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Movie Review: Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” Is Another Blockbuster For Disney

Iron Man 3The thing about heroes is that, if they fall, they will rise again. Defeat is only temporary. And when they make their comeback, we are with them every step of the way. There are a handful of heroes that American audiences, and even the world’s moviegoers are devoted to: Batman, Superman, Spiderman and the wittiest of them all, Iron Man, aka. Tony Stark. Robert Downey, Jr. is back and better than ever as the endearing sleek and snarky superhero in Marvel’s “Iron Man 3.

“There’s no politics here, it’s just good old-fashioned revenge,” Tony Stark says to his new archenemy. Incredible action and Stark saving the world is exactly what we wanted to see and exactly what we got in the third installment. For those who have followed the Stark series and “Marvel’s The Avengers,” this “Iron Man” is fascinating in that its one of the first movies that is a sequel to two different films.

Iron Man 3 Ben KingsleyThe story takes place during the immediate aftermath of “The Avengers” and weaves aspects of Tony’s emotional distress after saving the world, with a continuation of his character arch after the “Iron Man 2.”  

As Tony struggles to ground his mind with reality, he is faced with the cold, sadistic terrorist, The Mandarin, played by the notable and always ingenious actor, Ben Kingsley. The Mandarin relies on live-video streams of horror and hopelessness to instill fear in the people. After blowing up the famous Mann’s Chinese Theatre (now TCL Chinese Theatre), Tony Stark continues to remain in the shadows. But, with every great ‘save the world’ scenario, our hero gets his priorities straight and takes action.

Iron Man 3 Guy Pierce

 

Guy Pearce‘s character, Aldrich Killian, a savvy scientist has successfully developed a virus called “Extrimis”  that enables the human body to regenerate missing limbs. Once Mandarin’s agents are infected, the host turns into a pseudo, human dragon-like creature that has the ability to heat things up rapidly and even shoot fire out of his or her mouth. With Stark’s beloved Pepper Potts’ (Gwyneth Paltrow) life on the line and his country’s leaders under threat, Iron Man reaches all the way back to his roots to reinvent himself and take down the ultimate enemy. Don Cheadle reprises his role as Rhodes, Stark’s best friend and, in this film the “Iron Patriot.”

Tony Stark’s narcissism comes off as being even more charming and funny than before (if that’s even possible), the action and fighting looks better than ever thanks to fight choreographer, Si-Fu Eric Oram. Most of the changes, from the film’s visual to its dialogue are due to its new director, Shane Black. Black’s vision of Iron Man and how the character should behave and act is wholly independent from previous director, John Favreau‘s picture of the protagonist. Black brings that same witty, satirical take on what a good action Iron Man 3 Gwyneth Paltrowmovie should look like to this project. The director pretty much invented the buddy action movie back in the ’80s, and brought to life such classics as “Lethal Weapon,” “The Last Boy Scout” and “The Long Kiss Goodnight.” In 2005, the director teamed up with Robert Downey Jr. for the first time for “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”

While the action and fighting is thrilling, the villain is what truly makes Iron Man 3 unique. In a world where domestic terrorism and internal government corruption make the news daily, it is refreshing to see a movie  actually address these types of problems. Instead of opting for a stereotyped version of some Middle Eastern evildoer, the film creates two villains that are just as human as Tony Stark.

As Robert Downey, Jr. put it, “If it never gets any better than this, I think we’ll be satisfied because this might be our best effort yet.”

“Iron Man 3” is one not to miss this weekend. http://marvel.com/ironman3

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