REVIEW: Iron Man 3 (Black, 2013)
Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.), always cocksure and arrogant, had never truly suffered. With a plethora of gadgets and an immense wealth at his fingertips, Stark never seemed to take the Iron Man job too seriously as he quips his way to victory. But following his near-death experience in Avengers Assemble, has he finally changed his ways in Iron Man 3 (bizarrely set at Christmas but released at the end of April)? Well, not massively.
Despite two tough battles with dangerous foes in the first two Iron Man movies, it’s only the New York experience of aliens and near-death that has apparently truly shaken him (although somebody must’ve reported the otherworldly events of Thor in the news – surely S.H.I.E.L.D. can’t silence a whole town who witnessed the arrival of the Asgardians and The Destroyer!). This could have opened Stark up to a new level of vulnerability lurking beneath his cool, charismatic shell; teased by a particularly intriguing scene early on when Stark - now able to remotely control his suits – has a night terror and unconsciously causes his suit to act in self-defense. However from then onwards all we are given is a couple of scenes of Stark wheezing in panic attacks and barking at people not to talk to him about the New York incident. None of this anxiety seems to have any effect when anything is actually at stake, not creating any limitations against enemies – it only seems to arise when the plot calls for a moment to remind us that Stark is ‘troubled’.
With every film, Stark claims to have learned a lesson and become a changed man but with the beginning of the next, he’s always the same brash hothead. Sure, it makes for some hilarious scenes, and it’s no surprise that Iron Man is one of the most popular Marvel movie heroes just for this reason. Stark’s sharp wit, always played with finesse by the brilliant Robert Downey, Jr., has been one of the most memorable factors of the series and was played to perfection in Avengers Assemble with Joss Whedon’s direction (having become a master of this type of geek comedy with his iconic series Buffy the Vampire Slayer). However, director Shane Black’s arduous and clumsy attempt to recreate that in Iron Man 3 doesn’t always hit the mark. Some of the jokes in the film make for strained scenes that don’t particularly add to the plot or character development whatsoever.
The focus Stark’s sharp tongue rather than his character’s development leaves the audience with a downgraded protagonist, who has become ridiculously reckless (tip: revealing the location of your giant, expensive house – as obvious as it might look from the outside – to the world press is not the best plan), emotionally lifeless (he spends so much time blanking out the words “New York” that we never truly delve deeper into what’s hurting him) and not particularly heroic, as he remotely controls his suits to save others as if he were playing a video game.
It’s his love interest, Pepper Potts (always played by Gwenyth Paltrow with effortless grace, often clashing humorously with Stark’s swaggering confidence) that rises up with her biggest role yet in her Marvel movie run, and it certainly makes for an intriguing turn of events. But it seems her actions – even though they highlight Stark’s massive failures throughout the movie – are still placed in the background so the funnyman can claim the spotlight. Likewise, Happy Hogan (played by former Iron Man director, now executive producer Jon Favreau) is given a new role in Stark’s grand scheme but the plot shoves him aside as soon as he’s begun, all for the sake of a couple of lacklustre Downton Abbey jokes. James Rhodes (played by Don Cheadle) shares some entertaining buddy-cop-esque scenes with Stark, harking back to Black’s days of writing the likes of Lethal Weapon, but is only given a chance to take an active role in the final act. Perhaps the biggest disappointment of all, however, is Stark’s new ‘sidekick’ in troubled young boy Harley (played with fantastic charisma by Ty Simpkins), who has some of the funniest and most interesting scenes in the entire film with his mock buddy/father-son relationship with Tony Stark and is then dropped for the last part of the film.
However, all this is trivial when put against the film’s biggest flaw: the villain. The opening sequence offers one of the most obvious surprise plot set-ups in the entire Marvel franchise, and what results in the end is a final battle that feels strangely lifted from the climax of the videogame Resident Evil 5 (perhaps Marvel vs. Capcom 3 had an influence on the movie that nobody saw coming?) with a cheesy villain with foggy, confusing motivations. No wonder comic book fans are raging about this movie’s portrayal of The Mandarin, wasting the incredible talent of Ben Kingsley for the sake of – yes, you guessed it – a terribly flat joke. The Mandarin is supposed to be Iron Man’s archenemy – imagine if Christopher Nolan had done the same thing with The Joker in The Dark Knight?
Despite the film’s abysmal writing, the visuals are the best of the trilogy. There are some very fun action scenes (particularly in the film’s final act), gorgeous augmented reality sequences (especially inside a projected universe-like brain) and the editing helps create tension and suspense in some of the film’s darker sequences.
VERDICT - In the film’s closing sequence we get a sense of the trilogy trying to wrap itself up – but has Stark really learned anything at all? Iron Man 3 lacks the artfulness, sophistication and emotional capacity that The Dark Knight Rises accomplished so well. Shane Black’s vision tries far too hard, and builds a story around humour rather than the other way around. “Tony Stark will return”, the credits read – let’s hope it’s Jon Favreau or Joss Whedon at the helm next time.
4.5/10
