Iron Man 3 (2013)

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Depending far too much on the success of the first two instalments and visual appeal of its played out tactics. Iron Man 3 starts off relatively strong but eventual succumbs to its contrived dialogue, over-compensating story, and childish acrobatics and gadgetry. Desperately trying to infuse more of a dramatic tone into its incessant attempts at comedy and wit, ends up alienating to a point of severe restlessness. Closing a successful trilogy might be considered difficult to say the least. However, after Christopher Nolan’s overwhelming hit, The Dark Knight Rises this past summer. It appears that a competent finale can be done and the failure of Iron Man 3 can be attributed to a single, simple fact. The amount of Marvel films being released is becoming annoyingly ridiculous and the content for these outings is heavily watered-down. Not to say that Iron Man 3 is not entertaining, far from it. I’d rank it a notch above most brainless action pictures released these days. What I am stating is that my expectations did not lower after the first two entertaining chapters and rightfully so.

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Tony Stark (Downey Jr) is suffering from severe anxiety attacks and insomnia after the events that took place in New York. Spending his nights the only way he knows how, concocting new and improved suits. When a terrorist know as the Mandarin (Kingsley) begins attacking the United States and its citizens, Tony must suit up once again. After a deadly attack by the Mandarin on the Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles leaves Happy (Favreau) in a coma, renders Tony furious and seeking revenge. After challenging the Mandarin, Tony’s Malibu mansion is attacked and destroyed leaving Tony and Pepper (Paltrow) separated. Upon escaping, Tony crash lands in the middle of Tennessee. Now, with no suit, his mental illnesses, and the Mandarin continuing his attacks. Tony must befriend a child and begin to reconstruct a revamped suit and take down the Mandarin.

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I wasn’t fairly excited for Iron Man 3 prior to its release. The publicity didn’t really catch my eye and the trailers didn’t offer anything that inventive. That being said, with outstanding cast additions such as the legendary Ben Kingsley, the incomparable Guy Pearce, and the always radiant Rebecca Hall. I felt there was hope for this loud, cocky, chaotic finale. Conversely, these additions didn’t diminish my guard, if anything, it made me more judgemental and raised my expectations. Another significant reason why my excitement for this third outing dropped off is the absence of Jon Favreau behind the camera. No doubt his keen, comedic eye had a monstrous effect on the first two chapters and his reprisal only as Happy should have been enough of a warning sign. Regardless, I never enter a film expecting it to be terrible. So, when Iron Man 3 disappointed me, it wasn’t a complete surprise, yet I anticipated more.

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I am going to start off with some glaring irregularities and issues that extraordinarily hampered Iron Man 3. First off, the reason why the first half appeared passable is because it had a single, linear story line. When the plot broke off into several tangents, it marred the strength of the original and weakened each strand with each passing minute. However, what is most disconcerting about its unnecessary complexity is the multiple chances Iron Man 3 had to save itself, essentially from itself. It’s as if the audience was forced to accompany this nosedive and instead of pulling out of it, we unwillingly were forced to thrust towards the ground. Aside from its laughable story and characters. Watching the second half of Iron Man 3 is like watching a kids cartoon unfold. There is so many irrelevant and expendable one liners and flimsy action sequences it is honestly like a child took hold of the script and cameras for the entire last hour.

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Now I,  unfortunately have to dissect the forced, trivial performances throughout Iron Man 3. I can’t bring myself to bad mouth Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, and Guy Pearce so I will conveniently blame their fake, simulated portrayals on the limitations and stupidity of Iron Man 3’s weak script and faulty direction. As for Robert Downey Jr, Don Cheadle, and Gwyneth Paltrow, to summarize, I have no problem drowning their characters like a postpartum, depressive mother. I have nothing but the utmost respect for their careers and achievements…and I can understand that the money must have been handsomely defining since it was purchasing as well as silencing their integrity. However, there is an upside, Jarvis and the hollow suits had more depth and emotion than the entire ensemble.

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I just can’t help but continually think of the word “unnecessary” to neatly sum up Iron Man 3.

Iron Man 3: 5 out of 10. (I am only giving it a five because I feel bad for Pearce, Kingsley, Hall, and crew).

About Joseph@thecinemamonster

Aspiring writer who absolutely adores film and television. thecinemamonster.com

Posted on May 16, 2013, in Action and tagged , , , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink. 11 Comments.

  1. Wow, you really hated this. I have to disagree. I didn’t think it was flawless, of course, but I had a lot of fun with this one and thought it was really well-written.

  2. Ouch! Haha. This was a brutal review. I disagree with it but can’t fault you for your opinion. I was expecting Iron Man 3 to be better than 2 but not as good as The Avengers or the first Iron Man. It satisfied me on those fronts. It’s not a perfect movie, but there were some moments where the comic relief really got me (the “Dad’s leave” line and the frightened henchman scene, specifically). It felt like a big, awesome spy movie with a superhero facade. Since I’ve been watching a lot of the Bond movies lately, I was totally into it.

  3. Good review. People weren’t happy with my review and I didn’t say anything too bad. You were WAY more harsh than I was! Lol! I agree this film was a disappointment.

  4. Being a huge fan of Shane Black as a writer and also as a director (I love Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang), I knew exactly the kind of movie this would be and it was exactly what I wanted. In fact, I was looking forward to this movie not as the next Iron Man movie but the next Shane Black movie. Clearly I’m biased because I rank it as my third favorite movie I’ve seen this year (behind Silver Linings Playbook and The Grey). The only problem I had is the Hollywood action movie obsession with needing the climax to top everything we’ve seen up to that point — I call it Nolan-itis. Yawn. I’d cut at least 10 minutes out of that final battle.

    • I don’t have a problem generally with Shane Black films. I just happen to feel he went too far this time. There was not one aspect of this film that I overly enjoyed. Yes, it was entertaining, which should be a given in this trilogy. Yet, what really separated the first two films was the fluidity and wit. Iron Man 3 felt forced and unnatural, that’s why I feel it ultimately failed. I absolutely agree, at least 10 minutes from the final battle and maybe one or two mid-air suit swaps as well haha :).

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