PHASE TWO
Miracles
"Is that all you've got? A cheap trick and a cheesy one-liner?"
"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography!"
"Sweetheart, that could be the name of my autobiography!"
However, this newest Iron Man venture wouldn't just be an Avengers offshoot, rather it would continue the themes of the first Iron Man while essentially ignoring the events of Iron Man 2 (aside from Rhodey continuing to don the War Machine armor he gained in the previous Tony Stark solo outing). Such themes primarily revolve around the idea of demons, which Tony had to pay for in his first film when he realized the weapons his company made hurt innocent lives. A surprisingly mature story route is taken in Iron Man 3 where this thesis is brought up again, with Tony's superhero career not wiping away all of his past mistakes, but rather, his Iron Man persona helps the poor decisions of bygone years resurface in menacing ways.
Looking over it all as a whole, that may be one of the best aspects of Iron Man 3; it's concrete focus on that specific element of Tony Starks disposition helps create a clear plotline, a distinct inversion of Iron Man 2, where the entire story got bogged down by the presence of far too many unsatisfying and underdeveloped characters. That's obviously not an issue here, especially since Tony's struggles through the film are handled quite well, particularly his bouts with PTSD. These aren't just delivered as some melodramatic plot convenience, but as an interesting extension of his experience with the Avengers.
It not only works as a potent way to create conflict within the characters, but also as a way to remind the world that Tony, underneath those advanced iron suits, is just a human being, He's always dealt with problems relating to the amount of control he has over the people and objects he cares about, and the idea of aliens and gods existing throws his entire perception of control out of whack. That's why he develops PTSD, as well as an overt attachment to his iron suits (which he begins to treat like they're real people).
Even better than Tony's development as a character here is Pepper Potts, who debuted as a interesting personality in the first Iron Man but found herself being wasted during Iron Man 2. Here, here role in the overall story is one that, when it was first introduced in the movie, ruffled my feathers; she's supposed to be a damsel-in-distress, being held captive by villain and ex-admirer Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Instead of her simply being rescued by Tony in the end though, she gets a hysterical sequence where she just goes to town on Killian, pummeling her captor and getting some sweet, sweet vengeance, twisting the damsel in distress trope right on it's head.
The way Tony and Pepper progress during the picture are great examples of how screenwriters Drew Pearce and Shane Black (the latter directs this movie) don't take the easy path with this film in regards to plot turns. Instead of just ramping up the spectacle, new routes are taken with the characters and the situations they face. Just look at how much time Tony Stark spends outside of the Iron Man suit; with just an arsenal of tools from Home Depot and some Christmas ornaments, he's able to knock out villainous henchmans with ease. That's the sort of creativity that's uber fun to watch, as well serving as an example of the kind of ingenuity Iron Man 3 is in no short supply of.
Now, this spirit of going against conventions didn't always result in across the board praise, particularly when it came to how this movie handled its primary foe: The Mandarin. The character had been a long-time staple in the comics as one of Iron Mans biggest adversaries, and advertisements for Iron Man 3 depicted a new version of the character played by Ben Kingsley that would hopefully avoid the racial leanings of the figure in the comics. Happily though, the movie goes for a fun and unique direction by revealing Kingsley's character to be just an actor, Trevor Slattery, that Killian (whose the real Mandarin) used to create a character that Killian could pin his evildoings on.
Believe it or not, I love this plot turn, namely because A) we still get a Mandarin in the movie, in the form of Aldrich Killian and B) Kingsley as Trevor Slattery is absolutely hilarious. Trevor is just a normal guy, totally out of his depth amongst these fire breathing terrorists and dudes in an armored suits. Seeing him drunkenly cheering on his favorite soccer team whilst juxtaposed against Tony Stark trying to save the world is a delightful sight to witness, and makes this new take on the long standing comic book entity an extremely interesting one. One other nice touch with the character is that his earlier videos of Trevor in his Mandarin persona take on another layer once you know who this guy is.
I do, however, have problems, with the ending of the movie, specifically Tony Stark getting the shrapnel out of his chest. It's a nice moment, and I like the final lines of his monologue as he chucks his arc reactor out to sea and drives off (with Dummy! Hooray!) to adventures yet not known. But it feels pretty rushed since the arc reactor is such a crucial part of Tony as a character. You wanna get rid of it, fine, totally fine, but ya gotta set it up better than that. This should be a moment of tremendous consequence and importance, not something brushed off in a voiceover.
It's an unusual poor storytelling detour that stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Iron Man 3, which manages to be an extremely fun and well written adventure that takes Tony Stark to extremely interesting places character wise. Putting him out of his element just makes Tony all the more compelling, especially when paired with Don Cheadle (who really shines here with his dynamic with Robert Downey Jr.), a humorous Ben Kingsley and some dazzling action.
Even better than Tony's development as a character here is Pepper Potts, who debuted as a interesting personality in the first Iron Man but found herself being wasted during Iron Man 2. Here, here role in the overall story is one that, when it was first introduced in the movie, ruffled my feathers; she's supposed to be a damsel-in-distress, being held captive by villain and ex-admirer Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Instead of her simply being rescued by Tony in the end though, she gets a hysterical sequence where she just goes to town on Killian, pummeling her captor and getting some sweet, sweet vengeance, twisting the damsel in distress trope right on it's head.
The way Tony and Pepper progress during the picture are great examples of how screenwriters Drew Pearce and Shane Black (the latter directs this movie) don't take the easy path with this film in regards to plot turns. Instead of just ramping up the spectacle, new routes are taken with the characters and the situations they face. Just look at how much time Tony Stark spends outside of the Iron Man suit; with just an arsenal of tools from Home Depot and some Christmas ornaments, he's able to knock out villainous henchmans with ease. That's the sort of creativity that's uber fun to watch, as well serving as an example of the kind of ingenuity Iron Man 3 is in no short supply of.
Now, this spirit of going against conventions didn't always result in across the board praise, particularly when it came to how this movie handled its primary foe: The Mandarin. The character had been a long-time staple in the comics as one of Iron Mans biggest adversaries, and advertisements for Iron Man 3 depicted a new version of the character played by Ben Kingsley that would hopefully avoid the racial leanings of the figure in the comics. Happily though, the movie goes for a fun and unique direction by revealing Kingsley's character to be just an actor, Trevor Slattery, that Killian (whose the real Mandarin) used to create a character that Killian could pin his evildoings on.
Believe it or not, I love this plot turn, namely because A) we still get a Mandarin in the movie, in the form of Aldrich Killian and B) Kingsley as Trevor Slattery is absolutely hilarious. Trevor is just a normal guy, totally out of his depth amongst these fire breathing terrorists and dudes in an armored suits. Seeing him drunkenly cheering on his favorite soccer team whilst juxtaposed against Tony Stark trying to save the world is a delightful sight to witness, and makes this new take on the long standing comic book entity an extremely interesting one. One other nice touch with the character is that his earlier videos of Trevor in his Mandarin persona take on another layer once you know who this guy is.
I do, however, have problems, with the ending of the movie, specifically Tony Stark getting the shrapnel out of his chest. It's a nice moment, and I like the final lines of his monologue as he chucks his arc reactor out to sea and drives off (with Dummy! Hooray!) to adventures yet not known. But it feels pretty rushed since the arc reactor is such a crucial part of Tony as a character. You wanna get rid of it, fine, totally fine, but ya gotta set it up better than that. This should be a moment of tremendous consequence and importance, not something brushed off in a voiceover.
It's an unusual poor storytelling detour that stands in sharp contrast to the rest of Iron Man 3, which manages to be an extremely fun and well written adventure that takes Tony Stark to extremely interesting places character wise. Putting him out of his element just makes Tony all the more compelling, especially when paired with Don Cheadle (who really shines here with his dynamic with Robert Downey Jr.), a humorous Ben Kingsley and some dazzling action.
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