Iron Man 3
By the time we get to third films in a series, aren’t we supposed to be getting more of the same old-same old? The characters are well established; the stories are rife with cliche; and the big draw is usually the bigger effects, and bigger action sequences. Think “Terminator 3,” “The Matrix Revolutions,” “Lethal Weapon 3,” “Jurassic Park III,” and plenty more. However, there’s something different about the cinematic universe Marvel is creating based on their characters that goes against convention. Sure, “Iron Man 2” didn’t really work for a lot of people, and I get that, with all of the “Avengers” set-up it had to do, but it still had a great Tony Stark story that showed that this character was more than just a narcissistic smartass in a metal suit.
“Iron Man 3” goes even further in that vein. In fact, the movie almost feels like it should just be called, “Tony Stark,” since Robert Downey Jr.’s Stark spends more of his time out of the Iron Man suit than he does in it. That’s not a bad thing for this movie, because it forces Stark to use what truly makes him extraordinary…his intellect, and the resourcefulness that allowed him to make that first Iron Man suit in a cave back in 2008. The result is more of a detective thriller than an effects-driven event movie, although fans of the latter will not be disappointed by the end, which has the scope of last year’s “Marvel’s The Avengers,” but the personal stakes of a much smaller film.
That balance, I think, is due to the smart craftsmanship of co-writer/director Shane Black, taking over the director’s chair from Jon Favreau, who made the first two films, and still plays the role of Happy Hogan, Stark’s bodyguard, now in charge of security at Stark Industries. Black is known, predominantly, as the writer of such ’80s and ’90s action favorites such as “Lethal Weapon,” “The Last Boy Scout,” “The Long Kiss Goodnight,” as well as a contributing writer on “Lethal Weapon 2” and “Last Action Hero,” so needless to say, the man knows how to write an action film. However, the critical precursor to “Iron Man 3” is his 2005 directorial debut, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” a terrific detective buddy film where he first worked with Robert Downey Jr., and kicked off the renaissance in the star’s career that has hit its peak with his work as Stark. More than any other actor, Downey Jr. knows just how to find the acerbic, wicked voice in Black’s work, and the two keep that magical collaboration going in “Iron Man 3.”
When we first see Tony Stark in the new film, he’s not able to sleep. He’s been awake for 72 hours, and a big chunk of his time since the events in New York has been spent tinkering, building new, and plentiful, Iron Man suits. Is it because he now has an understanding of what is possible in the world after facing an army of aliens? Has his brief time in space, where he risked death to save the planet, effected him in ways he isn’t even aware of? Whatever it is, he now has anxiety attacks whenever someone brings up New York, and it’s worrying those closest to him, especially the love of his life, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow, in her strongest performance yet as the character). Meanwhile, the United States has a new, deadly enemy it faces in the war on terror in The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley, terrific as always), who uses the media almost as much as he does terrorism to strike fear into an America that has enlisted Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), who became War Machine in “Iron Man 2,” as its new face of military strength. Now, War Machine has been transformed into the Iron Patriot, but is the red, white, and blue enough to stop this threat?
Before the film begins proper, however, Stark sets the mood by telling us about how, without necessarily seeing it, we are responsible for creating our own demons, in a voiceover device that not only harkens back to “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang,” but also pays off marvelously in the tag at the end of the credits. We are then taken back to New Year’s Eve, 1999, at a convention in Switzerland where Stark, still an alcoholic playboy, has given a speech. This is the conference where Stark met Yenzin, the man who saved his life in the cave in “Iron Man,” but there are two other meetings that play a bigger role in “Iron Man 3”: Maya Hensen (Rebecca Hall), a botonist whose work, and body, intrigues Stark, and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), an unassuming man whose work in neurobiology will lead him to create Extremis, a chemical that allows the body to fix itself, even growing back limbs lost in war. But Extremis, befitting for something with that name, is a dangerous proposition, despite the benefits Killian tries to sell to Pepper in an impromptu meeting at Stark Industries.
How all of these elements fit together is the mystery Stark embarks on in “Iron Man 3,” which eschews the action-heavy tone of the first two films, and forces Stark to reinvent himself, in a way, as more of a detective than a superhero. After his Malibu beach house is destroyed after he, foolishly, taunts The Mandarin, and even offers up his address, Stark is separated from everything and everyone, and he finds himself on his own, with his latest Iron Man suit in tatters, so to speak. During this stretch, when he is in Tennessee investigated an attack similar to one The Mandarin just pulled off in Los Angeles, Stark finds an unexpected ally in Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins), a boy in the Tennessee town who becomes an unlikely ally to Stark’s investigation. Not many child actors can match up with Downey on his turf, but Simpkins– the possessed boy from “Insidious” –holds his own fabulously during what could have been a second act drag in the story. It’s in sequences like this where having a screenwriter like Black involved not only in the writing, but also in the director’s chair, helps out terrifically. It’s interesting that, in the wake of hiring Joss Whedon to write and director on “The Avengers,” Marvel has starting looking more at multi-hyphenates to bring their world to life: Black on “Iron Man 3”; James Gunn on 2014’s “Guardians of the Galaxy”; and Edgar Wright on 2015’s “Ant-Man.” (Yes, Wright has been involved with that last one since long before Whedon entered the fold, but that he’s still involved now illustrates how committed Marvel is to these distinctive, individual visions within their larger universe. Hopefully, we’ll see the same with their new Disney stablemate, “Star Wars,” as new adventures begin to come down the pipe.)
It’s hard to say that this is my favorite “Iron Man” film– that first film just works so beautifully, both as an introduction to the character, and the larger Marvel universe –but in a way, it’s probably the most fun. Yes, it has a much darker story than either of the first two films in the series, but Black and Downey Jr. bring out some wicked veins of dark, and sometimes loopy, comedy that the character of Tony Stark has always seemed to hint at, but never really indulged in. This is the first Marvel movie that seems to push the limits into R-rated territory, while effortlessly stopping short, and that comes from Black’s sharp writing. (And I know I’m forgetting to mention that Drew Pearce is co-credited with writing the script, and from what I’ve heard, he had a great collaboration with Black, but like “The Avengers,” which had Zak Penn co-credited with story along with Whedon, this has the fingerprints of the writer in the director’s chair all over it, especially since it’s set during Black’s favorite holiday setting, Christmas.) There’s a lot I’m skipping about this movie, especially from a narrative standpoint, but my affection for it, and what Black has done in bringing Stark’s story full-circle (though hopefully not to a conclusion), should be obvious. Hopefully, it’ll lead to more “Kiss Kiss Bang Bangs” and other movies from the writer/director, whose voice has been sorely missed in movies.
