I think we can all agree
that “The Avengers” was an act nobody wanted to follow. This
could have easily ended up as a colossal act of hubris by Disney by
riding its best talent too hard until it broke. I can count on one
hand the number of threequels that were any good, and only one that
was actually great (Toy Story 3). But once again, Disney hired a
talented director out of left field and let him do what he does best.
The man is Shane Black, and he is responsible for one of my top tree
favorite films “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.” Everything that made that
movie great is firing on all cylinders in Iron Man 3. The unrelenting
hilarious banter, overly intricate plot twists, and satirical subversion of tired action beats. All of these qualities keep it
far above the realm of mediocrity which, sadly, 2 had dipped its toe
into more times than it should have.
The story is much more
compelling this time around and it actually manages to deliver the
overdone “this time it's personal”
monologue in such a quiet and matter of fact kind of way that I
hadn’t marked it off as cliche until I sat down to write this
thing. When the central villains take the stage, which for the third
time features a violent renegade reined in by a corporate interest,
The plot shifts into high gear and only slows to a jog once for the 60 minutes left. Which ends up being a perfectly fine direction, but
I could have honestly watched Tony breaking down physically and
emotionally in his basement for another half an hour. Those have
always been my favorite parts of the series, Stark just trying to get
a grip on his own head.
But
this can't be a mini series and thus certain characters get the short
shrift. Rhodes comes off as an after thought for the most part and
Pepper, while still getting in on some choice action scenes, still
boils down to a damsel in distress. But what you get in return is
pleasantly surprising. The twist involving Ben Kingsly's “The
Mandarin” is brilliant and Tony's strangely un-accented friend
that he makes in rural Tennessee shares the best banter I’ve seen
since...well, “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.”
What
sets 3 apart from the others is its careful attention to the finale,
I think we can all agree the first couple left much to be desired.
Its a breath taking daisy chain of destruction connecting its two
best set pieces that magically turns forty minutes into what seems
like ten. Thankfully there's still plenty of that old Black dialogue
magic left in the bag so the near unrelenting action never suffocates
the film's easy charm.
That's
the word I’d use to sum up Iron Man 3, charm. It's charming. Its
the closest I’ve seen to a straight up marvel action comedy and
I’m glad it was allowed to stick so closely to its talented comedy
guns. It feels like the film Black wanted to make rather than the
Avengers preview Favreau was forced to make. So yes, this is my
favorite Iron Man and one of my favorite comic book movies in
general. Its got kinks in its armor, but they just give it character. If this is the way we have to say goodbye to Downey Jr.'s Tony
Stark than so be it. It was one hell of a retirement party
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