Iron Man 3

Movie Review                                                                                                                  25/4/13

IRON MAN 3

2013

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Guy Pearce, Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Don Cheadle

Directed by: Shane Black

   

        In the interest of full disclosure, let it be known that this reviewer is more of a DC Comics fan than a Marvel one. That said, he hasn’t missed a single one of the films in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe, established with 2008’s Iron Man. The time has sped by on rocket boots, and with the Phase I films all in the bag, Phase II begins where it all started, with Iron Man.

            Robert Downey Jr. (who else?) is back as Tony Stark, tinkering with new gadgets even as the events of The Avengers give him sleepless nights. His girl Friday Pepper Potts (Paltrow) has moved in with him, but Stark just won’t give her the time of day even as the holidays approach. Enter the enigmatic terrorist mastermind The Mandarin (Kingsley), perpetrator of a series of vicious bomb attacks, one of which critically wounds Tony’s ex-bodyguard Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau). Tony swears revenge, and his home is assaulted by the Mandarin’s forces in return. Stranded in rural Tennessee, he enlists the help of a local kid (Ty Simpkins) to help patch his armour in anticipation of The Mandarin’s next strike. Tony also discovers links to Dr Aldrich Killian and Dr Maya Hansen, developers of the Extremis virus – a revolutionary piece of biotechnology that has turned dangerously unstable.

            Iron Man 3 is nothing short of a game-changer for the Marvel Cinematic Universe. In the film, Happy Hogan doesn’t work directly for Tony Stark anymore – a bit of leaning-against-the-fourth-wall winking, seeing as how Jon Favreau has passed on the director’s baton to Shane Black, who also co-wrote the screenplay with Drew Pearce. Once one of the most sought-after screenwriters in Hollywood, Black proves he’s still got the mojo he displayed with his screenplays for Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout in spades. Iron Man 3 has got his stamp all over it (notice the Christmas-time setting) and yet also delivers everything we’ve come to expect of a big-budget superhero blockbuster at the same time.

            The film is tightly-plotted and expertly paced; audiences certainly won’t be twiddling their thumbs waiting impatiently for the next action scene to roll around. Said action scenes are plenty inventive though – a daring mid-air rescue which Stark compares to playing “Barrel of Monkeys” and a dazzlingly-choreographed finale involving Stark hopping in and out of an array of Iron Man suits mid-combat being the prime examples. Black shows that he understands how important such displays are to the type of film he’s making, but never lets the story get drowned out by the din of high-octane bells and whistles.

            A section of viewers have taken Iron Man 2 to task for spending too much of its running time in setting up the big event, The Avengers. Iron Man 3 suffers no such problem. The focus is squarely back on Tony Stark, and by now it is impossible to imagine the character being played by anyone other than Robert Downey Jr. At this point in a franchise, the leading man is wont to display signs of weariness or that he’s only doing it for the paycheck – nope, not here. Downey Jr., armed with a new batch of one-liners and an even bigger new batch of armoured outfits, is having as much fun with the role as ever.

He doesn’t feel like he’s hogging the spotlight though, because both Don Cheadle and Gwyneth Paltrow get more to do here in their supporting parts. Col. James Rhodes’ “War Machine” has been given an image makeover and renamed “Iron Patriot”; the film doing a good job of showing how Rhodey is at his best fighting alongside Iron Man instead of merely playing errand boy for the US military. Pepper Potts finally gets to step out of her “beleaguered assistant” corner and throw some punches of her own, playing a pivotal part in the film’s climactic shipping dock battle. The subplot with Ty Simpkins’ character serving as Stark’s kid sidekick of sorts could have come off as twee, but it doesn’t eat into the meat of the proceedings and Stark’s interactions with the boy are amusing and heartfelt.

Also new to the series are Ben Kingsley, Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall. The Mandarin, the Fu-Manchu like archenemy of Iron Man in the comics, is reimagined as an unkempt, somewhat theatrical figure of the shadows – though there is of course more to him than that. Stalwart comic book fans might not like the way the character is ultimately handled, but it is clever enough and didn’t really bother this reviewer. Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian is a scientist who was ignored by Stark earlier in his career and doesn’t take too kindly to this, re-entering the fray with slicked-back hair and a spray tan. Pearce plays the “mousy to charismatic” angle well, when it could well have been overly cartoonish à la Jim Carrey’s Riddler in Batman Forever. The beautiful Rebecca Hall doesn’t get a lot of screen time, but is one of those actresses who plays “hot scientist” without a hitch.

It would seem that doing anything new within the confines of the wham-bam comic book blockbuster genre would be difficult, since every new entry seems to be measured against The Avengers or The Dark Knight trilogy. It is to the credit of Shane Black and the team behind Iron Man 3 then that the film is effortlessly invigorating, assured in its tone with a good sprinkling of humour mixed in with awe-inspiring, effects-heavy action sequences and well-written character moments. There probably isn’t a better way to kick off Phase II of Marvel’s Cinematic Universe than with this flick.

SUMMARY: Iron Man emerges tri-umphant under the direction of Shane Black with a three-quel that is anything but same-old same-old.

RATING: 4.5 out of 5 STARS

Jedd Jong 

Marvel's The Avengers

For F*** Magazine

Movie Review                                                                                                              1/5/12

MARVEL’S THE AVENGERS

(2012)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo

Directed by: Joss Whedon

Marvel Studios/Paramount Pictures/Walt Disney Pictures

           

            Ah, it feels like 2008 all over again. This summer’s crop of blockbusters seems to be a bountiful harvest, the likes of which have not been seen since that glorious year. In addition to traditional action movie fare, we’re getting two Marvel movies and a Batman sequel – just like in 2008! Thing is, since Iron Man and the Incredible Hulk, Marvel has given us the likes of Iron Man 2, Thor and Captain America, carefully constructing their movie universe – and DC has given us, uh, Green Lantern.

            The capstone to Marvel’s movie pyramid is this, The Avengers, the long-awaited mother of all team-ups first hinted at by S.H.I.E.L.D spymaster Nick Fury (Samuel L Jackson) in the post-credits sequence for Iron Man. Here, Fury wrangles up Iron Man/Tony Stark (Downey Jr), Bruce Banner/The Hulk (Ruffalo), Captain America/Steve Rogers (Evans), Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Black Widow/Natasha Romanoff (Scarlett Johansson) and Hawkeye/Clint Barton (Jeremy Renner). Their opponent: Thor’s vengeful half-brother Loki (Tom Hiddleston), who brings with him the alien Chitauri army to wreak havoc on earth. However, the in-fighting and ego clashes within the team itself threaten to break the heroes apart before the villains do.

           “Big man in a suit of amour,” Thor challenges Tony. “Take that away and what are you?” The movie's “suit of armour” would have to be its lavish production design, visual effects that are as high in quality as they are quantity and all the hype and marketing (Avengers cologne? Seriously?) However, take that away and the audience is left fleshed-out characters, a well-constructed mesh of a story, firecracker dialogue and solid performances across-the-board. This is something of a feat considering the immense scale, heavyweight ensemble and various other factors.

            Writer-director Joss Whedon is a self-professed comics super-fanboy and a veteran of cult-favourite TV shows such as Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel and Firefly, and knows a thing or two about character development. Here, he has managed to make a team-up movie that is more than the sum of its parts and that doesn’t collapse under its own weight. Everyone gets their time to shine, which could have well been a problem with all the comic book personalities jostling for the spotlight. His agile screenplay is also quick with the quips, including such gems as Iron Man’s ribbing of Thor (“doth mother know you weareth her drapes?”), S.H.I.E.L.D. agent and Captain America fanboy Phil Coulson (Clark Gregg) telling his hero “I watched you while you slept”, and Captain America instructing “Hulk? Smash.”

            The film is fine as a stand-alone piece, although it does help to have watched the earlier Marvel Cinematic Universe movies. It’s actually a good thing that almost everyone has played their characters before, and return to the roles with much ease. Robert Downey Jr is all snarky machismo as usual, Chris Evans ably portrays the old-fashion hero flung into a chaotic modern world, Chris Hemsworth channels a slightly more matured demigod that is still prone to brashness and Scarlett Johansson kicks more butt, though she faces competition from Cobie Smulders as S.H.I.E.L.D. agent Maria Hill, who frankly looks better in a catsuit. Mark Ruffalo is the newcomer, filling in for Edward Norton. Ruffalo possesses a scruffy, mild-mannered charm, and while his Banner is a close second to Norton’s (tied with Eric Bana’s), it works better for the team movie than his predecessor’s does. Oh, and there’s Jeremy Renner as the least interesting character – he does what he can, which is mostly looking cool with a bow and arrow.

            Tom Hiddleston is back as Loki, who was also the main villain of Thor. He portrays Thor’s adopted brother as something of a maniacal old-fashioned supervillain, prone to cackling, commanding people to kneel before him and launching into the occasional “puny earthlings” speech. Problem is, Loki’s vendetta is more with Thor himself than with the whole gang, and the Chitauri amount to nothing more than backup singers. It makes one wonder who might have been a better candidate for the villain of the piece. A mid-credits bonus scene promises that things will get worse for the Avengers in the sequel, though.

            Lest this review make the movie sound like an intimate character drama (it was codenamed “Group Hug” during production), rest assured that there is spectacle galore. There is a clever mix of big-scale action sequences and smaller hand-to-hand brawls, and the sets – which include the helicarrier, the airborne headquarters of the team, a crumbling Russian warehouse where Black Widow fights would-be interrogators, a Stuttgart opera house and the climactic battle against the alien invaders in New York, are all excellent playing fields for things to unfold. However, this sometimes borders on visual overkill, with so much happening so fast. The use of post-converted 3D is among the most effective ever though.

Marvel has been pretty consistent with the movies that make up their Cinematic Universe and produced by their own studio, and continue the trend with their biggest yet. All the components that make a successful comic book movie blockbuster have been welded together, spray-painted with nice glossy colours and packaged in a pretty box. To follow through with the analogy, it would fly off the shelves just like the actual Avengers action figures probably will.

SUMMARY: The crown jewel of the Marvel movie crown is a big, sparkly rock that was worth every penny it took to get it made.

RATING: 4/5 STARS

Jedd Jong