MCU Retrospective, Part 7—"Iron Man 3"
In this weekly series, Film Yap writer Andrew Carr revisits each installment of the decade-long Marvel Cinematic Universe. Once a week, Andrew will review one film in the series, in the original release order, reevaluating his previously held opinion of the film and giving each film a new score out of 5 Yaps. All 18 films (plus Avengers: Infinity War, upon release) will be compiled into one definitive ranking. Each entry in the "MCU Retrospective" series will include a short review as well as a historical recap about the film's initial conception and release.
A new entry in this series will be posted every Sunday until the weekend prior to the release of Avengers: Infinity War on May 4.
Click here to see last week's entry in the series: The Avengers!
Click here to see a list of all entries in the "MCU Retrospective" series!
History Time!
Coming off the monumental success of The Avengers, Marvel Studios now had to follow up with the next chapter of the MCU after what had already been a groundbreaking culmination. President Kevin Feige stated in spring 2013, "We knew that if we were going to go into a Phase Two, it'd be because Avengers worked, and we knew that if Avengers worked, it was because people thought it was as cool as we did when you put all these heroes together. And I wanted our first movie we made after that to prove that these characters could be by themselves again, and that they could be just as interesting without all their friends."
So it made sense that Robert Downey, Jr's Iron Man would be the first up to the plate, beloved and tested hitter that he is. But given Feige's goal of making the characters "interesting" by themselves again, it seemed an appropriate time to shake up formula and take a little bit of a different direction in tone. So Marvel hired Shane Black, acclaimed director of crime action-comedies like Lethal Weapon and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (the latter of which was actually the film that Feige and Jon Favreau originally used as a basis for casting Downey in the role) to bring some new sensibilities to the MCU and turn the superhero movie on its head, subverting tropes and introducing aspects of other genres like buddy cop, jailbreak, and even Christmas movies.
And how did it work out for Marvel? Well, on one hand, the film decimated the box office, hitting $174 million on opening weekend (Marvel's highest opening weekend for a solo film) and pulling in $1.2 billion worldwide in its theatrical run; nearly double what Iron Man 2 made. It's safe to say that The Avengers' popularity had something to do with that, because the audience and critical reaction to the film was only moderately positive, with a very vocal portion reacting very negatively. The film was torn apart by fans for deviating from the source material—specifically with the "Extremis" plotline (based on a 2006 comic book story) and even more so with the film's handling of its supposed main villain, the Mandarin. Avid comic book fans, as they do, took offense to these highly anticipated story elements being "reinterpreted," and moviegoers in general did not take kindly to their expectations being subverted. Even the critic consensus was barely positive, hitting a Metascore of 62/100, only 5 points better than the much-maligned IM2 and 17 points lower than the 2008 original.
But as history has taught, many films that are not loved or even disliked upon release develop a following or even universal acclaim as time goes on; Blade Runner is a good example of this. Could it have been that the overall response to Iron Man 3 was simply an overzealous reaction to not getting what was expected? Read on to find out how I felt about the film upon revisitation.
The Review
IRON MAN 3 (2013)
To be honest, I've always liked Iron Man 3. I've really never quite understood the hate surrounding it (which, admittedly, is probably not as widespread as it seems; dissenters are always the most vocal on the Internet). But in my years of surfing through geek forums and online groups, it's been pretty apparent that many regard this as one of Marvel's worst films, sometimes even ranked below IM2. Personally, I think most of it is misplaced. I'm a lover of comic books myself, but at a point, one has to separate one's fantasies and desires as a comic book fan from their judgment of a movie for what it is. I can understand being disappointed that we won't get to see [SPOILERS] the real Mandarin in all his power on the silver screen. But in terms of the film's story as a standalone narrative, the Mandarin twist is brilliant.
If you have forgotten, or don't know what I'm referring to, the "Mandarin twist" is [SPOILERS] the reveal late in the film that the terrorist leader called the Mandarin is not actually the Mandarin, or a terrorist at all. He's a figurehead; an actor named Trevor Slattery (Ben Kingsley) who's being paid in drugs and women to portray a terrorist while real villain Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) runs the show from the shadows. [END SPOILER].
But when one brings up Iron Man 3, even non-geeks tend to lean into that argument, clearly bothered that the "villain" wasn't all he was cracked up to be. That ends up being the whole conversation, and the rest of the film gets ignored. That's what I want to focus on in this review; the rest of the film. If you hate the twist, at this point, we're simply not going to come to a point of agreement. It's been almost five years, and those who care have probably seen the movie enough at this point that there opinion would have changed by now, if it was ever going to. So rather than waste your time and mine ranting about how amazing the Mandarin twist is, and how it sets Iron Man 3 apart from the vast majority of superhero films as something willing to take a risk and flip the formula upside-down, I'll just talk about the other two hours of film that you probably forgot about as soon as Ben Kingsley broke his off-kilter Mandarin accent in favor of his British one.
For starters, Iron Man 3 might have the most densely packed and clever dialogue in the entire MCU. Between Shane Black's incredible knack for underplayed comedy writing, and the cast's sharp delivery, Iron Man 3 manages to be one of the MCU's most thorough character studies and one of the franchise's funniest entries to date. Whether it's Tony mocking his new kid friend Harley (played by Ty Simpkins, in one of the best child roles in any movie ever), Ben Kingsley stumbling over himself as an eccentric, acid-tripping actor, or surprisingly good henchman Savin (James Badge Dale) chewing the scenery in a fantastic example of how to do a secondary villain role, IM3 has tons to offer in terms of subtle comedy and nuanced performances.
And that subtlety and nuance is carried over into the film's more serious themes. Believe it or not, the MCU has produced a film that deals with post-traumatic anxiety, terrorist attacks and the resulting mourning process, the struggles of maintaining a relationship as a neurotic genius, and finding one's self-worth all in one movie. And people say they're nothing but popcorn flicks.
The most notable of these narratives is Tony's path to self-understanding in the wake of the Battle of New York in The Avengers. After having shot himself into space to blow up an army of aliens from the other side of the galaxy, only to return to life as though everything is normal again, naturally had some side effects on a man who's always been on top. To cope with his demons from these—to say the least—unusual experiences, Tony takes the "obsessive artist" approach and confines himself to his garage where he builds a whopping 35 new Iron Man suits in the span of a few months. He does this because he thinks Iron Man, the armored suit, is what defines him. The rest of the film sees Tony lost in a wintry Tennessee, his suit without power and his Malibu home destroyed, trying to solve a mystery and bring down a terrorist group with little but his wits and the help of a young kid. Tony literally has to try to save the world without his armor. Why? Because he is Iron Man, with or without the suit. It might be the most fully realized single-movie character arc in the MCU.
But just because the movie is so focused on creating characters will real dimension and exploring themes atypical to the genre doesn't mean it isn't a damn good action-adventure piece as well. Iron Man 3 boasts some of the most creative and downright fun action choreography in the franchise. Watching Tony take on a terrorist hideout with weapons made from stuff off the shelves of a hardware store is a beautiful sight to behold. Christmas ornament grenades and an electrified glove, among other MacGyver-esque inventions, help to deliver an Iron Man we've never seen before; an Iron Man "unplugged," if you will. Eventually, we get to see Tony fight with only bits and pieces of his armored suit, a sight which is almost more fun to see than when he's wearing the whole thing. Tony awkwardly flying around with one jet boot while alternating between his hand repulsor and a submachine gun may have cracked my top ten MCU action sequences. And finally, in time for the third act, Tony gets to go full Iron Man again—well, 35 times over. Some complained when the movie was released that the final battle was too pompous and overblown, or that it tried too hard to be like The Avengers but with only Iron Man. I would entirely disagree; I guess if you just aren't very fond of kinetic and complex CGI-laden action sequences, this one would feel a bit out of your range. But as action films or Marvel films go, this battle is not only complicated and stimulating, but also impressively creative. Finding unique and funny applications for Tony's specialized suits brings variety and humor to what could have otherwise been just robots flying around shooting lasers and blowing things up. I do wish the film showcased a higher number of suits in this fashion, giving us a taste what some of them were capable of, but I can understand the limitations of trying to balance action eye-candy with real story progression. Not everyone could stand another 10-15 minutes of action sequences like I could.
I have very little negative to say about this film, but if there's something I have to gripe about, it's probably Killian, the film's true antagonist. Embarrassed and blown off by Tony at a tech conference in 1999, Killian went from poor and creepy dweeb to rich and creepy heartthrob when he began developing powerful tech (and secretly running a terrorist organization in the Middle East), hell-bent on achieving world power and getting revenge on all the Tony's of the world who looked down on him and mocked him. It's not so much that I didn't like the motive or personality given to Killian; I actually like the dynamic he brings for most of the movie. But in the third act, he becomes this kind of fiery dragon man, proclaiming himself the "real" Mandarin and tearing through Tony's suits like paper dolls. Obviously, the fiery dragon man part doesn't just come out of nowhere; it's the Extremis biotech weapon that Killian helped scientist Maya Hansen develop over the years, and we see it pop up throughout the movie in Killian's henchmen Savin and Ellen Brandt, who chase Tony around the country. But it just feels a little overblown when Tony's suits had been pretty well matching and beating Killian's Extremis lackeys, but then Killian drops his gloves and blows through several of Tony's suits. It becomes a little goofier, even, when he ends up being beaten by Tony's girlfriend Pepper Potts, who had been kidnapped and administered the Extremis formula. It's not a major flaw, but it just feels a little over-the-top and cartoony, when most of the movie had felt like a more stripped-down Iron Man film. It's still fun, it just feels a bit cheap.
In all, Iron Man 3 is an astonishingly unappreciated and well-crafted movie. Shane Black knocked it out of the park, and surprisingly enough I liked this movie upon my latest viewing even more than I already did. IM3 has always been in my top half of the MCU, but now, it might sit in the top five by the time we're done with it all. I wasn't expecting to like this movie more than the first Iron Man, but here I am. Between the clever, whip-smart dialogue, fun and dimensional characterization from Tony all the way down to henchmen and sidekicks, and the brilliantly creative and exciting action sequences, IM3 beats out the original by a hair. It helps that it has a much stronger third act than its predecessor. This is definitely one to check out again; you may feel differently this time around. It's worth seeing for Tony's character arc alone, especially now that the MCU has continued to extrapolate from it in more recent entries.
PREVIOUS SCORE:
NEW SCORE:
NOTE: Next week, well be interrupting the release order, as well as our typical Sunday routine, in order to review the MCU's newest entry, Black Panther! That article will be published as a standard review, but will still be placed into our MCU ranking. Look for that review on Thursday, Feb. 15!
The MCU Ranking!
Every week, I'll take each entry covered for that week and place it in an ongoing ranking, which will eventually include all 19 films.
Much to my own surprise—and, I'm sure, to the surprise of many of you Marvelites as well—Iron Man 3 has taken my top spot. Despite the controversy surrounding the film's villain, I think it transcends its oddball interpretation and gives us better action and a more compelling third act than the original Iron Man. Below is my current ranking of the MCU, including the first seven films: