My feelings on Iron Man Three are very mixed, and I may need to see it again before I can give it a solid rating, but for now, I can safely say that Iron Man Three did not disappoint. However, was it the movie I expected? Not at all. From the trailers, Iron Man Three looked as though it would take us in a very dark direction, with Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) coming to terms with the dangers he faced fighting alongside The Avengers, and how this affects his life with love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Although I was expecting the movie to maintain Tony's wit and charm and the often humorous interactions he has with other characters, I was looking forward to seeing the character taken in such a bold direction. From the trailers, it looked like Tony would be taken into some dark places when facing a new threat in the form of the menacing Mandarin, instead of mature themes like Anxiety and Alcoholism being joked off as they were in Iron Man 2. But, for better or worse, Iron Man Three felt a lot more like a comedy than the drama/thriller it's marketing suggested it would be.
In a lot of ways, Iron Man Three leans more towards Iron Man 2 and The Avengers with some sharp, witty banter between characters and no lack of laugh out loud moments, some subtle, some not so much. The original Iron Man, I felt, did a great job of mixing some hilarious quips without failing to realise the danger and threat of the movie's villains. Unfortunately, a lot of these themes in Iron Man Three are simply joked off. The first hour or so does a great job of grounding this threat to Iron Man and everyone close to him, introducing a new threatening antagonist in the form of The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) who is built up as one of the most villainous of enemies Iron Man may ever face. Despite many changes made from the character's persona and backstory, the movie does a good job of working the character into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and grounding him in this world. That is for the first hour or so of the movie...
Around the movie's halfway point, perhaps later, there is a revelation, and this is what I think will split audiences. Whilst some viewers may find this to be an interesting twist that provides the movie with some hilarious interactions, I can easily see comic book fans (and maybe even non-comic book readers) being very unwelcoming to a drastic change in a character's persona. Without spoiling this twist, I have to say I still have very mixed feelings. What was done with the character was an interesting take that set the tone for the rest of the movie. But, whether you liked or not, I can't help but feel this could have been done with a totally different character, perhaps even an all-new made up character, instead of wasting so much potential for a true arch-nemesis for Iron Man. The same goes for the introduction of Iron Patriot. Although I have no problem with how he was handled, despite the changes made, I did struggle to find an absolute reason why War Machine needed a paint job. Unfortunately, all of these new characters and backstories, twists and turns, overall, made the movie feel messy and overwhelming at times.
I should probably clarify, I still really enjoyed Iron Man Three. RDJ never fails to remind us how perfect he is for the role of Tony Stark, and his interactions with characters often had me howling with laughter. Unfortunately, the movie suffers from the same problem all third movies in a trilogy (especially comic book movie trilogies) seem to have, and that's too much going on. Whether it's down to having too many plots playing out at once, or too many characters to be realized within a two hour runtime, Iron Man Three comes off as overbearing one too many times. It's still a great conclusion to one of the best comic book movies trilogies, the movie just has a lot going against it. There are many moments that almost make up for it including a climax of an epic scale, and some intense action throughout. However, by the movie's end, I was pretty sucked out of the movie, and any sense of danger or fear for the characters was almost completely gone.
I hate to be so negative about Iron Man Three. I may have felt completely different about it had I been expecting something so different in tone to what I though the movie would be. Although there were some great action sequences, and although Iron Man has never looked this good, there are moments, to me at least, that can feel like wasted opportunities. But, there is enough to like here for me to give Iron Man three and a half stars.
My rating: ★★★1/2
-George