Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 takes place some time after the Avengers Movie and the events of New York. Events that have left Tony Stark shaken and prone to panic attacks. That has put a strain on his relationship with girlfriend Pepper Potts. Tony Stark has made some major improvements to his suit, but when terrorist threat in the form of the unknown "Mandarin" injures someone close to him, Iron Man seeks revenge. His problems get worse when he is forced to go back to basics and the terrorist plot takes an interesting turn.

Cast

Robert Downey Jr. - Tony Stark
Gwyneth Paltrow -  Pepper Potts
Don Cheadle  -    Colonel James Rhodes
Guy Pearce -   Aldrich Killian
Rebecca Hall -   Maya Hansen
Jon Favreau -   Happy Hogan
Ben Kingsley -   The Mandarin

Who will like this movie

This is not your kids comic book movie. Geared to an older crowd, it's not for the fans that likes the fast paced action of the previous Iron Man and Avengers movies. But if you're looking for a correlation to a comic book movie, this has a similarity to the Christopher Nolan Batman trilogy of the past few years. Shane Black who took the director chair from Jon Favereau on this one describes it as "more of a Tom Clancy Thriller" than the previous movies.

Phantom Thoughts

     They said it would be different, and they were right. I have to admit, I was not aware that Jon Favreau was not directing this one. (Maybe he spent too much time buying up all the Twinkies he could when he heard Hostess was going out of business? Someone get that guy a diet coke, for Christ sake!) As much as I love the movies and try to read up on what's coming down the pipe, I don't always get the info on everything. Which is a good thing, as I'm not a big fan of major spoilers. (Yes, I know I have given a few on this blog. Irony?) Look, one of the reasons that the Batman Trilogy worked so well was that they were able to keep the same director and (for the most part) all the major players throughout the arc. It's not the only reason, but a big part of it. So while doing my research after seeing the movie and seeing things like "they wanted to do something different", I understood why I didn't like this one as much. I'm all for not re-hashing the same movie over and over again (Hangover 2, anyone?) But you can't ignore what got you there. After 3 successful movies, you have to give the people what they have come to see. For me, that didn't happen.

     I'm also not saying they made a bad decision in trying something different. Hell, I liked what they were trying to do. I don't think it was executed right. While Shane Black admittedly took tips and advice from Favreau, it wasn't enough. After the larger than life Avengers took on aliens from another dimension, Tony Stark was stripped down to the bare essentials, and knocked off his superhero high horse and given human frailty. He had to rely more on his intelligence than his tech for most of the movie. Although he showed flashes of the smug, wise-cracking billionaire we got to know (I especially liked the "Westworld" reference) he was too far removed  from who I got to like over the last few years.

     I'm not giving anything away by saying that the villain in this movie has been reported to be "The Mandarin" played by Ben Kingsley. I'm also not giving anything away by saying that the character in this movie is different from the one in the comic book. Where the Mandarin has 10 rings that give him his supernatural alien powers, here he is portrayed as a non-superpower terrorist. However, that's not the twist. Ready for it? HUGE SPOILER: He's not even the villain in this movie! They took some minor characters and a story from the "Extremis" story arc to serve as the main foes of Iron Man in this movie.
 *Phantom Note: I liked Guy Pearce's character better when Jim Carey did it in "Batman Forever".

     The thing I keep going back to was the last line of the first movie. "I am Iron Man." That's the premise of the whole story of Iron Man. In this one, I was given the impression that Tony Stark was not Iron Man, but just Tony Stark. And that anyone (SPOILER: and at times...no one) could be Iron Man. That didn't sit well with me.
*Phantom Note: The 3-D in this was not anything special at all. If you want to save a few bucks, don't bother with the upgrade.

    Robert Downey Jr.'s contract is up after this movie. The studio has already said that on the strong possibility there is an Iron Man 4, they are prepared to make it without him. There is a kind of closure that could wrap up this arc if they wanted to, but we all know that there will be an Avengers sequel as well as more Tony Stark. I have a feeling RDJ will be back for at least the Avengers 2, but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Until next time, see you in the center seat.