The Iron Man 3 review

Spoilers below. If you care, don't read this post yet.



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Observations:

This felt much more like a Bond, Bourne, or similar spy-fi flick. Or maybe even like a Die Hard or Mission Impossible. You still get an interplay of suit versus man, heroic person or just equipment, but it is deemphasized to a point of feeling like he described it in IM2: a high tech prosthesis. The IM suits and robotic devil soldiers could have easily fit into a Bond movie or a Mission Impossible. Like Moonraker or View to a Kill. Still good but not the piece de resistance. If Tony had dressed like a clown a la RGM in Octopussy, we really would have known we were in for a fucked up ride.

That being said, the "plot twist" about the Mandarin was verging on the Octopussy clown for me. The more I thought about it, the angrier I got. WTF. I get that you don't spoil a twist in the trailers but it's a shitty bait and switch to promise us Ben Kingsley giving us a grand performance. He isn't in the film much and the role he plays, while being funny, is both a buzzkill and a bastardization of the comics. Like, "Yeah, it's ha ha funny for a few minutes when Stark calls him Ringo but this is really NOT what I signed up for." 

When I imagined Tony getting back to basics and away from the constant tinkering with billion dollar tech, the kid's shed in Tennessee and a pastiche of crap from the hardware store is not what I had in mind. Yes, it was funny to see him buy fire ant killer and bolt cutters at Ace, but I don't go to Iron Man for that. I want there to be some kind of intense, white knuckle grip on the theater seat experience. This was more like going to an action comedy that had nothing to do with Marvel comics. 

When I imagined this being a darker film, I thought his nightmares and flashbacks would play a larger part. I wanted him to get obsessed with what else is out there. See, I had my heart set on him using an outer space IM suit to see things he may not be ready for. Does he find Thanos? The Other? The Guardians? We got none of that and I felt like it was a lost opportunity. How cool would it have been for him to spend time with space travel only to find when he comes back that the Mandarin has wreaked havoc on earth and must be destroyed. That's what I wanted.

The post credits scene was "Meh." Yeah, it's good to see Dr. Banner but it didn't feel very relevant to anything. Just goofy.