"Iron Man 3" Review and Discussion Thread (spoilers)

[JarodRussell]

The thing with this on demand/renting stuff is: you can't keep it. Digital copies expire as well.

If you buy a DVD or blu ray, you keep it.

That's a big difference people are starting to find out recently. Just look at the recent PS4/XBox One rages when Microsoft wanted to prevent sharing of games.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Yep and things on Netflix and others only say there for so long. Things you want to be sure of you keep a copy.

 

[Mr Light]

I'll never trust this digital/cloud stuff... how do I know it's not gonna go away? If I own the disc, I know it's there. Never trust technology or availability

 

[TemporalFlux]

With digital streaming, you're also hostage of data caps which are increasingly used by more and more service providers. With the cap, you might get to watch a few movies before you start paying more in fees than you ever would have to buy the disc. But once physical media is dead, you'll have no choice. They'll have you trapped .

 

[JarodRussell]

Hopefully people will discover that about cloud services as well. Once the services goes down, you have lost all your data.

Same with online games and games that require online authentication. Can't play them anymore once the publisher is broke or decides keeping the servers up isn't worth it.

 

[JD]

That's part of the reason I like ITunes, I can actually burn all of the shows/movies that I buy to discs.
The only non-physical things I have from other services my ebooks and the first Mass Effect game for my PS3. The only reason I got ME1 digitally is because the only way to get a physical version is on the trilogy set, and I already own the other two. I will admit, I am a little nervous about all of the ebooks I've gotten, but I would like to think if something happened that B&N went away that somebody would do something to allow me to keep my e-books.

 

[ATimson]

I will admit, I am a little nervous about all of the ebooks I've gotten, but I would like to think if something happened that B&N went away that somebody would do something to allow me to keep my e-books.

That "something" already exists, though with B&N you have a much lesser fear than with other ebook vendors. For Amazon or other ePub retailers, you're dependent on Amazon or Adobe sticking around; B&N you just need a computer you can reinstall the reader on.

If you're going to take advantage of "something", though, best do it while you can instead of waiting until the last minute. You never know when it'll be too late to (re)download them from B&N.

 

[Magellan]

I actually really liked the movie. The comedy really worked for me. It was different and thats good.

I see so many people complaining about the Mandarin but did anyone not see this coming?

I saw the FIRST trailer and said "oh yeah the blond guys gotta be the real bad guy"
I mean we all knew we were never gonna see a racist Chinese caricature as a bad guy(CHinese govt is touchy about anything related to China), and as soon as we see Guy Pierce you know were not going to have a central asian terrorist as a bad guy. Hollywood really doesnt like minority villains. I mean why else would Guy Pierce even be in the movie. I almost wish they had cast a lesser known and kept him outta the trailer so I could have been surprised.

 

[Mr Light]

I was totally fooled. I had assumed the Mandarin was going to be... the Mandarin... and that Pierce was going to be the underling. Never in a million years did I think they would do that to the ultimate villain of the franchise. Yeah, it was funny, but... I wanted my Mandarin!

 

[Nick Ryder]

Well I still think there could be "A" Mandarin out there somewhere all pissed off that this no socks wearing Don Johnson wannabe was using his name and likeness and he's just waiting for a chance to go all alien ring on someone's ass.

But I liked it - it was a good merging of the Extemis storyline and a good wrap up to the Iron Man trilogy. I'm SURE part of the reason behind it all was in case RDJr didn't re-up for any future movies, they had a good 'out' for him that felt satisfying. Plus I think in some ways it also helps make his full time move to New York work a bit better too - really the last time Tony Stark lived in Malibu was the early 90s and then he moved back to NYC until shortly after the whole Heroes Return thing and he moved to Seattle but always wound up hanging around NYC - granted that was the first time they introduced Stark Tower - and then later they just made it the epicenter of everything Tony Stark.

But anyway... I watched it twice already and I enjoyed it as much as I did. I think you can appreciate it more after you've watched Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, the last movie RDJr did with Shane Black. I know a lot people were miffed that Tony spent a lot less time in the suit - but I think the finale sort of compensated (overcompensated) for that - plus I'm one of those Iron Man fans that think some of the best stories were the ones were Tony didn't have the Iron Man readily accessible or he had a half working suit and had to cobble something together until he could get a fresh suit or properly repair it. The Iron Legion notwithstanding - it did feel like a 60s era story with modern elements. Basically Tony with nothing but barely functional prototype armor that he has to make do with until the bad guy is beaten or until the plot lets him have something that works. And I'm honestly kinda glad that it wasn't Tony in a fully functional Iron Man that took down the big bad, posing for the camera and going 'wow that was a rough fight. Now Pepper, let's get home. Oh yeah we don't have a home. New York?" and flying off with Pepper in his arms or something equally cheesy.

I'm also glad they did away with the dependency on the arc reactor in his chest. I think once you can make a suit that Rhodey can wear without having a reactor drilled into his chest cavity - you pretty much make keeping the round glowy thing obsolete. Plus it had the desired effect - the Tony Stark at the end of Iron Man 3 is a totally different man than the Tony Stark he was even at the end of Iron Man 1.

The ONLY thing that miffed me - that they killed off Maya Hansen. Sure she only recently was killed in the comics - but she was still around for a while. Ah well.

I do hope they bring back War Machine in Avengers 2 - even if its only a cameo and in a suit that looks more like the 'War Machine Mark 2' or something closer to his Mark 1.

One thing that does sort of... make me wonder and it may just be different angles or something but - did they change the main Stark Industries building in this movie from what it was Iron Man 1 and 2? Just looks different

 

[Mage]

After watching Iron Man 1 yesterday, my appreciation for Tony's character arc has gone up quite a lot, yet again. And Iron Man 3 makes sense, when it comes to Tony.

In part 1, he had this big epiphany about his life and that it needed a new direction. He was taken from the edge of death, and given a new lease on life.
In part 2, he's a bit of an arrogant prick, but we realise that he is still dying, but now because of the invention that supposedly saved him! That does a lot to a man. Plus, all the good things he can do now as Iron Man will be lost on the world when he's gone. He's so protective about safe-guarding his armour from the military, because he has no idea what's going to happen with this tool for doing good after he dies and the military will get their hands on it. Thankfully, he's both able to safe his life again, and make sure the armor can stay away from the military.
Now, the Avengers.... Tony finds out, that after all, he is still mortal. The chestpiece keeps him alive from the shrapnel and the newer version isn't lethal anymore. But despite all the strength his armour gives him, he can still be killed and almost was. And not just that, that means he's not capable of simply stopping all threats just by showing up and doing his Iron Man thing.
Enter Iron Man 3.... Tony's on edge. So worried about not just protecting himself, but also the people he loves, he is on a continues quest to better his armour, making different versions for all kinds of calamities, trying to make sure he is always prepared. He loses himself in it, it drives him and seperates him from the ones he loves, to a point where he has panic attackes and is always questioning his abilities. Ultimatly, he learns that not only is he capable of achieving victory without the armours, his loved ones are quite capable of protecting themselves, and if need be, him.
And that's what the last line in the movie means. In part 1, it was 'I am Iron Man', with the emphasis on Iron Man. Now, the emphasis is on 'I', meaning Tony is himself.

 

[The Old Mixer]

^To split hairs, in the first film I believe the emphasis was on the "am".

 

[Mage]

^To split hairs, in the first film I believe the emphasis was on the "am".

True enough.

 

[Corran Horn]

One thing I thought was odd from IM3 - the new suit seemed like it was a lot weaker than previous suits. Maybe that was because it was still a prototype. The whole 'charging the suit' in the background for most of the second half of the film - Can't the suits be powered by Tony's arc reactor? Or are they all standalone now like presumably War Machine/Iron Patriot is? I guess it had to be since Pepper wears it.

Plus, I know how the Extremis-powered villains at the end were supposed to be uber and all that but plenty of the JARVIS-powered suits were just shredded by their bare hands. I dunno - compared to taking on a tank in the first film the suits just seemed weaker this go-round.

 

[Dream]

One think I thought was odd from IM3 - the new suit seemed like it was a lot weaker than previous suits.

I just assumed Tony went with much cheaper metal for the suits after the Mark VII (Avengers suit). He was more interested in making as many as possible.

That's the problem with an armored character, it is hard make the audience feel like the character is ever in any sort of danger. That's why the writers had the suit at half power in IM1 final fight, Stark out of his suit when he first meets Whiplash in IM2, and a prototype suit that only works half of the time in IM3. Even the suit ran out of power at one point in the Avengers.

 

[Turtletrekker]

I enjoyed IM3 a lot more on video than I did in the theater. I think that maybe getting some distance from the whole Mandarin thing helped. I mean, I still don't really like what they did with him, but it wasn't really a deal-breaker in the end and it was still a good flick.

 

[Set Harth]

In my case, getting some distance from the other people in the theater helped.

 

[Anwar]

Plus, I know how the Extremis-powered villains at the end were supposed to be uber and all that but plenty of the JARVIS-powered suits were just shredded by their bare hands. I dunno - compared to taking on a tank in the first film the suits just seemed weaker this go-round.

The Extremis soldiers weren't using just their enhanced strength on the Armors, they were also using their heat generation powers too. That was what was carving the suits more than anything else. We never saw Tony facing off with anyone that could generate melting heat before. Heck, one major weakness of the armor in the first film was dealing with extreme cold.

 

[Corran Horn]

Plus, I know how the Extremis-powered villains at the end were supposed to be uber and all that but plenty of the JARVIS-powered suits were just shredded by their bare hands. I dunno - compared to taking on a tank in the first film the suits just seemed weaker this go-round.

The Extremis soldiers weren't using just their enhanced strength on the Armors, they were also using their heat generation powers too. That was what was carving the suits more than anything else. We never saw Tony facing off with anyone that could generate melting heat before. Heck, one major weakness of the armor in the first film was dealing with extreme cold.

Yeah, and it was enough to force Rhodey out. Good point.

 

[Nick Ryder]

Plus they were being flown on remote control without an actual human pilot inside, so the suits weren't really being flown with self preservation in mind. They were drone tanks for all intents and purposes. Target, fire and attack were their primary mission goals, avoiding being hit wasn't really a huge factor.

Plus, the Marks 3-7 were about as strong as these other suits really, they took a lot of damage and the only thing that kept them flying (besides plot) was that Tony was inside doing what he could to keep them going, diverting power, boosting shields or whatever and other stuff, why would he say things like that if JARVIS could do it all automatically, JARVIS can't.

Plus it was clear that the heat they generated was extremely extremely hot and more than enough to cut through an empty suit or even a worn suit without much effort. Hot knife through butter.

Although one thing that I am rather... well curious about... if all or most of his other suits could be deployed and worn by them simply opening around him, without needing the whole process we saw in the first 3 Iron Man appearances, what was the real point of the Mark 42? Sure each piece could be controlled and deployed with gestures and thought and could be completely independent, but we saw other suits doing similar things. Plus they just opened up around him like his Avengers suit and later Rhodey's suit and all the others.

I mean the 42 I suppose was just yet another prototype he was playing with, but even so didn't really seem super necessary once he figured out some of the key things that made his other suits more of a chore to wear.

No longer needing to use his own arc reactor for power - they all presumably had their own now. They were able to be worn without the helper arms. And they could now be entirely piloted by JARVIS so if he needed another suit, he just had to call for it.

I still think he had more than one armory than the wine cellar suits we saw. I'll bet there's another armory in NYC - even if it's only variations of the Mark 7/8.