Iron Man 3 (2013)

I love superheros.  I love movies.  The confluence of these powers renders me a geeky mess.  It's just a weakpoint.  I know that superhero films rarely are good enough to win oscars (aside from visual effects), but I love them anyway.

So what about Iron Man 3, the film currently smashing open the box office?  Simply put, this movie rocks, and may be among the better comic book films yet made.

I like Iron Man.  Of all the Marvel comics characters, he's one of my favorite.  I like guys who are more or less normal, who find ways to become a hero that doesn't rely on the dumb luck of being bitten by a radioactive bug (which is probably why my favorite superhero of all time is Batman).  In the Marvel universe, Iron Man is that guy -normal human with typical personality defects a flaws.  In the comics Tony Stark battle alcoholism and anxiety attacks; he never is presented to the reader as a perfect guy who can do no wrong.

All that said, Iron Man 3 gets Tony Stark right.  Even more so than the first Iron Man movie, the third really seems to get in Tony's head and understands him.  All in all, Iron Man 3 just might be as good a movie about Iron Man as I could have hoped.

However, it is not a film for fans of the Mandarin.  No spoilers here, but if you know your comics, and regard them as sacrosanct, what happens in the plot regarding Mandarin will leave you aghast to say the least.  But hey, we need to remember that the movie is not the book, nor should it be.  For the movie, what they chose to do with the character made sense and worked exceptionally well.

And the payoff is amazing, with the film culminating in a few great action sequences, including a terrifically filmed freefall/skydive rescue.

The acting is fine, though nothing too terribly outstanding.  Robert Downey Jr. clearly has fun playing his now-iconic character for the fourth time.  Gweneth Paltrow has a lot more to do in this one than in the second or in The Avengers, and she makes the most of it.  Sir Ben Kingsley has way more fun than he should be allowed to have playing Mandarin.  And Guy Pierce simply chews large holes through the scenery as Aldrich Killian.

The writing is great (for an action movie.  Shakespeare it is not).  It hits all the right tender/contemplative notes, then turns and throws one comedic zinger after another.  Plus, as I alluded to before, it managed to rather surprise me.  About 1/3 of the way through the film I said "This is a combo of both Extremis and The Five Nightmares."  At that point I thought I knew (as a result of knowing those Iron Man books) exactly how the film would end.  And I was wrong.  Very wrong.  But the plot still resolved itself in a way that did homage and justice to those classic storylines.  This is a rather large accomplishment.

All in all I enjoyed it very much.  And what else do we really want from the movies?

Entertainment: 8/10
Artistic Value: 3/10
Technical Merit: 5/10

Overall: 6/10

A postscript with SPOILERS:
Again, below there be a few SPOILERS -ye have been warned.


Ok, you know what bugged me far more than the whole "Mandarin is just a distraction away from the real bad guy" bit?  The bit where Tony was breaking into the Mandarin's compound with weapons he constructs out of hardware tools.  Know why?  The guy knows S.H.E.I.L.D. and all the other Avengers!  He needs help, he knows where the bad guy is, and all the other Avengers owe him a solid big time!  Why did he have to do this himself?  I mean, other than the fact that the movie is called Iron Man and not Avengers 2?