Iron Man 3

[Batman88]

Saw Iron Man 3 with a buddy last night.

It's an improvement over part 2 but, overall, it's kind of flimsy.

I don't know about you guys but I got a Riggs/Martaugh vibe , especially in the end's big action set-piece. That was a nice touch.

I'm sure Shane Black couldn't really express himself totally with this film but am glad its success will give him the power to get more personal projects started for him. Can't wait for him to make Doc Savage. I believe he's the right guy for the job.

Also, I felt, to a lesser degree compared to the second film, that the slapstick type comedy the movie has is really distracting and takes you out of it: my buddy felt this also.

Downey is good as always.

Last but not least: I felt cheated by the way the handled the Mandarin character.

[The Dark Knight]

I have seen Iron Man 3 and I liked it. I want to write a longer piece about it later. But at the moment I'm not up to it.

[Paul (ral)]

Iron Man 3 was the best film I have ever seen! I think I peed a little while watching it.






Only joking. I haven't seen it. Will catch it on home release.

[ElCuervoMuerto]

I saw it and thouht it was OK, but I wasn't blown away by it. The twist, I didn't mind because a) I don't really have an emotional invesment in IM as I do Batman, b) let's face it The Mandarin IS as total racist caricature that doesn't really work in our time, and c) the way they made Killian into a pseudo Mandarin at the end is sorta kinda close enough to the contemporary Mandarin for me not to mind. My main problem with the film is that the movie lost steam a the second half, the jokes stopped being funny, and they didn't really know when to have the funny, and when to go for the serious tension. I loved the first half, but then it just kind of falls apart.

[riddler]

I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on it;

First off it's not in the same class as the Avengers, not even close.

I liked that it definitely took a turn. Iron man 2's biggest fault was being too similar to the first film and essentially being and extended trailer for the avengers.  I also liked the emphasis on the Tony Stark character developing the hero inside him. They really let RDJ show his natural talents in this one.

The negative is that it was a little too dark knight rises both with the extended period of the hero out of costume as well as the ending. I didn't like the mandarin's treatment. I guess you could make the argument that Iron Man is a rare comic book character in which a semi-popular comic was made into an ultra-popular movie. So that may allow them to take more liberties with the characters. That being said I don't like what they did with the Mandarin; rumours were initially that it would be revealed the mandarin was behind Tony Starks initial capture in the first film and that he would be Starks greatest foe. I think they only got away with it due to the limited popularity of the character in the comics. I mean I know this wouldn't happen but imagine if the Man of Steel sequel had Lex Luthor revealed to be some buffoon used as a red herring for another villain?


Far from a bad movie but in the Avengers lineup of films I'd probably rank it only ahead of Thor.

[The Laughing Fish]

I have a lot of conflicting thoughts on it;
First off it's not in the same class as the Avengers, not even close.

I liked that it definitely took a turn. Iron man 2's biggest fault was being too similar to the first film and essentially being and extended trailer for the avengers.  I also liked the emphasis on the Tony Stark character developing the hero inside him. They really let RDJ show his natural talents in this one.

I'd argue that Iron Man 2 suffered from having no real story - Mickey Rourke being shoved aside for Sam Rockwell playing some annoying businessman who felt like the same character from Charlie's Angels, and Stark's arc reactor problem felt like it was going nowhere

The negative is that it was a little too dark knight rises both with the extended period of the hero out of costume as well as the ending.

See, I always thought that Iron Man always out of costume throughout the entire series. The only time he appeared in costume a lot was in The Avengers. In the first movie, for example, it reached about an hour and ten minutes for Stark to wear the Mark III suit.

I didn't like the mandarin's treatment. I guess you could make the argument that Iron Man is a rare comic book character in which a semi-popular comic was made into an ultra-popular movie. So that may allow them to take more liberties with the characters. That being said I don't like what they did with the Mandarin; rumours were initially that it would be revealed the mandarin was behind Tony Starks initial capture in the first film and that he would be Starks greatest foe. I think they only got away with it due to the limited popularity of the character in the comics. I mean I know this wouldn't happen but imagine if the Man of Steel sequel had Lex Luthor revealed to be some buffoon used as a red herring for another villain?

At first, I was disappointed with the real purpose behind Kingsley's character and admit to feeling misled by the trailers, which looking back some quotes such as "today is the first of what's left of your live" didn't appear in the movie. But having put that aside, I actually liked the twist that was played here, as the real villain used the the fear of terrorist stereotypes to cover up his crimes. I thought it was a clever idea.

And to be honest, I never cared too much about Mandarin as a character because I've never read much about him. And he's never been that iconic of a villain as Joker, Magneto or Lex Luthor anyway.

Besides, this is the only exposure I've had of the Mandarin so far.

I still liked Iron Man 3, despite its fair share of flaws.

[Azrael]

Interesting, blogger/writer Al "Taranaich" Harron makes a Batman Forever comparison (needless to say, spoilers)

http://theblogthattimeforgot.blogspot.co.uk/2013/05/bite-sized-blog-iron-man-third.html

[greggbray]

I loved, loved, loved about 85 percent of the film, and outright HATED about 15 percent of the film.  Ultimately I guess it means a stubborn/arms crossed B-grade, but there's so much A material in here it's a little frustrating.  Over all, I liked it.  My issues were connected with howover the top the third act was, and I did not get for the exploding people, etc.  It worked for Killian, as he was ultimately the real Mandarin, but we don'tneed an army of that, and we don't need Pepper to dabble in that either.

That said, the PTSD worked beautifully.  I loved seeing the hero shaken.  I enjoyed Shane Black's humor--people are odd ducks. The goon putting his hands up and stating 'I don't even really like working here,thepeople are really weird,' felt more at home to me than Gotham surrendering to Bane in TDKR.

I *loved* the Mandarin's twist.  Loved it.  Even the humor.  As others have suggested, this is a dated/racist and ridiculous character, and the 21st century context (this is the face of terror, corporate war-producing capitalism is the actual puppeteer) felt right at home.  Actually wrote a blog with some comparisons between TDKR and IM3--if you're interested, would love to hear feedback.  No pressure, though.
http://www.biowars.com/blog/the-post-911-politics-of-cinematic-superheroes/#

And it was nice watching stuntwork that didn't rely on overt CGI--the barrel of monkeys maneuver from AF1 was incredible--some of the finest non-Bond action stunt work out there.  Some silliness aside, the film worked for me, and is so far my favorite blockbuster of the summer despite the material that makes me grimmace.

[johnnygobbs]

I *loved* the Mandarin's twist.  Loved it.  Even the humor.  As others have suggested, this is a dated/racist and ridiculous character, and the 21st century context (this is the face of terror, corporate war-producing capitalism is the actual puppeteer) felt right at home.  Actually wrote a blog with some comparisons between TDKR and IM3--if you're interested, would love to hear feedback.  No pressure, though.
http://www.biowars.com/blog/the-post-911-politics-of-cinematic-superheroes/#

I don't know why I haven't posted on this thread yet since I saw and enjoyed the film a while back now but I hardly need to add anything because greggbray has pretty much echoed all my thoughts about this film entirely especially with the above paragraph.

This was a great way of featuring the Mandarin and referencing all the traditional iconography of the character whilst still neatly side-stepping the anachronistic and outdated aspects of this deeply un-PC baddie.  Moreover, the twist was absolutely hilarious and I personally enjoyed being hoodwinked by the filmmakers.  There are times when such audacious twists don't work but in this case Shane Black thanks particularly to a well-judged and hysterically funny performance by Sir Ben was successfully able to get over the initial 'WTF' bafflement of the Mandarin/Trevor Slattery revelation (although judging by some forums a lot of the die-hard fanboys are clearly apoplectic - then again, most of them seem to be the usual humourless Burton Batman-haters/hardcore Dark Knight fans - not the more open-minded, good-humoured sorts who frequent this site  ).  As well as being very funny and a great plot-twist in its own right it also, as greggbray states, spoke to a lot of relevant 21st century concerns with respect to the true face of terror and the military-industrial complex's dependency on such bogeymen, real or false.

As for the rest of the film, I wouldn't say I outright hated any of the movie but I do agree with the percentages.  85% of the film was entirely successful whereas about 15% arguably failed and much of that related to Killian's henchmen and the OTT final action sequence.  So like greggbray a solid B, or perhaps a slightly more generous B+, from me.

On that basis I look forward to reading your TDKR/IM3 article gregg and will give you my feedback in due course.

[greggbray]

Thanks.    Maybe "B" was a little harsh.  B+. Though the third act was a bit too outrageous for me, much of the rest of it was incredibly entertaining.