After months of waiting finally Marvel delivers to us the gold and crimson avengers much anticipated third sequel. As expected Robert Downey Jr. is excellent as ever, and surprisingly I finally accepted Don Cheadle as James Rhodes. Gwyneth Paltrow proved to us that she can convincingly carry Pepper Pots character even as she shift her gears to action mode. As for Ben Kingsly I must commend him brilliant acting. If you went to watch Iron Man three with an open mind expecting to be entertained with effects and twists then you may be in a treat. There are interesting twists and character development. However for fans like me who anxiously waited how this third sequel would translate specific Iron Man mythos into the cinema then sad to say you will be terribly disappointed. Once again like most hollywood franchise Iron Man has fallen to the "Third Part is a Misfire" curse. And it is a shame because there are high points in this movie. Here I blame the script and direction by Shane Black which makes one wonder what if John Farveaou was kept to helm this third sequel. With Favreaue not only did he made us believe in Iron Man mythos but also set the right direction for other sequels to follow. The second one may have some misses but it was acceptable. But for this third part now helmed by Shane Black, couldn't help feel I was cheated.
MAJOR SPOILER AHEAD!!!!!!!! MY ANALYSIS OF IRON MAN 3
It is a mortal sin for any comic book movie to radically deviate from the source material and this is what Shane Black just did. He should have realized that fans have been anticipating for Iron Man to face his main nemesis since day 1. And now after years of waiting we learn here there is no Mandarin! the 10 rings in his fingers are just props! The worst part is so much hype was given to the asian / arabic looking Mandarin.
It seems that Marvel does not have the balls to make the Mandarin's persona a Bin Ladin-like terrorist. If so then Marvel should not have given us false advertisement. Perhaps Shane Black/Marvel is so much concerned not to offend the asian community with the Mandarin that they opted make the real Mandarin white and add a FALSE Mandarin (Ben Kingsley )which is actually a "actor" . This is even more deplorable! Because the actor playing the false Mandarin acts like a buffoon and looks very much in asian.
Bottom-line most fans do expect to see the cinematic version of the Mandarin to be equally imposing and would retain his signature arsenal -- the 10 rings --just like in the comics. I for one is open for the Mandarin's at being just a super megalomaniac tycoon instead. Focusing on armor wars or tech wars.
Another complaint is that the Mandarin's henchmen have super-strength and innate superpowers. This is an eyesore since Iron Man 1 has set the specific tone that has carried on even on the second sequel-- hi-tech but keep it real. (Personally, I have always expected that each Marvel superhero comic / movies has a specific genre to maintain. For hi-tech stuff its Iron Man, for the Supernatural its Thor. For raw action its Captain America and so forth. These genre may only make cross over during the "Avengers".)
Finally although some fans may find it disappointing for Tony Stark to finally remove the shrapnel and electromagnet/reactor off his chest, I for one has welcomed the change. It has been quite too long and perhaps modern medical advancement may have already provided a cure to his health problem. This also provide flexibility and solution for controlling Iron man drones. And for Tony Stark retiring and destroying all the Iron Man-- I guess this is the logical consequence for someone who does not keep a secret identity.
To be fare I really do like the twist in this story --Ben Kingsley being just a decoy. But fans don't just want o see a cool twists on Iron Man 3. As advertised we wanted to see Iron Man go fight his main nemessis. The movie remjnded me of another superhero movie misfire Fantastic Four 2-- where instead of Galactus we see clouds. In the end, as credits began to roll I couldnot help but wait and watch end credit video. Hoping in vain to see an easter egg I had in mind for Iron Man 3. In that video it would feature a dark room. And in the shadows we see Ken Watanabe meditating ... in his hands fingers are the ten rings. Suddenly one of his ring lit up and he looks at the audience and says "Mission accomplish! Now phase 2."