It was clear after the fiasco that was Iron Man 2 that Stark Industries needed a kind of rebranding, and the decision that Shane Black was the guy to do so turned out to be a shrewd one. If the second part of the trilogy suffered from a bit of déjà vu, as though there was little attempt to build on the part one and instead try to replicate it as closely as possible (I don’t even know if that’s true but it’s how it felt), Iron Man 3 is a recalibration, established most noticeably or with the greatest effect in its visual style, though also in the refreshingly frank dialogue that felt like a return to the Tony Stark we lovingly tolerate.
Part of the enjoyment of experiencing this movie for the first time is in the macro elements, like the twist involving the Mandarin character. This was one of those movie surprises that was set up beautifully in the pre-release promotional period, and the payoff indeed makes the setup even more impressive and retroactively clever. What looked potentially problematic turned out to be a rather brilliant tactic with thematic resonance.
Then there are the micro elements that drew people into the Stark character; rather than making him out to be either a virtuous hero or an amoral trainwreck, one or the other depending on the necessity of the moment, we get to see him be both at once, sympathetic to a young kid while still pointing out that he’s acting like a pussy. Other touches like the mystery surrounding the James Badge Dale character and the obviously-a-villain-but-not-sure-how-just-yet Guy Pearce are pulled out nicely. The ending is fairly rough and less satisfying than we’ve seen elsewhere but that seems like a minor quibble in comparison to how tremendous the rest of the movie is throughout.
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Published: Nov 11, 2013 11:39 am