Deciding to take the reins of Iron Man 3 must not have been easy for director Shane Black. Sure, it’s a high-profile gig for a guy who hasn’t really been relevant for a while now–Black’s heyday was in the ultraviolent Eighties and early Nineties, scripting shoot-em-up fare like Lethal Weapon and The Last Boy Scout. It’s also an opportunity to run wild in the Marvel Universe, which must be akin to being set loose with a blank check in the world’s biggest, most expensive toy store. But taking the reins of Tony Stark’s third solo cinematic adventure also meant delivering a product that could play as a pseudo-sequel to The Avengers, a movie that raised that bar considerably for filmic superhero mayhem, as well as redeeming the Iron Man series after a disappointingly haphazard second chapter. Thankfully, Black (re-teaming with Robert Downey Jr. after 2005’s critically hailed but little seen comedy-noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang) fits the series like a repulsor-powered gauntlet, delivering a light-hearted, fast-paced action thriller that pushes high-tech hero Tony Stark forward by, paradoxically, returning him to his low-tech roots.
Iron Man 3 finds Tony Stark in the throes of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder after helping his fellow superheroes battle an alien invasion in 2012’s The Avengers. This makes perfect sense, considering that he isn’t a super-soldier, an international spy, a gamma-powered monster, or a god–he’s just a really smart dude with a high-tech battlesuit. Make that battlesuits, actually–since the Battle Of New York, Tony has been tinkering nonstop with an ever-more-advanced array of armors and gadgets, just in case he might need them to save the life of his now live-in girlfriend, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Unfortunately, he’s been building his armors at the expense of his relationship with Pepper, and the relationship is becoming strained. Meanwhile, a series of terror attacks by a sinister mastermind known only as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), utilizing a cadre of genetically-engineered human bombs, culminates in the hospitalization of Stark’s pal Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), causing Tony to publicly challenge the villain to a showdown. The Mandarin responds swiftly, sending a phalanx of helicopter gunships to take out Tony and his beachside mansion in Malibu, separating Tony and Pepper and ultimately sending Iron Man off to Tennessee to try and find the connection between the Mandarin and a pair of Tony’s old scientist colleagues, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall). But, with his armor critically damaged in the assault on his home, Tony has to once again rely on his scientific brilliance and ingenuity to save the day, just like he did back in 2008’s original Iron Man.
The trailers for Iron Man 3 appear to give away a great deal of the plot, showing great big chunks of the Mandarin’s helicopter attack, a daring Air Force One rescue sequence, and the film’s conclusion, which sees Tony remotely summoning 42 different incarnations of the Iron Man armor to help him and Rhodey (Don Cheadle) battle the Mandarin’s army of Extremis soldiers. But Shane Black and co-scripter Drew Pearce still have plenty of tricks up their sleeves. Iron Man 3 is a movie not predicated on one Big Twist, instead containing a series of built-in smaller ones that are clever, satisfying, and in some cases, very funny (avoid all spoilers as to the true nature of the Mandarin–you’ll be glad you did, as it’s probably the movie’s best reveal). Not everything about the plot makes total sense; the villains’ plot can be a bit tricky to navigate, and Maya Hansen’s character goes nowhere (which, in an already crowded movie, makes her doubly redundant). Also, Tony is able to send his armor to protect Pepper at a key moment, but claims he can’t do the same for Rhodey during the film’s final battle–why not, exactly? But, even though at two hours and fifteen minutes, this is the longest Iron Man film, it somehow feels like the shortest. The set pieces avoid the lifeless CGI that is so prevalent in action movies these days, feeling refreshingly practical and, as a result, much more exciting and dangerous (the Air Force One rescue is a hair-raising highlight). Downey once again propels the movie forward with his performance as Tony Stark. He’s still the same glib genius as before, only now much more haunted and desperate. While stranded in Tennessee, he enlists the aid of a whiz kid named Harley (Ty Simpkins), in a subplot that could have been annoyingly sugary but generates some of the film’s biggest laughs. And the conclusion can be read as either the end of Tony’s journey or the beginning of his next one (Downey has now fulfilled his contract with Marvel Studios, leaving the possibility of his return to the role up in the air for now). Shane Black leaves you wanting more while also feeling good about the fact that this might be the definitive ending to the Iron Man saga–a feat truly worthy of a superhero.
Check out the other reviews for Iron Man 3:
Iain McNally’s Review
Michelle Ealey’s Review
Royal Lance Eustache’s Review
Ryan Morrissey-Smith’s Review
