Written by: Shane Black & Drew Pearce
Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall
Rating: [2.5/5]
Exploring the trauma superheroes undergo when they take on these world-ending villains never gets the light of day as it should. Going through what these characters do compounds a level of stress without the mental capacity to handle it all, and the effort to explore this through an arrogant character like Tony Stark in Iron Man 3 deserves plenty of praise. However, much like its predecessor, this film tries to jumble too many characters to the detriment of the experience.
Following the alien attack on New York, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) deals with frequent panic attacks stemming from his post-traumatic stress disorder and he finds comfort in creating more Iron Man suits for when they will be needed again. However, a new threat emerges as a terrorist known as the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) stands behind recent bombings occurring around the world.
Being the first film to follow the game-changing The Avengers in addition to serving as the trilogy capper for the most beloved character in the mega-successful Marvel Cinematic Universe really put some high expectations on this project. It takes place in a world where we know, for certain, other superheroes exist and could theoretically step in if needed, which enlarges the potential, but when focusing on standalone films, it creates some confusion. Some can forgive this logic but it does raise some questions when we consider this story involves a terrorist bombing different locations and the President of the United States getting captured, why is Captain America not getting involved? Surely, the man has nothing better to do than act as the representative here of this nation and help Tony Stark, who seems to be operating on an island here. Of course, we still need these characters to act in isolation in their own films but the curse that came with the success of the team-up films shows in a glaring manner here.
Much of the backlash this film received upon its initial release centered on the reveal of the Mandarin and him not being exactly as advertised, to a comedic degree. While the film has been out for over a decade now, I still won’t dive into the specifics of the spoiler, but as much as people hated it, the reveal certainly showed a level of bravura I commend Shane Black for. Completely pulling out the rug from under the audience deserves plenty of praise especially given the truly dated idea of the Mandarin but the film’s biggest flaw in this regard comes from the reveal of the true villain that just did not work. Not only quite obvious but man did that person just not have the juice to carry forward the ultimate threat of this story that made the entire third act quite disappointing.
If anything, the best moments this film had to offer came when Tony spends time in a snowy small town where he deals with his post-traumatic stress disorder, bonds with a small child, and attempts to rebuild his suit. If anything, it harkens back to the first Iron Man, where he needed to start from scratch in building something new. These little moments displayed where Shane Black certainly lent his hand the most, where the idea of the Mandarin disappeared for a small bit and we got the opportunity to see Tony’s true human struggles take place right before us. By far the highlight of the film with everything else unfortunately not bringing much of anything else to write home about.
In isolation, Iron Man 3 has a strong resounding message about Tony’s identity as Iron Man and what it means to put on this suit, which hilariously gets immediately undone where he continues to show up in the suit in several more Marvel films down the line. That remains one of the largest issues in maintaining a continuous universe where no finality ever arrives and despite Stark willing to put everything aside at the end of this film we ultimately know none of it really means anything. While finding fault in the individual film feels a bit unfair, it comes as the natural consequence of this circumstance and with everything else mentioned, never really comes together wholly as something compelling. We have the sprinkles of the hardships he experiences but nothing ever draws me back to this film and above are the reasons why.
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