It’s never easy doing a third installment of a movie series, especially in the comic book hero world, but Iron Man 3 manages to be a fun and action packed sequel for the Marvel franchise. While there is a lot that will annoy the comic book purists, and there are a couple of holes in the plot in general, the movie plays out well, especially for the less fanatical Marvel fans.
Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau return to their heroic roles of Tony Stark, Pepper Potts, Colonel James Rhodes and Happy Hogan once again, and as ever they make them look effortless. One of the best performances comes from Paltrow, who rises to the metamorphosis of her character beautifully. Pepper Potts’ action scenes during the final battle are as cool as they come, helping to make up for some of the aspects of the rest of the film that long-time fans of the comic book series will be disgruntled about.
One of the biggest points of contention for the die-hard’s is the treatment of the Mandarin in the film, as he is one of Iron Man’s longest standing enemies from the original comic book series, having first appeared in 1964. He’s also arguably one of the most powerful super-villain’s in Marvel history, so the stakes were always going to be high with the way he was weaved into the storyline.
We think that everyone will agree that Ben Kingsley plays the Mandarin, in all his theatrical guises, superbly. We don’t want to give too much away, but his larger than life Osama Bin Laden meets Richard Nixon portrayal of the Mandarin’s televised persona is cleverly delivered, while his flip side off-screen self is equally genius.
However, it is the development of the story of the Mandarin that will probably annoy the old school fans, who would have been hoping for the alien ringed, evil genius, martial arts master menace of the original Mandarin, which doesn’t come through in the film, which we can definitely empathise with. While there’s still scope for the future of the Mandarin to build, it can never be the same mystical villain from our childhood, so there will always be a sense of missing out when we review the film.
The reality is that Iron Man 3 is a new story arc for Tony Stark, building on elements of the Extremis storyline of the more resent comic book series. This includes the re-imagined characters of Maya Hanson and Dr Aldrich Killian, who are the inventors of the Extremis nano technology that creates the super-soldiers at the heart of the story. Maya is played well by Rebecca Hall (Vicky Christina Barcelona), and Guy Pearce makes a pretty epic baddie in fire breathing Killian with his Extremis superpowers.
The battle scenes come thick and fast, added to by the relentless Extremis-fueled might of super-soldier, Eric Savin (James Badge Dale), who’s cold, sardonic approach to the “muscle” of the film is perfectly pitched. There’s a childlike fun to the film too, which is bolstered by the presence of Harley (Ty Simpkins), the kid that helps Stark recover after being attacked by Killian’s henchmen.
As well as the possible disappointment over the Mandarin storyline, the other key factors of the film that will be tough to swallow for fans is the reality of yet another revenge-based plot to swallow and Tony Stark’s apparent anxiety attack whenever he’s reminded about fighting the aliens in The Avengers. Both of which detract from the strength of the storyline and add nothing in terms of depth to the film, except for a tenuous recognition of the continuity with the Avengers film.
However, Iron Man 3 is still a very entertaining action adventure sci-fi flick with a great cast delivering impressive performances, as well a lot of funny comedy moments. There are a couple of other little niggles, like the unnecessary “clean slate” iron man suit destruction that seemed like a random excuse for a fireworks ending, but all in all it’s another hit from Marvel. The treatment of issues like war, terrorism, morality and hometown American life have the same wisdom that Stan Lee has always brought to his stories, reinforcing the importance and influence of the comic book legend on modern day society.
Iron Man 3 review: 3.9/5
