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

[davejames]

Thought it was pretty good, but unfortunately I thought the second half still suffered from the same kind of aimless and unfocused storytelling the second movie did.

And for whatever reason the whole Extremis thing didn't grab me either. The villains made of lava or fire who could heal themselves instantly felt more like something from an X-Men movie. And while I had no attachment to the comic book Mandarin, I couldn't help but feel disappointed that instead of the scary terror mastermind that had been built up, we were just stuck with the hammy Guy Pearce as the main villain.

 

[Set Harth]

Plus, thanks to That Moment, IRON MAN has just about the wildest plot twist since THE CRYING GAME.

If Pepper suddenly pulled out her penis I would have walked out.

 

[LaxScrutiny]

I enjoyed the movie, I thought it was the lessor of the three in many ways though. Has the film been released everywhere and can we dispense with spoiler code?
I completely missed noticing Stan Lee as the pageant judge.

I thought that there were a lot of plot holes or poorly explained situations. When Tony was buying all that stuff at the building supply, how was he paying for it? Did he have a credit card in his underwear? Wasn't he reported dead? If he had access to funds, why didn't he buy a higher voltage generator and repower his suit? Or a real pistol? He was staying undercover, so he didn't just phone Pepper. So how did he have any money at all?

That's just an example, but what bugged me more was the Maya Hansen character. She was ok with setting up and participating in Pepper's kidnapping and torture, she was ok with the idea of extortion and essential having Tony as slave labour, not to mention the intellectual property theft, but she was READY TO COMMIT SUICIDE in the blink of an eye without any previous character development showing any remorse, feeling of responsibility, or ethics. If she did inject herself with that Extremis serum, Killian would still have coerced Tony to work on the solution, as we saw. The entire scene didn't make a lick of sense, either logically, or in terms of her character. The point was to show Killian as ruthless, which we saw anyway.

I thought the ending scene played too much like a Transformers movie. The idea of all the suits working on their own was cute, but along with Tony running the 42 by remote, it made the whole thing impersonal. At the end, with Tony out of the armour, it gets personal again, but Tony can't handle Killian without armour. I guess the message was that it takes Tony + armour to have an Iron Man, but it didn't really gel.

You have Killian who can melt armour with his hands, and Tony who can fly in armour and has ranged attacks, and of course we end up with Tony going hand to hand with Killian. I realize it kind of required that plot device, but the fight choreography should made it the only choice. As it was it ended up just making Tony look like he can't think his way through a fight, which is supposed to be his real super power.

Losing the chest piece? Well, if Loki tries to take control of him again like in Avengers, he loses that defense.

 

[DarthPipes]

For plot hole/poorly explained thing, it would have to be the lack of any kind of SHIELD/military presence at Tony's home when he was being attacked. Tony Stark just calls out the Mandarian and tells him where to find him. Someone from the government would have been survailing his home in case The Mandarian arrived. They wouldn't have passed up that opportunity.

 

[Dr.H]

About the Mandarin twist complaint, I really don't get it: The Mandarin is a mediocre comic villain who essentially is a chinese Doctor Doom born out of 40's racial caricatures. Sure, the character in the modern comics has long since evolved from the the shameful racist stereotype he was but even then he wasn't all that much of a villian to begin with. The only reason he even is Iron Man's greatest enemy is because Iron Man has one of the weakest rogues in comics history. His other villains are either bland businessman in suits who serve as dark contrasts to him or just one shots. He isn't Joker or Dr. Doom in which he deserves a faithful adaption that does justice to the character. Heck, the basic concept of the character is mindbogglingly laughable--He's a descendant of Ghegis Khan who happens upon an alien spaceship and finds rings that give him powers. Granted, one could argue that he was dis-serviced in a humiliating way but really in my my view it was more than worthy for a very meh villain. I enjoyed Kingsly's performance and his version of the character is by far the best version of the character in any medium, though that's not saying much.

Anyway, I enjoyed this flick but it need to be played more straight.

 

[Admiral2]

Above Average.

I don't know what the naysayers are talking about. I had no problem following the story. I didn't find it confusing or disjointed in the least. In fact, I thought it was better story-wise than 2. I had a grand old time.

So...

...anybody else cheer when "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" () fell into the lake of fire?

 

[LaxScrutiny]

So...

...anybody else cheer when "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" () fell into the lake of fire?

No.

Being over 40 myself, Gwyneth is the sexiest thing on two legs. The portrayal of her in the IM movies does nothing but emphasize this. She is competent, they have a relationship that is serious and amazing, considering what having billions of dollars is going to do to anyone's personality. The loss that Tony would actually have if Pepper were killed feels real. Now, I didn't believe for a minute that Pepper was dead, but I believed what Tony would have felt watching her fall into the fire.

 

[Dr.H]

Another gripe I have with the film is that even after supposedly Gweneth's character dies Tony still makes one liners(which I nodded my head)/ The movie needed to be played more straight and not overuse the "quip button". I had a similar problem with the Avengers, though I feel in this it was more prevalent and thus more bothersome.

 

[DarthPipes]

So...

...anybody else cheer when "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" () fell into the lake of fire?

No.

Being over 40 myself, Gwyneth is the sexiest thing on two legs. The portrayal of her in the IM movies does nothing but emphasize this. She is competent, they have a relationship that is serious and amazing, considering what having billions of dollars is going to do to anyone's personality. The loss that Tony would actually have if Pepper were killed feels real. Now, I didn't believe for a minute that Pepper was dead, but I believed what Tony would have felt watching her fall into the fire.

I think Pepper is the best superhero love interest in these movies. Unlike so many, she brought a lot to the table and I was glad that the first two movies didn't revolve around her getting kidnapped at the end just like Mary Jane in every Raimi Spider-Man film. Even here, the final battle doesn't revolved completely around her kidnapping and she contributes at the end.

 

[Dream]

'Iron Man 3' opens with massive $68.31 million on Friday! One of the Biggest Openings Ever!

 

[stj]

Mercilessly savaging the comic book version of The Mandarin was absolutely correct. It put the comics in proper perspective.

Concluding the Tony/Pepper story with all the Iron Man suits blown up, the shrapnel removed, Pepper handwaved back to normal and Stark announcing he's a changed man? Well, the notion that growing up means abandoning juvenile comic book notions of adult empowerment (complete with total ability to kick ass on the playground!) is pretty obvious. Given Tony Stark is a billionaire with movie star looks and whatever woman he wants just brings us commonplace fantasies about unlimited wealth and sex.

This is not an emotionally compelling conclusion. It may not be scifi, so you might claim it is more grounded or something, but that doesn't make it any more realistic. Not in any significant meaning of that much abused adjective, anyhow.

The visuals and design simply are not as effective as in previous Iron Man movies. There's nothing as imaginative as the whips. And the scene where Downey appears to be charging the Iron Man suit from a car battery goes beyond having a light touch, into making fun of your material.

Although the conclusion is not as satisfying as the makers would want, the journey however is quite amusing. The dialogue is fresh, the score is effective. I rated the movie above average for these reasons.

 

[Admiral2]

So...

...anybody else cheer when "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" () fell into the lake of fire?

No.

Being over 40 myself, Gwyneth is the sexiest thing on two legs.

I'm 43. What's age got to do with anything?

But since you brought it up, I can name a bunch of actresses over forty that are sexier.

The portrayal of her in the IM movies does nothing but emphasize this. She is competent, they have a relationship that is serious and amazing, considering what having billions of dollars is going to do to anyone's personality. The loss that Tony would actually have if Pepper were killed feels real. Now, I didn't believe for a minute that Pepper was dead, but I believed what Tony would have felt watching her fall into the fire.

This isn't about RDJ's acting ability. This is about the indirect thrill of watching a self-centered, air-headed walking pencil stick burn, however briefly.

But okay, nicer question: Ya think they'll give the pencil stick her own suit of armor like in Iron Man Armored Adventures?

 

[Dream]

Gwyneth Paltrow Wants Her Own Pepper Potts Movie

 

[royalfan5]

I enjoyed enough, but I wish there would have been greater development of the motivations of the villians.

 

[ryan123450]

I'd rate it the lowest of the three films, but still a good flick. The barrel of monkeys rescue was the best part. I enjoyed Bruce Banner as well. All the villians were pretty hollow and uninteresting though.

 

[JD]

So...

...anybody else cheer when "The Most Beautiful Woman in the World" () fell into the lake of fire?

No.

Being over 40 myself, Gwyneth is the sexiest thing on two legs.

I'm 43. What's age got to do with anything?

But since you brought it up, I can name a bunch of actresses over forty that are sexier.

The portrayal of her in the IM movies does nothing but emphasize this. She is competent, they have a relationship that is serious and amazing, considering what having billions of dollars is going to do to anyone's personality. The loss that Tony would actually have if Pepper were killed feels real. Now, I didn't believe for a minute that Pepper was dead, but I believed what Tony would have felt watching her fall into the fire.

This isn't about RDJ's acting ability. This is about the indirect thrill of watching a self-centered, air-headed walking pencil stick burn, however briefly.

But okay, nicer question: Ya think they'll give the pencil stick her own suit of armor like in Iron Man Armored Adventures?

She also has/had (I don't know if she still does) her own suit in the comics called Rescue.

 

[Professor Zoom]

The one thing that caught my attention from the very beginning was the editing/pacing. I'm sure most didn't notice this, but I immediately picked up on that this was from a different director, writer, and editor.

Oh, I noticed. It's one of the things I liked about it. I don't need, nor want, my sequels to look and feel the same, especially if someone else is directing. I would rather have the tones mixed up a little. Not a TOTAL shift, but, mixing up a little, isn't a bad thing for me.

 

[Mr. Adventure]

I thought the movie was good but I think I would've been let down by the swerve if I had been a big comic fan. Some of the FX work was quite spectacular. I thought it was a step up from the second film.

My favorite throwaway line from Downey was ''Westworld,'' directed at the intensely-staring backup villain. Now more people will start seeing that 40-year-old classic again.

I liked when he called the Mandarin "Ringo" because he was really reminding me of him.

 

[The Habs Fan]

I rate this movie "average". Maybe slightly better than Iron Man 2 (only because the villain is better developed in this movie).

 

[Turtletrekker]

So, are we to understand that Ten Rings is and always has been a front for A.I.M. operations?