Tony may not have the Avengers to aid him in his quest, but he does have his best buddy, James Rhodes, the turned War Machine, turned Iron Patriot.
I really enjoyed how we managed to see more of Rhodey fighting alongside Tony, in and out of the suit. It had a sort of classic 'buddy cop' vibe to it, which emphasised the strong bond of friendship.
All I can say about Rhodey in this movie is that he was bad bottom. I found that his performance was one of the highlights of the whole film.
Though I did enjoy him in the film and he was great in and out of the suit, I would have preferred to see him more in the final battle with him wearing his suit and not seeing him so almost 'powerless' against the Extremis soldiers, even though he did manage to hold himself pretty well.
In this film, Tony and Peppers relationship has been almost demolished, obliterated, as if someone came up a blew up an Arc Reactor and all thanks to the New York battle, which took place in The Avengers.
After Tony was caught unprepared against Loki, he spends nearly every night doing what he knows best: tinkering; and in the few months between the battle against Loki and the Chitauri, and the Mandarin's attacks, Tony has not only made one or a few more suits but 42, with the forty second being the most bad bottom.
The suits cause a wall between Tony and Pepper, and Pepper definitely doesn't approve... who'd have thought?
Now... I find The Mandarin to be Iron Man's most fearsome foe and I was quite looking forward to this interpretation from the trailers and information the actors and cast members were giving out; but then the spoilers and major information about the character starting rolling in, and frankly I was pretty disappointed.
From the beginning the Mandarin was very menacing and was exactly how I imagined he would be in real life. A terrorist with no remorse, no code of conduct and is full of secrets; but then you get to the middle of the story when Tony goes to infiltrate his headquarters in Miami and that's when the fans started screaming at the screens... we learn that the Mandarin who had been sending intimidating and frankly quite scary messages to the Government was nothing more than a drunk British actor, who had no idea that the people he was working for were really killing people. That twist right there is what ruined the movie for me and I could not enjoy the rest at all.
I was expecting big things from the Mandarin in this movie and they just ruined it for me.
The last battle was fun and exciting. Tony and Rhodey fought side by side, which was very appealing to movie goers and comic book fans alike, as we don't see much of them fighting together (except for the Iron Man 2 end fight); but then the unthinkable happens... as Rhodes and Tony talk about how they need back-up as they are outnumbered in the battle against the Extremis soldiers, a faint whooshing sound can be heard from a distance... 41 suits came out of nowhere. All being different shapes and size, with different functions. The audience, including myself were very excited about the battle yet to come. The battle was fun and the action was pleasing, but only for a short amount of time. We didn't see much of all the functions the suits could do and to top it off, half of the suits were destroyed!
Robert Downey JR mentioned how he had a talk with the writers and producers of the movie about how he thought that Gwyneth Paltrow should do a little more as Pepper and did they answer his request? They definitely did. Pepper turns from the damsel in distress, who Tony has to constantly save, to a butt-kicking damsel who is doing the saving. During the clash at 10880 Malibu point (give thanks to Tony Stark for giving out that information to the press) Tony saves Pepper, for her to save him, therefor we finally found her wearing an Iron Man suit! Save number two was in the final battle, where she was infected with Extremis and kills the Master mind behind the whole plan and the true Mandarin (not to us comic book fans and some movie goers), Aldrich Killian.
Once the fight between the suits and the Extremis soldiers is over, Tony commenced a protocol called 'the Clean-slate', which caused every single suit to explode, making a pretty disappointing fireworks display; to show Tony's commitment to Pepper.
To top that off, Tony takes the shrapnel out of his chest, including the arc reactor saying that no matter what, he is Iron Man. Though it pains me to say it, I think the writers were trying to insult our intelligence. Are you telling me that Tony couldn't have gone through the operation at the beginning of his journey and further more, what was really the point?
Overall, I was pretty disappointed with this movie. Although the acting was superb, the story was not the best it could be. The action scenes we fun and exciting and some of the plot points was very reminiscent of Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises, especially how the journey is more about the man inside the suit, than on the outside.
Up until the huge twist with Mandarin, I was really enjoying the film and I can certainly speak for everyone in the theatre when I say that after the twist, it was pretty difficult to enjoy the movie.
The movie slightly failed story-wise, but succeeded with the comedic side.
Putting aside the major hiccups within the film, it was fun and a great way to begin Phase 2.
I rate this movie a 7.5/10
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