After the Avengers caused such a buzz at the box office last year, I was desperately trying to reign in my expectations for Tony Stark’s next cinematic outing. After all, it really couldn’t have been as good as the Avengers, right? Well it isn’t, but it is certainly a good try.
The story opens with a flashback to the turn of the millenium, New Years Eve 1999, in Bern, Switzerland. After somehow giving a complex lecture whilst completely wasted, Tony heads back to the hotel room of one Maya Hansen, a scientist working on something she calls Extremis. On the way, they’re approached by Aldrich Killian, head of Advanced Idea Mechanics, a think tank that wanted to pitch an idea to Maya. Tony, wanting her all to himself, tricks Killian into going onto the roof, where he promises to meet him. Tony never turns up.
Fast forward to the modern day, and the latest iteration of Tony’s infamous Iron Man armour: Mark 42. Designed in segments that can fly to Tony and attach themselves whenever he calls, it may look like Stark is doing pretty well for himself. He’s not. Barely sleeping, rarely leaving his house, Tony is suffering emotionally from his bout with the Chitauri in Avengers. When his former bodyguard, the new head of security at Stark Industries, Happy Hogan, is critically injured in an explosion, Tony puts himself in the way of the Mandarin, a theatrical terrorist responsible for several attacks in the US.
What follows is probably one of Stark’s best adventures, though not necessarily his most entertaining. The story is definitely his most intriguing narrative, but Downey Jr seems more muted as the flamboyant genius-billionaire-playboy-philanthropist. This isn’t at all down to the actor, who quite frankly knocks this one out the park, so much as it is down to the story. Stark is tired, suffering from PTSD. He tries to be himself, the joking, witty genius, but he’s having trouble keeping up the façade. Unfortunately, it means that a lot of Stark’s charm that made him so loveable tends to go missing at times.
Of course, with a change in director, as Jon Favereau hands over directing duties to Shane Black, comes a change in direction. This is probably one of the film’s weakest aspects: it doesn’t always feel like an Iron Man movie. Okay, as a fan of something I don’t like change (it’s scary!), so I’ll try to be fair about this. After all, Black hasn’t done a bad job at all. He hasn’t simply ‘copied’ what Favereau did, he’s moved the franchise forwards, helping Tony grow as a character. Every aspect of the film simply adds to this personal journey, so really it could be said that Black has done a brilliant job. The reason I brought it up, however, is that some people will simply prefer the more comedic Iron Man over the more action packed Iron Man 3.
Not to say the film isn’t witty. From Tony having his Iron Man armour ‘parked’ outside the bar he’s at to the brilliant dialogue between Stark and his kid ‘sidekick’, the film brings laughs-a-plenty. Though I initially groaned when I heard about the superhero with an emotional crisis getting a kid sidekick, Harley only appears for a short period in the middle of the film, and their relationship is anything but bad. Right from the get go, Stark shows just how little he cares that this kid is a kid, and Harley is anything but downtrodden. It actually ends up as a highlight in a movie already packed with great moments.
Not all these moments are Downey Jr’s, either. Don Cheadle’s Colonel James Rhodes gets more screen time, as the American Government respond to the terrorist attacks and the Chitauri invasion by rebranding War Machine as the Iron Patriot, with a Captain America inspired paint job to boot. Most of Cheadle’s work is towards the end of the film, but it’s great to see the trained Colonel put his skills to use outside the suit. Guy Pearce is pitch perfect as Aldrich Killian, and Ben Kingsley is just amazing. Fans may not be too impressed with the ‘twist’ involving the Mandarin, but there are few, if any, better performances found in comic-book movies. I cannot praise Kingsley enough, though I can’t really explain it without giving away a major plot point. Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper may seem like the weakest of the bunch, but that’s hardly the criticism it sounds. She’s not bad in her role, it’s just that the film doesn’t give her the same freedom to shine as the others.
Though it may be the first of the big summer blockbusters, Iron Man 3 has set a high bar for those that follow. It really is great fun, and I urge people to go and watch it, if only for Downey Jr’s usual quality turn as Tony Stark, and for Ben Kingsley’s standout performance. Whether it’s better than the original or not is up for debate, but Marvel Studios has yet to release a bad film, and this is probably one of the better ones.
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