Aside from The Dark
Knight, which is the artistic zenith of comic books on film, my favorite
superhero pictures among the glut of them we’ve seen since the beginning of the 21st century
have got be the Iron Man movies. They
have all the flashy, explosion-filled action you’d expect from any superhero
movie, but what makes them so appealing is Robert Downey, Jr.’s portrayal of
Tony Stark. He brought a sharp wit and a mature, worldly disposition to the character much more relatable and appealing than the overly serious brooding
heroes that seem to be the norm today. Not only did he get the Marvel Cinematic
Universe off on the perfect foot, but he completely stole the show in last
year’s crossover event The Avengers.
And yet, I was a little weary going into Iron Man 3. You see, there seems to be a
curse on third entries in the superhero genre, as movie number three is often
where a series starts to go downhill. This happened in X-Men: The Last Stand. It happened in Spider-Man 3. It happened in Blade:
Trinity (though the first two Blade
movies weren't great compared to the more recent high quality fare). I liked The Dark Knight Rises, but even it was a
step down from its predecessor. If you want to go back even farther, you could
argue that Batman Forever and Superman 3 were the points when their
respective series took a turn for the worse.
Well, either this was more a coincidence than a curse, or Iron Man 3 is the one that breaks the
curse. In any case, this is a third installment done absolutely right. More than that, it’s arguably
the best Iron Man, maybe even the
best film in the Marvel canon.
It ups the action considerably, offering bigger
and better fights and stunt sequences than the preceding Marvel films, with an
army of shiny new Iron Men. Quite exciting, but what really makes the movie is the writing. Like every good maker of comic adaptations, writer-director
Shane Black, who penned the first two (and two best) entries in the Lethal Weapon series, and co-scribe Drew Pearce mine
the source material to great effect. In this case, inspiration is taken
from the popular “Extremis” arc.
Extremis is the name given to a man-made virus that gives those
infected incredible healing and kinetic powers. The purveyor of this creation is Aldrich
Killian (Guy Pearce), a competitor who Tony Stark had spurned years before. Around
the same time Killian re-emerges before Stark Industries, the U.S. falls under a wave of terror at the
hands of the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), a mysterious figure who hacks the airwaves
to taunt America while carrying out deadly attacks that leave no trace. Stark feels the wrath of the Mandarin and ends up presumed dead by the world at
large. In actuality left in the middle of nowhere with none of his
technological constructs to aid him, Starks sets out to find the Mandarin, as
well as investigate a possible link between this enemy and Killian.
But that’s just the plot on the most basic level. In addition to the bad guys, the film has Stark
fighting more personal battles. Haunted by his experiences seen in The Avengers, he finds himself unable to
sleep and becomes unhealthily entrenched in his work. Not only does this lead
to panic attacks, it also puts a strain on his relationship with Pepper Potts
(Gwyneth Paltrow), the head of Stark Industries and his significant other (the
effect on their relationship could have been explored a little more, but what
is presented is done well). This element adds more weight to Stark's journey and trials, and Downey aptly shows that underneath all the armor, the character is just as human as the rest of us. This angle, along with a bit more darkness in tone and subject matter, make for a
more intense and effecting experience than just pure special effects and
fighting would.
Yet at the same time, the movie is funny. Very, very funny. All the witty, snappy dialogue that’s standard in the series is put into overdrive, and there are
some moments of pure straight up comedy. And it all works, even among the
film’s darker moments. Countless action films satisfy on the humor and pure thrill level, but succeeding in both and
in presenting drama of substance isn’t exactly a common feat. Such is a small
achievement above and beyond the average action picture.
Best of all, the film finally presents villains worthy of Tony Stark. Yes, casting the British Ben Kingsley as the Chinese Mandarin seems like a pretty laughable idea (about as much as John Wayne playing Genghis Khan), and he does look rather
ridiculous early in the film, sermonizing in grainy videos like a B-movie bin Laden. But playing on that preconception, the character takes a turn that is unexpected to
say the least, and highly clever (if quite unfaithful to the comics). The best villain, however, is Guy Pearce, who not only matches Iron Man physically,
but measures up to Downey much more so on a character level than Jeff Bridges
in the first film or Mickey Rourke in the second. And his Extremis-infected henchmen make for more brutal enemies than the robots or
Chitauri aliens of films past.
The film brings the story of
Tony Stark to a satisfying point, though by no means a final ending that
precludes any further films with Downey. Indeed, Marvel has announced that this
marks the beginning of the next phase of their film universe, and just as the first Iron Man got things off to a great start, Iron Man 3 kicks off the next batch of movies on the right note, proving that the franchise still has a lot left in the tank. If this is any indication of things to
come, I’m looking forward to what Marvel Studios serves up in the future.
