Review – Iron Man 3

Suits and Stark and Pepper Oh My!

This is the third summer to blast off with Iron Man and a 4^th visit with Tony Stark (if you include last summer’s blockbuster The Avengers). And I’ve got good news; Iron Man 3 starts the summer off right yet again.

For this installment, Tony Stark is remembering choices he made in the past. You see he is now a one-woman man with Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow), but that was not always the past. We open with a look back at his wilder days in 1999 as he meets the attractive and intelligent Maya (Rebecca Hall). She wants him for his wisdom and financial support of her endeavor; he has a variety of very different interests in her. Who knew that meeting from years earlier would have an impact on Tony yet today?

Fast forward to today. As Tony continues to tinker with the Iron Man suit, and variations on his designs, he is leading a much simpler life. Gone is the womanizing and party lifestyle. Instead he is worried about one thing above all Pepper.

The world is in a scary place at this point. There is a mad bomber that is going around and causing chaos. Stark has lunch with his friend Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle)and learns that the War Machine has been “rebranded” as The Patriot (it plays better) AND The Mandarin (the character that has been behind the bombings has actually completed many more bombings than anyone knows about.

As the attacks get more severe, the media and even random people want to know what Tony Stark and Iron Man will do about this menace. After the question pushes Tony over the edge he issues a threat to this super criminal. Here’s my address, come and get me. But nothing can prepare him for the assault to come.

After hearing a knock on the door from the old friend Maya and an explosion in the living room of his palatial house, the chase is on.

While much of the country believes Tony Stark is gone he searches for answers and looks to help be the solution to the problem that is The Mandarin. But can he rise from the ashes or is this the end of Tony Stark and the end of Iron Man?

So this series has done an amazing job of launching the summer lately. Every visit with Iron Man and Tony Stark has been enjoyable, but to different levels. This time, I enjoyed my time in the theater, but I felt things were just sloppy. What does that mean, exactly? Well…let me tell you.

I liked getting Tony Stark back and Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect actor to play him, but this film felt like it didn’t know what to do with him all the time. Gone were most of the wild and wisecracking Stark moment (save for his time with the kid in the film), replaced by the kinder and gentler Stark.

Pepper’s (Paltrow)getting a lot of buzz in this one because she steps out a bit, but even then she seems a bit underutilized.

The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) rocks and his character works on every level. But at times I felt that the other “bad” guys were just giant stereotypes and lacked depth.

And the ending of this film felt like they got to a certain length and just said…ok, we’re done and ended it with a whoosh. It felt like it needed a better climax. The third act, while visually cool at times, lacked heart and that special feeling. And the film as a whole was missing that hard driving soundtrack that blows your mind away and elevates the testosterone level.

Despite my gripes, let me say I enjoyed the film on a totally visceral level. I felt excited and a rush at many times in the film. I think it is a very solid summer film. I just expected more. This felt like one of those movies that was more style than substance. There were lots of “suits”, Tony Stark and Pepper Potts but oh my how it just sloppy in the execution. But I'm sheep...I'll still watch it again and again and again.... :-)

B

Iron Man 3

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Director: Shane Black

Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Peace, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley

Rating: PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content.

Runtime: 2 hours 10 minutes