Born Movie Reviews

Movie Review written by: Born Movie Reviews

RT Critics Rating: 7.8/10

Born Movie Reviews' Rating: 8/10

Nothing has been the same for Tony Stark ever since the events of The Avengers. Ever since the alien invasion of New York, Stark restlessly built Iron Man suits, couldn't sleep, suffered from panic attacks, and experienced friction in his relationship with Pepper Potts. Here, we have Tony Stark at his lowest point, at his most vulnerable moment.

Iron Man 3 revolves around Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), who tries to deal with his anxiety attacks as well as Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Outside in the world of danger, Stark reunites with his past flair Maya (Rebecca Hall) and hears of her boss Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), the founder of Advanced Idea Mechanics, who develops a superman strength virus called Extremis. Furthermore, the country has constantly been taking hits from the notorious terrorist, the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).

If that synopsis already sounds bloated to you, then you are already exposed to Iron Man 3's greatest flaw: There is too much stuff going on. Instead of having one singular plot that comes from a director and writer, the narrative this time around once again feels like a laundry list of items that the studio wants out of an Iron Man sequel. To them, the story came as a second priority. As you can see from the trailer, Iron Man 3 appeared to be the Dark Knight Rises equivalent of Tony Stark's journey. It certainly felt like it during the first hour. However, when the second hour kicks in, the film dives into a maze of complicated twists and turns while firing on all cylinders.

Halfway into the movie, without spoiling the plot, Stark meets a little kid in the town of Tennessee, and an awkward relationship is formed between the two. Fortunately, the kid does not fall under the label of "annoying children in movies." If you have seen Hugh Jackman's relationship with the kid from Real Steel, you will not be disappointed here.

Iron Man 3, compared to its previous sequels, is well-assisted by the supporting cast this time around, with a terrific performance from Paltrow and Pearce, in addition to Don Cheadle's character having the perfect amount of screen time. There is a huge twist in the middle of the film, which is where I will describe Ben Kingsley's performance as entertaining and sparkling on scene. This surprise, though, might disappoint audiences and may cause them to even check out for the rest of the movie. However, if you really sit down and think about it a little, the twist says a lot about terrorism and political affairs in the United States today. For me, the twist worked.

The strongest component for Iron Man 3 is probably the fact that it goes back to character development, telling us that the only reason why Iron Man is what it is today is because of Tony Stark. From the very beginning, this was never Iron Man's story. Iron Man is merely a fancy suit. The actual character who we follow is Stark, and this film goes back to why Stark is the genius we fell in love with in the first movie, which leads me to conclude that Iron Man 3's script is definitely better written than the previous sequel. However, the script does suffer from its own technical flaws.

Inevitably, this film is the darkest of the three Iron Man films. However, it is also the funniest. Fortunately, when it is funny, it is actually funny, and most of the silliness comes from the scenes between Tony Stark and the kid. Then again, the tone shifts back and forth between being serious and being very silly. Does the silliness make the film entertaining? Definitely. Does the silliness prevent the film from having focus? It does at times. In the end, it worked and it didn't work, and at the end of the day, having a film with a consistent atmospheric grip on the story from beginning to end is better.

Without a doubt, Iron Man 3 has flaws. Most of the time, these flaws can be easily dismissed. What really disappointed me is the fact that these flaws were already seen in Iron Man 2. If Iron Man 2 tripped over ten rocks, then Iron Man 3 tripped over six rocks, but those six rocks are exactly the same rocks that tripped the previous entry. It is as if the filmmakers did not learn from their mistakes, well sort of.

The action sequences in this film are definitely impressive, and the film does offer a few tiny surprises in certain scenes, where it leads you to believe something, then it debunks you on the spot. Watching Iron Man 3 is like watching a film directed by Tony Stark himself, in which he wants to constantly outsmart you at every turn. As for the climactic final battle, there is a lot of impressive metal clashing around. If only they did one of those long continuous shots like the one Joss Whedon did in The Avengers, only this time the shot is made to display every suit that is flying.

Some people, due to the twist, will say that Iron Man 3 is the worst entry of the trilogy. These are probably the most die-hard Iron Man fans out there. They will hate Iron Man 3 for the same reason why everyone hated Spider-Man 3. Literally. If you watch the movie, you will know what I mean. Other people might even say that Iron Man 3 is the greatest of the three. For me, it is a large improvement of Iron Man 2, but still not up to par with the original. When it comes to simplistic storytelling for a superhero, the original backstory in the first film reigns superior.

Unlike Iron Man 2, Iron Man 3 is very thematic and sits as the better sequel for the original thematic tale. From the very beginning, Stark believed that the suit was a part of him literally, because he relied on the power core in his chest to keep him alive from the shrapnel piece. Here, we learn deep down that it was never about the Iron Man suit, it was all about Tony Stark and his wits and inventiveness. His rediscovery of himself and his chemistry with Pepper Potts this time around is what really saves Iron Man 3 from malfunctioning like Mark 42.

In conclusion, Iron Man 3 suffers the cliche flaw that all action sequels suffer from: the desire from the studio to pile on more and more and more. Take all these plot dials and turn it up to eleven. Fortunately for this sequel, most of the dials synced up together and worked. As an action film alone, Iron Man 3 sits near the top for some of the better superhero films. As a second sequel, it tells a much better story for Tony Stark and it finishes with no loose ends. At the end of the day, the film worked with several impressive action scenes, and the world that the characters lived in really belongs in the Marvel universe, and it is all-in-all a great roller coaster ride.

Box Office Prediction: High $800s to $900s. No surprise if $1 billion is crossed