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

[Shazam!]

Finally got round to watching this. It's pretty damn great. I found the weakest element to be the glowing T-1000-esque bad guys that were only as poweful as the script demanded for that particular instance but whatever.

Loved what they did with the Mandarin and it's easily retconable if some higher up demands it but I'm perfectly fine with this interpretation.

 

[Dream]

Iron Man 3 Blu-ray release date is September 24 and Special Features announced

 

[Mage]

The Mandarin was a huge disappointment.
When you have an army of mutants, freaking Norse gods and all kinds of aliens you may just as well throw in ten alien rings that unlock superhuman powers (Clarke's "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic." comes to mind) and some megalomaniac whose ego trip makes Stark seem humble in comparison.

But even with a handicap like that they still delivered an entertaining piece of popcorn cinema that made up for many of the shortcomings of the second movie.

It would still feel weird if it was magic, since this was an Iron Man movie, not a Thor or Avengers movie. Even though they are connected, they are also their own seperate franchises. And in the movie-part of the Iron Man franchise, magic and aliens don't really play a big part. They kinda do a bit now after Avengers, granted, but it's not part of the mythology of the movies I guess.

But then again, I loved how they handled the Mandarin in this movie, so I suppose my opinion is slightly biased.

 

[Anwar]

They basically split Mandarin into two characters in this movie.

Ben Kingsley/Trevor is the old 60s version of the Mandarin (Yellow Peril Terrorist Warlord stereotype) whereas Killian a lot more like how the Mandarin's been portrayed for the last 20 years or so (Social Darwinist Businessman).

 

[Gaith]

The wait is finally over: my review is up at The Gaith Review! A preview:

Iron Man 3 just might be the best MCU flick to date. Yes, even better than IM2, my prior favorite. (Disclaimer: I unapologetically love IM2, despite its very minor and easily-overlooked flaws.) Granted, this may be the MCU installment in which all sense of believability goes out the window, down a manhole, and tumbling into a bottomless pit towards the Earth's core. Sure, we've had plenty of outlandish stuff in the series before, but individual components of a Stark suit flying hundreds of miles under their own power requires not just a suspension but an annihilation of disbelief.

And yet... I'm okay with that. When Thor and Cap came out in the same summer of '11, I wasn't crazy about either of their aesthetics - I wished at the time they'd gone with a less sci-fi-looking Asgardian society than one the ancient Vikings themselves would have imagined, and I was a bit disappointed to see full-on laser guns, massive tanks and HYDRA rather than a more conventional, grittier Indiana Jones vs. Nazis-style flick. The first three MCU movies had mostly stuck to a more or less realistic "real world" - as real as a comic-book movie saga can be, that is - and the Thor and Cap one-two punch inaugurated the series' new direction, which The Avengers subsequently cemented. Yes, the individual suit components flying from Tennessee to Florida is absurd, but so is a frickin' flying aircraft carrier. As Killian so aptly notes, in the wake of that movie, subtlety is clearly gone for good: this is a cartoon fantasy series now, no more grounded in the real, contemporary world than Star Trek, with its magic transporters and humanoid aliens ostensibly speaking through a universal translater, but moving mouths as if they're speaking English. These are the terms; all we can plausibly ask for now is that they tell compelling and engaging stories.​

 

[Aldo]

As Killian so aptly notes, in the wake of that movie, subtlety is clearly gone for good: this is a cartoon fantasy series now, no more grounded in the real, contemporary world than Star Trek, with its magic transporters and humanoid aliens ostensibly speaking through a universal translater, but moving mouths as if they're speaking English. These are the terms; all we can plausibly ask for now is that they tell compelling and engaging stories.[/INDENT][/INDENT]

I don't quite agree with your views on IM3, but I do agree with your point here. I've been saying that for a while now. Avengers opened the flood gate for the more outlandish elements we take for granted in comic books. Hell next year Guardians of the Galaxy will be coming out and that's going to be a full blown outer space epic in the Star Wars mold. A movie I personally cannot wait for.

 

[kirk55555]

This movie just came out on DVd today, and I got it. This was another great Iron Man movie, even if it had a few flaws. The Mandarin was really lame, and some of the humor felt a bit forced (although there were a lot of good, funny moments). The end fight was awesome, although the very end scene was kind of goofy.

Spoiler: Iron Man 3

He's obviously not giving up on being Iron man. I'm guessing he just did the "clean slate" thing so that he can star on all new armor now that he doesn't have his chest piece anymore.

The after credit scene, with the reveal that his narration through the movie was him talking to Bruce Banner, was ok, although not as cool or important as the after credit scenes in other Marvel movies

I think this movie is just slightly under Iron Man 2 in terms of quality, but I enjoyed that movie more than most people, so thats not an insult. This is a very fun and entertaining movie. I voted above average.

 

[Aldo]

I think this movie is just slightly under Iron Man 2 in terms of quality, but I enjoyed that movie more than most people, so thats not an insult. This is a very fun and entertaining movie. I voted above average.

I'm glad to see there are at least a few other people who feel the same way.

I dunno, when I go to an Iron Man film, I have a certain expectation of seeing Stark as Iron Man. And I felt like we got less of Iron Man and more of just Tony Stark running around like an action hero.

 

[Dream]

I just rewatched IM3 after buying the Blu-Rray. The Walmart I was at was completely sold out of the movie on the racks, so I had ask someone to bring out a new copy from the back for me. I got the gold bordered cover version.

My original review for IM3 still stands. However, it would have been even been better if there was just a little less humor. I really love the movie's theme music. Funnily enough, I've started to notice how much Iron Man kept getting his ass kicked over the entire movie series. He has never beaten any of the lead villains on his own, Stark always needed some help to do it. I guess he is more of an inventor than a fighter.

 

[Turtletrekker]

The Agent Carter short was very cool. By far the best one shot so far.

 

[Dream]

The Agent Carter short was very cool. By far the best one shot so far.

Oh, yeah. It was great seeing Peggy again.

I'm loving all these shorts on the Blu-Rays!

 

[Set Harth]

The Walmart I was at was completely sold out of the movie on the racks, so I had ask someone to bring out a new copy from the back for me.

They had copies on the racks in the one I went to, but not in the quantities I had expected, not for such a high-profile release.

Their employees just seem not to give a shit.

 

[Captain Craig]

Got my IM3 BluRay, just chose a few items to watch tonight, have to be on the road to St.Louis early in the A.M.

Agent Carter One-Shot
What a well done short piece of film. There is enough set up in that 12min of footage to stage the TV series they rumored earlier this month. Lots to like, perhaps my favorite was the tight grouping of shots that allowed her to punch a hole in the door, delivering the tear gas. Her last line to Flynn was great. Treat this like a film....credit sequence.

B-I-K-I-N-I

The Gag Reel was fun as it should've been.

Exclusive Behind the Scenes of Thor Dark World mini-featurette. Short but with a few nice excerpts from the stars.

 

[Mage]

The Walmart I was at was completely sold out of the movie on the racks, so I had ask someone to bring out a new copy from the back for me.

They had copies on the racks in the one I went to, but not in the quantities I had expected, not for such a high-profile release.

Their employees just seem not to give a shit.

Not how works, sadly. Even though sales itself might look good, in general, sales of dvd's and blurays are going down. Piracy is at an all time high, and with people balancing their budgets, things like dvd's/blurays are less of a priority. In the store I work at, we've been seeing this development for a while now. I remember when HP4 came out on dvd, people were almost lining up. Now, when a big hit like the Hobbit is released, we usually don't even have to place a second order.

 

[JD]

^A lot of people probably do legal downloads too. Pretty much every device has access to one or more of the downloading services, so I have a feeling a lot of people go that route these days.

 

[Nick Ryder]

I think JD hit the nail on the head there. When Walmart and Best Buy are basically saying "hey you know you can watch this movie NOW - weeks before it comes out on disk?" it's kinda silly to worry about how well the physical media is doing.

I'll say this - for the past 3 blockbuster BluRays I've bought - I've watched the Digital Copy before I've actually watched the disk. I know I was considering just buying the digital copy on Vudu but I would rather pay $25 bucks for the bluray,dvd,digital combo pack than $25 bucks for the digital only copy.

Let's face facts, digital media is slowly going away.

It's the very Tony Stark way of doing things...

 

[Mage]

Let's face facts, digital media is slowly going away.

Basicly the entire discussion in a nutshell. We knew this was going to come sooner or later. It's sooner then later appereantly.

 

[Tosk]

We'll still be talking about the so-called death of physical media in a decade.

 

[Mage]

We'll still be talking about the so-called death of physical media in a decade.

As much as I hate to sound like a smart ass, it's happening. I work in a store that sells a lot of media. And sales our down. And not just in our store, in the entire chain I work for.

Several chains of media stores in the Netherlands have gone bankrupt. Other stores that sell dvd/blurays have been seeing a steady decline for over a year now. This is a combination of the faltering economy and people being able to download movies illegally. With so many movies being between 15 and 20 euros on dvd or just over 20 euros for BR when they are just released, it's not strange that people will choose to buy things they actually need in stead of a luxury item they can life without.

And there in lies the rub; things they can life without. We, as fans of shows, types of movies, gamers, things like that.... we NEED these things, so we will keep on buying them, and since our biggest social interaction is with people we relate to and think the same way, we see no decline in sales of dvds/blurays, since everybody we know is buying IronMan 3, GTAV, the new Star Trek, the new BR release of that old show we all love.

But we are but a small group of people out there, and the rest of them are saying to hell with 22 euros for the Hobbit, I need new underwear, I'll download the Hobbit for free on a torrent later. It's not nice, it's illegal, but it's the truth.

 

[Bob The Skutter]

Like Vinyl is dead, yet just saw it's biggest sales in a decade. I doubt physical media will disappear entirely but with services like Netflix, Playstation, Xbox, LoveFilm, iTunes etc where you can buy/rent/stream on demand and to your heart's content without waiting for delivery or going to the shops I think buying physical is either going to be very much impulse buy or specific special purchase in the longer term.