Wow, what a letdown. Iron Man 3 is easily the worst of the trilogy and possibly the worst movie Marvel has made since Daredevil. It starts out slow and goes, well slow, most of the movie. If you're looking for heavy action, look for a different movie. The visual effects were amazing. The story itself wasn't bad. The performances were good. But it just wasn't as action packed nor as good as it could have been. The last 30 minutes have some great action scenes and and feel more like the first Iron Man movies than the first 1 and a half hours.
SPOILERS AHEAD...
That and, they completely wasted the talents of the very esteemed Ben Kingsley. They relegated The Mandarin to nothing more than a farce, a joke. This is one of Iron Man's top arch enemies and he's turned into a doped up actor that is a patsy for the real bad guy?! You fucked up Marvel, plain and simple. Then there's the trip to Tennessee and a whole 30 minutes Tony spends befriending this kid, which completely stops any momentum the movie had going.
THIS MOVIEDOOD RATES IT: Bah.
2 comments:
SPOILERS
Hmm... while I had my own issues with the film (lousy pacing, awful editing, other issues, etc.) I have to disagree with your assessment of Ben Kingsley being "wasted" in this role. Not only was the reveal of "Trevor" a great plot twist, Kingsley was great in that role. Simply because he did not turn out to be who we expected him to be doesn't mean that he was "wasted." Frankly, I haven't had so much fun watching Kingsley on screen since "Sexy Beast."
And hey, its not as if we were technically without the Mandarin. Killian was technically the Mandarin, and I thought the reveal (and the implication that it was Killian who was responsible for certain events in IM1 and IM2) was pretty great.
While Shane Black and his editors could have handled the pacing much more effectively, I didn't have issues with the long dialogue and character-driven sequences. Check out Kiss Kiss Bang Bang if you haven't seen it already. In many ways, Iron Man 3 feels more like a sequel to that film.
My one major gripe with the action (which was terrific otherwise) was the airplane rescue scene. It was so exciting, so thrilling... and then when its all over, we learn that Tony was never even in the suit. Took all of the fun out of the scene... made it feel very hollow (no pun intended).
Oh, and it took place at Christmas. I love movies that take place during Christmas. And the closing credits sequence with the 80s style visuals and 60s style music was da bomb.
PS: I really don't think that a true adaptation of the Mandarin from the comic books would have worked. Its been awhile since I've read a Mandarin storyline, but didn't he have 10 magical rings? Even in a post-Avengers Iron Man film, would audiences really have accepted this?
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