Iron Man Three Review

It's been a long time since I've written a review.  I've been through a lot but there are no excuses.  But I'm inspired to come back again and hopefully for good this time. Iron Man 3 marks the end of the Iron Man trilogy and has him facing his arch nemesis the Mandarin.  The Mandarin is to Iron Man as The Joker is to Batman... a violent sociopath with powers bestowed onto him by rings that can warp the very nature of reality.  It's a match of magic versus technology that defines Tony Stark as both a man and as a hero.

Unfortunately, it's spoiler time boys and girls so do not read any further if you haven't seen the movie and intend to see it without bias.  I'm not kidding... skedaddle, shoo... alright you can stay.  But don't say I didn't warn you.  The movie drops the ball in that The Mandarin isn't the villain of the movie, some nobody declares himself The Mandarin but the epic, evil, egomaniac that Ben Kingsley sold to us in the trailers wasn't present.  This would be a big twist and good storytelling if these weren't established characters but they are.  Iron Man 3 is a great movie but it is an awful comic book movie.

The element that makes good comic book movies is the dynamic bigger than life characters.  Robert Downey Jr is Tony Stark, he is Iron Man, he plays his role to the hilt and delivers an amazing performance every time.  If you've seen the trailers you know that Ben Kingsley does a fantastic Mandarin, he owns the character, right up until the moment that it's inexplicably taken from him.  As it turns out the Mandarin isn't real, he's a figure head used as the "face of evil" while the real bad guy runs the show.  You know like in Batman Begins but instead of being the "real Mandarin" the new guy is a weak mustache twirling villain that is literally upset that Tony Stark stood him up when they had a date.  He is the weakest villain that has appeared in a Marvel Studios movie and was a pathetic excuse for the ending of a trilogy.

In the first Iron Man movie the Ten Rings is established as a terrorist group and like myself most people thought this was an allusion to The Mandarin.  In this movie we find out that the terrorist group the Ten Rings isn't real... *skkkkkrrrrtt*  Huh?  The side villains of the first movie aren't real?  The huge terrorist organization isn't real?  Iron Man 3 throws away so much history and established characters just for an overdone cheap fake out that I didn't see coming only because it was really really dumb.  Iron Man 3 is still a good movie but it is not a good comic book movie.  It gives the middle finger to fans of the comics and replaces a dynamic character with one that is shallow and forgettable.

I know this is a good movie but anyone who is a fan of the comics is likely to be a lot disappointed. The friends that I went to see it with who didn't know who The Mandarin was loved it.  As a fan of the comic I found the whole thing to be a slap in the face and overall disappointing.  

Time for the Five Bees!!!!

Blood:  Tony Stark gets plenty banged up this movie and the violence is a little over the top.  People are turned into living suicide bombs, plenty of people are shot to death, limbs are chopped off, and on more than one occasion someone has a fist rammed through their chest.  I'm surprised the movie got away with a PG-13 rating with the death count being as high as it was. 

Babes:  Rebecca Hall and Gwyneth Paltrow are both looking beautiful and both end up briefly scantily clad though maybe not as scantily clad as one might like.  Speaking of clad it was cool to see Gwyneth Paltrow wearing a suit of armor if only briefly.  

Baddie: This is where the movie falls flat on it's face.  The new guy coming in and declaring he is the Mandarin at the end would be like if Killer Croc showed up during Dark Knight Rises dressed in a skin tight leather outfit and claimed that he was Catwoman.  It was a bad twist and left a sour taste in anyone's mouth who was looking forward to the fight between Iron Man and The Mandarin that was foreshadowed since the first movie. 

Boom: No complaints here, there are so many good explosions.  Even at the end, Tony Stark blows up his suits for no good reason.  As a grand gesture to his girlfriend who has just expressed an understanding to why he wears the suits. 

Bad Acting: Guy Pearce was hamming it up like you wouldn't believe.  If he had a mustache he would twirl that mother.  Snidely Whiplash would have been a more subtle villain. 

Overall Rating: 6.5