Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 (2013) Robert Downey Jr. returns in the (probable) finale of the Iron Man trilogy and thus the beginning of Marvel's Phase 2! This time he takes on the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley)

 So this is a fun movie. One that I enjoy watching a lot. It's one of the better super hero movies out there. Sadly, however, that is not saying much. This movie does try to tug at your emotions with several scenes, but in my opinion it just doesn't get there, and thus I spent a lot of time wondering where Iron Man was as RDJ found himself. This was the entirety of act 2 btw. But that's not to say that act 2 is weak. It is fairly decent for most movies and did have some good moments, but Iron Man 3 is not most movies right? When you go to an Iron Man movie, you want to see Iron Man. Am I right?
 
I don't mean to sound like I am bashing the movie, because after all once RDJ does find Iron Man again this movie is SO MUCH FUN. Seriously. The plane sequence (which is in the trailers) is one of the coolest set pieces I've seen in an action film in a long time. It is without a doubt the best scene of the movie. And the final battle is a lot of fun to watch as well. And RDJ and Gwyneth Paltrow are once again outstanding together, as they have great chemistry. Rebecca Hall is gorgeous and mysterious, and Guy Pearce is menacing, and Ben Kingsley is just overall scary and fantastic. But man do they really have some paper thin plot points. For example, there's a big plot twist in the movie (which I'm obviously not going to spoil) that I didn't even remotely buy when it occurred. You'll know it when you see it. I'm still questioning it. As I understand, a lot of comic book Iron Man fans were up in arms over it, and I can see why. It's a cool point in the story that you don't see coming, but you mostly don't see it coming because it makes no sense at all.

 Guy Pearce is in this movie. Did I mention that? I love him. You should go watch LA Confidential right now and see why. But it's a damn shame because his role is essentially the generic bad guy. He does a lot to sell it (as usual) but he really isn't given much to work with. And his motivations are ridiculous and illogical. Not to mention the minions don't make any sense either. They are so villainous yet at points we see videos of them before they became evil trying to do very noble things. Like return to active duty in the military for example. Why did they become so evil? Nah! I guess it's not important.

One final thing: I have no problem suspending belief in a movie. But when I am expected to, I have one rule: the movie must follow the rules that it itself creates. Guy Pearce's character and what he can do does NOT follow the rules that the movie creates in any way shape or form. And thus I had a HUGE problem with him and his entire physical state. To the point that it kinda took me out of the whole movie at various points in the final act.
 
I know it seems like I'm bashing this movie, but I still had a lot fun. Oh and I haven't even mentioned the kid. I love the fact that RDJ addresses the kid like he would any adult, and does not baby talk him. Major kudos to the writers for that decision. But in the
end, this is a mostly mindless super hero action movie with a bit more emotional ground than most. That's it. Oh and that's the critique too because it does sum up the movie and I'm lazy when it's 3:15 in the morning!
 
The Critique: A mostly mindless super hero action movie with a bit more emotional ground than most. 
 
The Recommendation: basically for those who like comic  book movies/action movies only. Might be enough emotion in it to pass it off as a "chick flick" but good luck to you on that one, man.
 
The Verdict: 6.5/10 pretty good


Image Credit
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