In 1999, Fox released the movie X-Men, a remarkable achievement considering the previous track record with big budget comic book movies (BatmanForever, we’re looking at you). Fans of the franchise got to see reasonably accurate portrayals of their favorite characters. Spider-man quickly followed, proving to the world that comic book properties were money making landmines. Since then, the people have been given a wide variety of comic book movies from Hulk to The Avengers.
Iron Man has long stood out as a shining star of Marvel Studio’s rooster. Built on the back of Robert Downey Jr.’s astounding performance as Tony Stark, as well as Jon Farvreau’s realistic vision of a man with a nightlight in his chest and a suit of high tech armor, Iron Man took the genre to the next plateau, leading the charge to what many could only dream of: The Avengers movie. Once again Tony Stark returns to the big screen this year for the first time since his epic journey into space strapped to an atom bomb. Director Shane Black has taken over both partial writing and directing duties, but with it he has also taken Iron Man from the fans and given him to the masses.
*SPOILERS AHEAD*
What began as a movie about an extraordinary man put in extra-ordinary situations has shifted into The Bourne Identity with cameos by Iron Man. Not that the extended amount of time that Stark spends out of the suit is really that terrible of a choice, but the standard action sequences that follow feel like the creativity has been taken out of the story. The problem lies in the fact that this doesn’t feel like the same Iron Man that fans have spent 3 movies with. Instead, Black gives viewers his interpretation of the character which comes across as fumbling and unconfident rather than the cocky and sure-footed version Favreau and Downey built.
Tony spends much of the movie using his quick wit as a defense mechanism to hide his obvious PTSD from the events of Avengers, giving the movie an uncharacteristically dark yet comedic tone, a reoccurring theme for Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Long gone are the days of the ever charismatic Stark, instead he’s spending all hours of the night building countless more suits and technology for little apparent reason other than to kill the waking hours and set up a sweet finale. Sure it’s thrilling to see him hopscotching from suit to suit in the final fight of film, but even then it could have been the same suit over and over as each suit rarely gets to show its unique talents; which is a delicious flavor that the comics serve up.
BIG SPOILER AHEAD
What feels like the biggest blow to comic fans is the treatment of the film’s expected villain, The Mandarin. For all his intimidating messages throughout the first half of the movie, the mystery of the character is shattered when it’s revealed that Ben Kingsly’s Mandarin is just a washed up substance (all of them) abusing actor, turning one of Iron Man’s biggest arch nemeses intro a clown. Lex Luthor wouldn’t stand for this kind of treatment. The true villain is then revealed to be the largely unknown Stark rival Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), from the “Extremis” storyline. Although Pearce turns in a great performance as a slimy villain, the soul of the comic nerd within cries out in pain as Kingsley falls out of his tiny clown car.
The ending to the movie also comes across confusing and unlikely. As a comic fan, readers are used to the idea that their heroes will never quit, even death can’t stop them from coming back to punch evil in its stupid face. This makes Tony Stark’s decision to blow up all of his Iron Man suits for the sake of his relationship Pepper unnatural, but what’s weirder is…does this mean that he won’t be an Avenger anymore? We expect to see Robert Downey Jr. in the next Avengers movie, preferably in a new fancy suit built just for the occasion. And the gesture may be nice but is Tony Stark choosing Pepper Pots over saving countless lives? It’s a fine ending if we weren’t going to be seeing Iron Man again, but we are, so what’s Black trying to do here?
Especially since Stark ends the film with “I am Iron Man” and the screen says “Iron Man will return,” negating the whole “destroying my own suits” thing.
Farvreau understood how to make a comic book movie, making even the most repugnant character traits heroic. Iron Man 3 takes the hero element out the comic book and replaces it with with a quippy John McClane, substituting a generic action lead for the face fans have come to love.
As a comic fan, there were still things to be giddy about: the introduction of A.I.M. (Advance Idea Mechanics), the Roxxon company, and an army of beautifully designed Iron Men. However, Iron Man 3 lost that loving feeling that took Tony Stark from B level hero to top of the heap with Wolverine and Spider-man.
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