We are very lucky people here at the Red Shirt Crew. We get to read comics and watch movies and play games and call it work. But I feel like I’m about the luckiest person in the world right now because since I’ve been studying in the United Kingdom I not only got to see Iron Man 3 a week before it’s United States opening, I went to see it in IMAX 3D. And call it work. I promise no spoilers, but I have plenty to comment on anyways.
Iron Man 3 follows Tony Stark through the aftermath of the Avengers movie. He’s an atheist who has not only fought a god, but fought him alongside a god. He’s seen that magic, in some form, is real, despite his life and entire world revolving around science and technology. He always saw himself as indestructible and yet he almost died. So here we see something we’ve never seen before: a weak Iron Man. He has panic attacks and PTSD from his adventures with the Avengers. He relies on his Iron Man suit as a big metallic safety blanket, hiding away inside it when the world starts to get to him. He dives into trying to build more and better suits, never satisfied, always seeing flaws and corrections that need making.
Tony is, however, still Tony at his core and so he fights this the same way he approaches every other conflict in his life: with humor. Despite the rough place Stark finds himself in, or rather in reaction to where he is, he cuts up and cracks jokes even more than usual through this movie. It’s obviously action, but Iron Man 3 comes very close to needing a comedy label as well. Robert Downey Jr. isn’t the only one laughing it up in this film- there are some great one liners from much of the cast, including Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle who reprise their roles as Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, respectively.
I must say, Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin does an amazing job. My fear was another Chris Evans Human Torch/Captain America event where I kept thinking to myself “Flame on!” through the entire Captain America film because I connected Evans and superheroes to the Fantastic Four movies, just as I attach Kingsley to the Vizier from the Prince of Persia film as a villain (I have no idea why I attached them to crap movies, it just happened). He plays the part beautifully and I could not have asked for a better performance.
Now, I can’t escape the point of having seen it in 3D. I’m not a fan of 3D because it invites the director to play with gimmicky angles and panning shots that draw the eye uncomfortably to the screen’s edge where it then awkwardly drops into oblivion. Shane Black thankfully avoids both of these, and the 3D effect is put to particularly marvelous use in scenes that use holograms. The combination of 3D and CGI in some shots creates a blurred effect that loses some of the realism of the CGI, but otherwise this is one of 3D technology’s better uses.
(Semi-spoilers: it’s from the trailer. Skip this next paragraph if you don’t even want to know about that)
The one thing that I have to complain about is the fight scene, teased in trailers, in which an army of Iron Men arrive to fight together. It’s too hectic and busy between CGI and special effects. It really comes across as deciding to just spend any and all money left over in one scene. It supposedly has 42 Iron Men soaring around, plus Tony, Rhodes, Pepper, and bad guys, but the movie only gives us good shots of about a half dozen of them fighting. The whole thing would have been much more manageable and possibly more dramatic with about twelve of them instead of more than thrice that.
(End semi-spoilers)
All in all, a very good film. Funny, entertaining, action packed. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but you may want to consider seeing it in 3D. It may well be one of the only movies where it will actually be worth the extra bucks.
Matthew Bryant, aka Baker Street Holmes, is an editor for the Red Shirt Crew and huge Marvel fan. Some people have speculated that Iron Man will follow the three movies and you’re out scheme, and while this is definitely a trilogy closer, it is no the end of Iron Man. You can follow Matthew on Twitter at @BSteetHolmes or e-mail him at HMCrazySS.gmail.com.
The Red Shirt Crew Blog and Podcast Network 