I've been reading the IMDb boards and it looks like a number of people aren't happy with The Mandarin. One even claimed to have walked out because of what they did with the character.
"Iron Man 3" Review and Discussion Thread (spoilers)
- Thread starter Dream
- Start date
Saw it last night, in 3-D
Rated: Above Average, B-
Tony starts with a monologue, like he's talking aloud to get it all straight. I felt the movie opened well with the flashback to Bern which was mentioned in the first film and the surprise cameo by Yinsen was great. After that I wondered if we might see Whiplash and/or his father as well just hanging around the punch bowl or something.
The action was top notch and the f/x remains in top form so no issues there.
When Tony arrives in TN and has broken into the garage and is confronted by the 11/12yr old with a potato gun someone broke he calm of the theater and said, "It's TN, he'd have a real gun Hollywood."
My big gripe with the film is that I feel Marvel Studios made their first real big mistake with Mandarin. This has been teased since IM1, the trailers clearly made him out to be a threat. He's also one of it not the TOP Iron Man foe. And Marvel made him in his first big screen appearance of their "Luthor/Joker" to their flagship character into a joke. They "Bane-ed" him. Gave us a whimper shadow like version of the character that is in the B&R of '98 did to Bane. WTF Marvel?
I suspect GA will not care cause they have no vested interest or knowledge of the character by and large.
The all out armor battle was great, Cheadle had lots to do in the last half of the film and at times I found myself as interested in what he was doing. I like how they address that somethings are "government business, not superhero business" as a way to address this to the audience if anyone wonders "where at the Avengers" to face this terrorist threat.
The post credit scene was great. It did answer something fandom noticed in the closing moments of The Avengers. While I would have liked some not towards something else unspooling in Phase 2 this was a nice piece as it also ties right back into the start of the film.
Rated: Above Average, B-
Tony starts with a monologue, like he's talking aloud to get it all straight. I felt the movie opened well with the flashback to Bern which was mentioned in the first film and the surprise cameo by Yinsen was great. After that I wondered if we might see Whiplash and/or his father as well just hanging around the punch bowl or something.
The action was top notch and the f/x remains in top form so no issues there.
When Tony arrives in TN and has broken into the garage and is confronted by the 11/12yr old with a potato gun someone broke he calm of the theater and said, "It's TN, he'd have a real gun Hollywood."
My big gripe with the film is that I feel Marvel Studios made their first real big mistake with Mandarin. This has been teased since IM1, the trailers clearly made him out to be a threat. He's also one of it not the TOP Iron Man foe. And Marvel made him in his first big screen appearance of their "Luthor/Joker" to their flagship character into a joke. They "Bane-ed" him. Gave us a whimper shadow like version of the character that is in the B&R of '98 did to Bane. WTF Marvel?
I suspect GA will not care cause they have no vested interest or knowledge of the character by and large.
The all out armor battle was great, Cheadle had lots to do in the last half of the film and at times I found myself as interested in what he was doing. I like how they address that somethings are "government business, not superhero business" as a way to address this to the audience if anyone wonders "where at the Avengers" to face this terrorist threat.
The post credit scene was great. It did answer something fandom noticed in the closing moments of The Avengers. While I would have liked some not towards something else unspooling in Phase 2 this was a nice piece as it also ties right back into the start of the film.
Ever noticed that everyone on the IMDb boards are kids? And by that I don't mean that they're childish, I mean that they're actually children?
Nor should they care because the character in the movie is more interesting and more entertaining than the awkward Fu Manchu caricature from the comic books.
I hadn't noticed. I'll have to look out for that.
I enjoyed IM3 as much as I did The Avengers. I didn't expect that. Jon Favreau was hysterical in his expanded role as Happy, I have a huge crush on Rebecca Hall, and The Mandarin reveal was a total shock. And I really thought they had killed Pepper at the end.
Wow, I loved it. Definitely at least equal to the first one, although I might push it and say that I liked it better. Spoilers from here on out.
I voted Excellent.
I'm going to get the biggest issue out of the way first... The Mandarin. So far my only exposure to the Mandarin is stuff I've read on wikipedia, and the animated Iron Man movie, so I have no real attatchment to the character. The big twist was a huge shock for me, and definitely not at all what I expected, and probably as far as possible from the comic version. But, it was so well done, and Ben Kingsley did such a great job that it didn't bother me that much. He managed to be great as both the scary terrorist, and the actor, who was a different kind of scary. I am so glad I went into that not having read any spoilers online, because that managed to surprise the hell out of me. Even if I was more attached to the comic book version, I still don't think it would have bothered me that much. I've learned not to expect the adaptations to do the same thing as the source material so at this point as long as the adaptation is a good movie/tv show/whatever I'm happy.
I thought the whole cast, both new and old did an outstanding job. I'll admit before the promotion for this started I didn't really expect them to deal with the events of Avengers too much, but I am very glad they did. RDJ definitely did a great job, it was nice to see him get some more dramatic stuff, and some action scenes outside of the suits. It was also nice getting to see Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle get in on the action some. I thought all three of the villains did a great job, I thought Guy Pearce's transformation from the nerdy guy in the flashback to kick ass Extremis powered villain at the end was pretty impressive. This was the first time I'd seen him in a villainous role, and I thought he did a great job. I really liked Rebecca Hall and would have liked to have seen more of her. I did not expect her to be a villain, and kind of wish that she had gotten to do more once that had been revealed.
I was also really impressed with the stuff with the kid. There was a chance it could have been annoying, but they actually made it work. They also managed to work a lot of humor into the movie, which is always nice.
I loved the post-credits scene. I just wish that Ruffalo could have gotten to do more than just a cameo post Avengers.
The movie also had some great action. The standouts for me were the attack on Tony's house, the monkeys in a barrel rescue, and the climax at the pier. I loved the fact that all three of the main characters got a chance to kick some ass. I think they did a good job with Pepper's fall. I was pretty sure since she had the Extremis that she would be alive, but they did manage to make me wonder. I am curious if they will address that at all in future movie, that's a pretty big change for the character.
I thought the whole cast, both new and old did an outstanding job. I'll admit before the promotion for this started I didn't really expect them to deal with the events of Avengers too much, but I am very glad they did. RDJ definitely did a great job, it was nice to see him get some more dramatic stuff, and some action scenes outside of the suits. It was also nice getting to see Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle get in on the action some. I thought all three of the villains did a great job, I thought Guy Pearce's transformation from the nerdy guy in the flashback to kick ass Extremis powered villain at the end was pretty impressive. This was the first time I'd seen him in a villainous role, and I thought he did a great job. I really liked Rebecca Hall and would have liked to have seen more of her. I did not expect her to be a villain, and kind of wish that she had gotten to do more once that had been revealed.
I was also really impressed with the stuff with the kid. There was a chance it could have been annoying, but they actually made it work. They also managed to work a lot of humor into the movie, which is always nice.
I loved the post-credits scene. I just wish that Ruffalo could have gotten to do more than just a cameo post Avengers.
The movie also had some great action. The standouts for me were the attack on Tony's house, the monkeys in a barrel rescue, and the climax at the pier. I loved the fact that all three of the main characters got a chance to kick some ass. I think they did a good job with Pepper's fall. I was pretty sure since she had the Extremis that she would be alive, but they did manage to make me wonder. I am curious if they will address that at all in future movie, that's a pretty big change for the character.
Mister Fandango
Fleet Captain
I thought it was great. Way better than IM2, and, possibly better than the first one. I like the mix of humor and drama.
And, you know what, I think it's better than the Avengers.
And, you know what, I think it's better than the Avengers.
I have very mixed thoughts on Iron Man 3.
First of all, I really enjoyed the first Iron Man. I thought it was the perfect mix of action, humor, and drama. Topped with Robert Downey Jr.'s fantastic charisma and you have one of the best superhero films of the past decade. I was less than thrilled with Iron Man 2, which I thought was thinly written and featuring far too many uninteresting characters, but The Avengers was so immensely fun and thrilling that I was excited for another solo Iron Man adventure.
With that said, I was disappointed by Iron Man 3. I was genuinely excited when I heard Shane Black was announced as director because I thought his directorial debut, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, was a really enjoyable piece of entertainment. I figured he could liven things up and his rapport with Downey would make for a fantastic film. While I think Iron Man 3 is very entertaining and full of Downey's now trademark charisma and wit, I don't think Iron Man 3 holds up very well. I actually think it has more in common with Iron Man 2 than anyone will ever care to admit, but the parts where Iron Man 3 lags are filled with humorous and genuine character moments, which is what Iron Man 2 was severely lacking. Still, even with that, it doesn't make up for the fact that Iron Man 3 feels like a very awkward film.
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. As much as I didn't like the second installment, at least it felt consistent tonally and pacing-wise with the first film. Maybe it's due to Shane Black's idiosyncratic writing/directing style, but I thought Iron Man 3 was very oddly paced. There are moments where we are suppose to feel for the characters but the humor comes too soon or too late. I don't think I'm explaining this properly, but the pacing felt all off. The first act sort of waddles through the story, and things pick up near the end of the second act, but there's a good chunk of time where it feels like the script doesn't necessarily know where it is going. It's strange, and I can't quite explain it, but it just felt odd and jarring.
Besides that, I had a big problem with the film's deviations from the source material. Now, I totally understand a film is a different entity than the comics - it's an entirely different medium - but the film takes some liberties that I thought hurt the film rather than help it. (Note: I'm going into spoiler territory here.) The reveal of The Mandarin was probably one of the most disappointing, if not the most disappointing, aspect of the film. The Mandarin is one of Iron Man's strongest villains because he's such a stark contrast to Iron Man (no pun intended). Iron Man represents technology, and The Mandarin is this weird guy with ten magical rings. During the era of Iron Man, I would agree The Mandarin would have felt totally out of place, but post-Avengers? The characters even reference Thor and how that changed everything. I really feel like The Mandarin could have worked in a post-Avengers Iron Man movie, but alas. Even the terrorist version of the character which was advertised and showcased in the first act of the movie would have worked, but what they did was just totally disrespecting the character. From a writing perspective, it was clever and fun, but beyond that, I felt it was very shallow and disappointing. It wasn't The Mandarin at all. I know people complained about Bane and his connections to the League of Shadows and Talia in The Dark Knight Rises, but at least Bane was a big hulking guy who broke Batman's back. It was true to the spirit of Bane's character. The Mandarin, on the other hand, was a total cop-out. It was a big disservice to the character in my opinion.
Yes, it was exciting to see Stark out of his element and having to do things on my his own without the assistance of the Iron Man suit, but at the same time he spends an awful lot of time not as Iron Man (which was a little disappointing in and of itself). I thought the villains, for the most part, were really tired and cliche. I love the Extremis storyline in the comics, but this didn't feel like that storyline at all. Guy Pearce was great as the villain, and I'm glad he finally has a leading role in a comic-book movie, but I thought Ullrich was one of the weaker villains we've seen in a while. I mean, even the airplane sequence felt kind of disappointing considering Superman Returns had a far superior sequence. I will admit the ending caught me off guard, and I'm really curious to see how Joss Whedon handles that in The Avengers 2, but I don't even really LIKE the ending. I feel like it sort of entirely misses the point of the character. It's like the writers and Shane Black wanted some twists and turns for the sake of it without realizing what it meant to the character and the series. Having a twist for the sake of having a twist doesn't make it worthwhile or good.
While I appreciate shaking up audience expectations, there's always the chance that when you do that, you might alienate those fans. Sometimes when you shake up audience expectations it can work - there are several moments in Nolan's Batman movies that spring to mind, or most recently Skyfall - but there are also times when you do that and it doesn't quite work. To be completely honest, I'm going to have to mull over Iron Man 3 more to really determine if those moments worked or if this is just my bias influencing my opinion, but at first glance I wasn't a fan of any of the "big twists" in the film. I did think it gave the series a nice sense of closure, but at the same time, I know that Tony Stark is going to be Iron Man again in The Avengers 2, so it almost feels fake knowing that ending will be negated in a few years.
That's not to say that I completely disliked the film, though. Far from it. I thought the action sequences were among the best in the series, and Shane Black's history of writing action movies definitely came in handy. Where Jon Favreau always seemed a little unsure of how to handle the action, Black shows he understands action and how to stage and build it. Brian Tyler's score is definitely the best in the series, and it's great that Iron Man finally has a theme (other than Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"). Pepper Potts and Rhodey definitely have more to do, and I appreciated that. Even though Stark "fixing" Pepper (which is totally glossed over) sort of defeats any purpose of doing anything progressively worthwhile with that character, but I digress. Even though Tony spends a lot of time outside of the Iron Man armor, I did enjoy how he had to use his wits and ingenuity to defeat his enemies. The sequence where he invades the Mandarin's "mansion" in Miami was probably one of the most entertaining and clever sequences out of the entire series, and I give Black and his co-writer props for that.
Overall, though, I think Iron Man 3 is a very mixed bag. Leaps and bounds better than its predecessor, it doesn't quite match the perfect blend of action and drama that the first Iron Man achieved, and its far from the endlessly entertaining movie that The Avengers was. Good, but not great. Entertaining, but not memorable. Enjoyable, but not satisfying. At least in my opinion.
First of all, I really enjoyed the first Iron Man. I thought it was the perfect mix of action, humor, and drama. Topped with Robert Downey Jr.'s fantastic charisma and you have one of the best superhero films of the past decade. I was less than thrilled with Iron Man 2, which I thought was thinly written and featuring far too many uninteresting characters, but The Avengers was so immensely fun and thrilling that I was excited for another solo Iron Man adventure.
With that said, I was disappointed by Iron Man 3. I was genuinely excited when I heard Shane Black was announced as director because I thought his directorial debut, Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, was a really enjoyable piece of entertainment. I figured he could liven things up and his rapport with Downey would make for a fantastic film. While I think Iron Man 3 is very entertaining and full of Downey's now trademark charisma and wit, I don't think Iron Man 3 holds up very well. I actually think it has more in common with Iron Man 2 than anyone will ever care to admit, but the parts where Iron Man 3 lags are filled with humorous and genuine character moments, which is what Iron Man 2 was severely lacking. Still, even with that, it doesn't make up for the fact that Iron Man 3 feels like a very awkward film.
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. As much as I didn't like the second installment, at least it felt consistent tonally and pacing-wise with the first film. Maybe it's due to Shane Black's idiosyncratic writing/directing style, but I thought Iron Man 3 was very oddly paced. There are moments where we are suppose to feel for the characters but the humor comes too soon or too late. I don't think I'm explaining this properly, but the pacing felt all off. The first act sort of waddles through the story, and things pick up near the end of the second act, but there's a good chunk of time where it feels like the script doesn't necessarily know where it is going. It's strange, and I can't quite explain it, but it just felt odd and jarring.
Besides that, I had a big problem with the film's deviations from the source material. Now, I totally understand a film is a different entity than the comics - it's an entirely different medium - but the film takes some liberties that I thought hurt the film rather than help it. (Note: I'm going into spoiler territory here.) The reveal of The Mandarin was probably one of the most disappointing, if not the most disappointing, aspect of the film. The Mandarin is one of Iron Man's strongest villains because he's such a stark contrast to Iron Man (no pun intended). Iron Man represents technology, and The Mandarin is this weird guy with ten magical rings. During the era of Iron Man, I would agree The Mandarin would have felt totally out of place, but post-Avengers? The characters even reference Thor and how that changed everything. I really feel like The Mandarin could have worked in a post-Avengers Iron Man movie, but alas. Even the terrorist version of the character which was advertised and showcased in the first act of the movie would have worked, but what they did was just totally disrespecting the character. From a writing perspective, it was clever and fun, but beyond that, I felt it was very shallow and disappointing. It wasn't The Mandarin at all. I know people complained about Bane and his connections to the League of Shadows and Talia in The Dark Knight Rises, but at least Bane was a big hulking guy who broke Batman's back. It was true to the spirit of Bane's character. The Mandarin, on the other hand, was a total cop-out. It was a big disservice to the character in my opinion.
Yes, it was exciting to see Stark out of his element and having to do things on my his own without the assistance of the Iron Man suit, but at the same time he spends an awful lot of time not as Iron Man (which was a little disappointing in and of itself). I thought the villains, for the most part, were really tired and cliche. I love the Extremis storyline in the comics, but this didn't feel like that storyline at all. Guy Pearce was great as the villain, and I'm glad he finally has a leading role in a comic-book movie, but I thought Ullrich was one of the weaker villains we've seen in a while. I mean, even the airplane sequence felt kind of disappointing considering Superman Returns had a far superior sequence. I will admit the ending caught me off guard, and I'm really curious to see how Joss Whedon handles that in The Avengers 2, but I don't even really LIKE the ending. I feel like it sort of entirely misses the point of the character. It's like the writers and Shane Black wanted some twists and turns for the sake of it without realizing what it meant to the character and the series. Having a twist for the sake of having a twist doesn't make it worthwhile or good.
While I appreciate shaking up audience expectations, there's always the chance that when you do that, you might alienate those fans. Sometimes when you shake up audience expectations it can work - there are several moments in Nolan's Batman movies that spring to mind, or most recently Skyfall - but there are also times when you do that and it doesn't quite work. To be completely honest, I'm going to have to mull over Iron Man 3 more to really determine if those moments worked or if this is just my bias influencing my opinion, but at first glance I wasn't a fan of any of the "big twists" in the film. I did think it gave the series a nice sense of closure, but at the same time, I know that Tony Stark is going to be Iron Man again in The Avengers 2, so it almost feels fake knowing that ending will be negated in a few years.
That's not to say that I completely disliked the film, though. Far from it. I thought the action sequences were among the best in the series, and Shane Black's history of writing action movies definitely came in handy. Where Jon Favreau always seemed a little unsure of how to handle the action, Black shows he understands action and how to stage and build it. Brian Tyler's score is definitely the best in the series, and it's great that Iron Man finally has a theme (other than Black Sabbath's "Iron Man"). Pepper Potts and Rhodey definitely have more to do, and I appreciated that. Even though Stark "fixing" Pepper (which is totally glossed over) sort of defeats any purpose of doing anything progressively worthwhile with that character, but I digress. Even though Tony spends a lot of time outside of the Iron Man armor, I did enjoy how he had to use his wits and ingenuity to defeat his enemies. The sequence where he invades the Mandarin's "mansion" in Miami was probably one of the most entertaining and clever sequences out of the entire series, and I give Black and his co-writer props for that.
Overall, though, I think Iron Man 3 is a very mixed bag. Leaps and bounds better than its predecessor, it doesn't quite match the perfect blend of action and drama that the first Iron Man achieved, and its far from the endlessly entertaining movie that The Avengers was. Good, but not great. Entertaining, but not memorable. Enjoyable, but not satisfying. At least in my opinion.
It took me a while to get into it but I thought Iron Man 3 was really good. Made up for the dog shit that was last movie.
I had thought about the Mandarin reveal but quickly ruled it out. I was surprised by it though and it was a pretty bizarre sequence. Guy Pearce did a good job but Loki remains the only memorable villain in this recent spate of Marvel films.
I was really surprised with just how much time Tony Stark spends outside the suit but Downey really pulled it off well. This was a very good journey for the Tony Stark character.
The action was much better this time around and that Air Force One rescue was a spectacular sequence.
I had thought about the Mandarin reveal but quickly ruled it out. I was surprised by it though and it was a pretty bizarre sequence. Guy Pearce did a good job but Loki remains the only memorable villain in this recent spate of Marvel films.
I was really surprised with just how much time Tony Stark spends outside the suit but Downey really pulled it off well. This was a very good journey for the Tony Stark character.
The action was much better this time around and that Air Force One rescue was a spectacular sequence.
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Mister Fandango
Fleet Captain
I don't think the part about Tony having the shrapnel removed is what people are referring to. That was a very minor and inconsequential aspect of the character. It's not like he needed it to power the suit anymore; he had ~42 of them flying around on their own! Nevermind that neither Rhodey nor Pepper had a personal power plant.
It was what amounted to a promise to not make any more suits of armor and lead a normal life that's obviously going to change.
And the former is just me assuming that's what some of you are talking about, because if it's the latter, I don't understand the concern whatsoever. A rich, alcoholic, egotist who doesn't live up to his promise? Shock shock, horror horror. However will they solve that crisis?
It was what amounted to a promise to not make any more suits of armor and lead a normal life that's obviously going to change.
And the former is just me assuming that's what some of you are talking about, because if it's the latter, I don't understand the concern whatsoever. A rich, alcoholic, egotist who doesn't live up to his promise? Shock shock, horror horror. However will they solve that crisis?
i really did not like the movie
Iron Man 3 is the biggest disappointment since bryan singer's superman movie.
if they were gonna make such a point to strip tony away from everything and the "back to the cave" analogy, then there needed to be more of a moment from him when he got it all back. seeing tony build a dart gun out of stuff from home depot is pretty lame. there was no payoff. end the end it was pepper who defeated the villain and tony didn't even catch her when she fell.
the arc in Iron Man 2 where he watches video from his dad and figures out how to build the particle colider to make his new suit, and then go kick ass with rhody was way more satisfying.
and there was no real moment for rhody in this either. nothing in the movie worked
and why are you gonna have mandarin if its not gonna be mandarin? i was prepared for him to not have supernatural rings, but not for the slap in the face i ended up getting.
the arc in Iron Man 2 where he watches video from his dad and figures out how to build the particle colider to make his new suit, and then go kick ass with rhody was way more satisfying.
and there was no real moment for rhody in this either. nothing in the movie worked
and why are you gonna have mandarin if its not gonna be mandarin? i was prepared for him to not have supernatural rings, but not for the slap in the face i ended up getting.
Iron Man 3 is the biggest disappointment since bryan singer's superman movie.
I went and saw Iron Man 3 on Wednesday with a few mates as it had been out a while here and we have this thing called Orange Wednesday. Anyway, that's beside the point.
Outside of the MCU films, I know very little about Iron Man, I know Stark is an alcoholic, an egotistical narcissist who just so happens to be very intelligent and I loved this film, it wasn't as good as Avengers Assemble, but it certainly flew circles around Iron Man 2 and was on par with the first one.
Even though I loved this film, there was some obvious moments throughout, the human bombs, the fact Stark saved the survivors from Air Force One and the fact that Pepper lived (sorry, was anyone dumb enough to believe that when she fell, she would have died?) and she not only saved Stark once, but twice!
The humour in the film was a nice touch, the joke about Croydon got a giggle out of the cinema, as did the "pussy" comment Stark made to the boys dad running off and the conversation about New York that gave Stark the anxiety attack got a guilty laugh from me and a few others. Trevor was just a riot and given that AIM created him as a front as the Manderen from a focus group was a nice touch and made perfect sense as did the VPs decision to get rid of the President and committing mutiny although until the reveal, I thought it was him who was missing a limb.
Overall it was a great film, of course it had a few minor problems, but what movie doesn't?
And finally, the post credit scene, that was a very unexpected gem and it framed the story brilliantly, seeing who Stark was talking to, also made sense given the friendship that grew in Avengers Assemble, but he isn't that kind of Doctor.............
Outside of the MCU films, I know very little about Iron Man, I know Stark is an alcoholic, an egotistical narcissist who just so happens to be very intelligent and I loved this film, it wasn't as good as Avengers Assemble, but it certainly flew circles around Iron Man 2 and was on par with the first one.
Even though I loved this film, there was some obvious moments throughout, the human bombs, the fact Stark saved the survivors from Air Force One and the fact that Pepper lived (sorry, was anyone dumb enough to believe that when she fell, she would have died?) and she not only saved Stark once, but twice!
The humour in the film was a nice touch, the joke about Croydon got a giggle out of the cinema, as did the "pussy" comment Stark made to the boys dad running off and the conversation about New York that gave Stark the anxiety attack got a guilty laugh from me and a few others. Trevor was just a riot and given that AIM created him as a front as the Manderen from a focus group was a nice touch and made perfect sense as did the VPs decision to get rid of the President and committing mutiny although until the reveal, I thought it was him who was missing a limb.
Overall it was a great film, of course it had a few minor problems, but what movie doesn't?
And finally, the post credit scene, that was a very unexpected gem and it framed the story brilliantly, seeing who Stark was talking to, also made sense given the friendship that grew in Avengers Assemble, but he isn't that kind of Doctor.............
http://img.myconfinedspace.com/wp-content/uploads/2008/06/iron-man-mark-1-2-3.jpg
That's currently my wallpaper on my laptop. I'm on a Iron Man high right now.
That's currently my wallpaper on my laptop. I'm on a Iron Man high right now.
To me, this is what happens when you have the stars contributing their own thoughts to the story. Listen to interviews of Paltrow and RDJ. They certainly think the Tony/Pepper relationship is immeasurably more important than I do, personally. Of course, maybe they had nothing to do with it. That's just the feeling I got.
To me, this was the movie of Tony himself coming to accept the role of hero, not just "guy in a tin can". That he spent a good deal of time outside the armor only forced his character to get into the role as a hero. It was well done. He is Iron Man, suit or not.