Ryan McNeil
Midway through this latest film, our hero trudges through a snowy Tennessee forest. He walks slowly through the snow, towing his broken armour behind him in a broken, useless heap. In this moment, he has just protected someone he cares about, but has done so at great personal cost. What’s more, the attack he had to defend was one he brought upon himself.
Now he is forced to carry his armour like so much personal baggage. It’s the baggage this character has amassed over all his years of selfishness, but it’s also the baggage this franchise has given the character after three films.
IRON MAN 3 begins fourteen years ago – before the events of THE AVENGERS, even before the events of IRON MAN. It’s New Year’s 1999, and Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) is at a party for the super-stylish and super-smart. The object of his affection on this night is Dr. Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), a botanist who has made great strides in the field of cell regeneration. The wild card on this night is a scientist named Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) who desperately wants to work with Stark. Both end the night jilted by Stark, though in rather different ways.
back in the present, after The Battle of New York depicted in The Avengers, Tony Stark is having trouble staying grounded. He can’t sleep, can’t settle, and finds himself prone to panic attacks. His mental state seems poised to destroy his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), who is the head of Stark Industries.
It’s there, at Stark Industries that she is approached by a much more put-together Killian. He is pitching a bio-engineering idea called Extremis, which will rewire a human brain to overcome fear and apprehension. It’s an idea that immediately gives Pepper pause, and not for the better.
While all of this is happening, America finds itself under attack from a terrorist called The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). He heads up a terror cell operation called The ten Rings, and is hellbent on bringing America to its knees. He wants to get the country’s attention, and the president’s. However, it’s not long before he gets Tony Stark’s.
As that happens, The Mandarin becomes a target of Stark’s trademark bravado – and Stark merely becomes a target.
IRON MAN 3 works incredibly well – perhaps even better than it has any right to. As a third film in a series, it finds itself in rare company since most franchises are running out of gas right around now. Amazingly, the Iron Man films still have something left to say while employing a new director and unleashing its third chapter (fourth, if you count the major role Iron man played in THE AVENGERS).
What allows it to work so well is the way it never retraces its steps. The film knows full well how much we have learned about Tony Stark, and never aims to give us further evidence of what we already know. Instead, what it wants to teach us is that even he – a narcissistic playboy – is capable of getting shaken up. Turns out that even the coolest armour in the world can’t protect Tony Stark from everything.
However, this thread of Stark’s post-traumatic stress is also what holds the film back in a way. It is by far the most interesting thing Marvel could have done with the character – even more show than painting him as a fallen hero. The fact of the matter is that any mere mortal who has faced what Stark has faced would be badly shaken up. Such experiences might indeed leave them closed off, irritable, and suffering from lack of sleep. Likewise, such a state would leave one prone to distractions such as “tinkering”. However, for a character to recover from such a state, and return to his fighting form, it should come with more than just a prompt from a minor character.
This is more than seeing Iron Man claw out of the rubble after he’s been knocked down: This is Tony Stark’s very essence we’re talking about. We want a bit more self-realization.
It’s a pity that we don’t get it, since everything else about this story is so good. Tony is forced to get back to basics, and also forced to confront the cost of his arrogance. IRON MAN 3 wants us to see that nobody is above consequences, not even the super rich and super powerful. The proof will always be there – like shadows on the wall after a flash explosion.
Audiences have spent five years with Tony Stark. We’ve watched him rise, watched him evolve, watched him fall, and now watched him stare down the demons that he has created for himself. While he’s every bit as snarky and sly as the man we first met in a Humvee, he has also gained some humanity, if not any bit of humility. The creative team at Marvel have found a way to keep his fights fresh, and keep us caring about a genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist.
As the screen goes to black at the end of IRON MAN 3, we see the words “Tony Stark Will Return”. Amazingly, after four films, we find ourselves thinking “He’d better”.
Is it that the film offers so little that we’re finding very little scratch at other than the fun of RDJ dancing and dealing with his latest case of insomnia? Or is it that the entertainment value a film like this offers is so high that we’re willing to lie to ourselves about the depth of this film?
I enjoyed myself, but the more I think is the less i think I truly find admirable about this movie. Will speak further later this year when I revisit on home viewings, because I honestly don’t think it’s worth an extra theatrical run.
I wouldn’t say that this film comes with a ton of depth (I turn to Nolan’s Batman films for superhero depth), but there *is* character evolution. Compare this version of Tony to the versions of IM, I2, or Avengers.
I quite liked its action as a matter of fact. Of the three stand-alone films, this is the first one that nails the final showdown. At the end of the day, this movie was a lot of fun to watch – and many of its sequences – the assault on Stark mansion, the bit with the kid, the aerial rescue, and that final smackdown – have stuck with me as well as any sequence Marvel has done.
I enjoyed the film overall, particularly the length of time we see Stark without ANY armor and still kicking some ass, but the one thing that bothered me was the bait and switch. I won’t spoil it for anyone, but I was a little annoyed at that. Not enough to dislike the film, just enough to say “Really? That’s where you guys went with it?”.
That was my problem with the film as well. The result of the switch is a much more boring (redacted).
Edited your comment somewhat Colin – even though there are probably only five people in the world who haven’t seen this film yet.
It didn’t bother me all that much, considering how much care they took in explaining it. As the film says, a lot of times the face we see isn’t the face that’s responsible.
At the very least they had fun with the switch, adding a little bit of pleasant goofiness into what is usually a very hammy corner of these sorts of stories.
Oh I agree with that. I don’t think anyone had as much fun as Don Logan.
Oh Lordy do I ever need to rewatch that movie!
Indeed, he better return! I think it’s the RDJ appeal that makes me already miss Tony Stark and I just saw IM3 today! 😀
The funny thing is, there probably *are* a handful of other actors who can do the part ustice, but we’ve all just come to love what Downey does with it so much!
Fell below my expectations. But at #3 I wasn’t complaining about getting to see one of my earliest superhero favourites back on screen. I agree that the change in Starks character was noticeable and it def helps this sequel keep a forward pace.
On a side note: am I the only one who now thinks Shane Black might not have been the most appropriate choice for a Marvel movie?
I actually like what Black was able to do with this one – his hand at action came in especially handy when it came to that final smackdown in the shipping yard. Favrau wasn’t able to bring anything like that to the end of either of the first two films.
(PS – Welcome back – been a while!)