For the 4th time in 6 years, Robert Downey, Jr. dons the armor of "Iron Man", but, judging from this third outing, something is wrong with the translation of classic comics storylines into the movies.
Jon Favreau turned in his director's cap, though he remains a producer and co-stars as Happy Hogan, newly promoted to head of security for Stark Enterprises, as was the case in the comics way back in the day. However, the power of his new office has gone to Hogan's head (gee, doesn't that sound familiar, wrestling fans?), and it would ultimately prove costly. An old business rival, Killian (Guy Pearce), whom Stark blew off on New Year's Eve more than 13 years ago, has returned, and while the company he founded, Advanced Idea Mechanics (AIM), was only a passing reference in terms of the overall story, that only begins the slew of mistakes in the script, co-authored by director Shane Black.
Apparently, Black didn't do as much homework as he should've. Instead, "Iron Man 3" falls more toward Black's most famous cinematic effort, "Lethal Weapon", as if he was asking Downey and Don Cheadle (House of Lies) to audition for him in case he wants to reboot the Mel Gibson-Danny Glover movie series for a new audience. Worse, one of the Golden Avenger's oldest foes, the Mandarin, is deconstructed as a mere actor (Ben Kingsley), and looks more like an analogue for the late Osama bin Laden. In Black's mind, Mandarin is merely a front for Killian and his "human bombs", agents injected with a formula that turns their bodies into IED's at a moment's notice. In this regard, Kingsley, while hamming it up when confronted first by Stark, then by Stark and James Rhodes (Cheadle), becomes a less believable menace. Not good.
And, then, of course, there is Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark's girlfriend, who is now a high ranking major domo in the company. In a brief bit of fanservice to recent comics readers, Potts briefly wears the armor to help pull a houseguest-cum-spy out of Stark's home after he stupidly gave Killian an open invitation to attack. In the comics, Stark wouldn't have been that brazen or mindless. Killian later captures Pepper and turns her into a potential walking bomb, but, well..........!
Rhodes, meanwhile, has had his heroic identity upgraded from War Machine to Iron Patriot. In the comics, the Iron Patriot handle had been used by a master villain not long ago (Norman Osborn), so this is perhaps some foreshadowing towards something to come, though one cannot be certain of that. Of course, Stan Lee gets in his obligatory 5 seconds of face time, this time as a beauty pageant judge. At least he ain't in harm's way, like he was in "Incredible Hulk" 5 years ago. The final battle between Stark & Killian was anti-climatic, predictable, and, well, less satisfying than the first two films.
Was there a post-credits teaser? You bet there was, but it ain't tied to the "Avengers" franchise. Instead, a certain Marvel Doctor may be making a house call at the multiplex real soon.
Meanwhile, scope the trailer.
Last and least, friends, the story-within-a-story of Stark and a Tennessee kid teaming to get the armor back up and running now explains Verizon's ad campaign tie-in to the movie. Oh, yeah, there is the predictable product placement.
Some people think this was better than the last film. No, I don't think so. Taking some classic stories from the late 70's through the 90's, by creators like David Michelinie and Warren Ellis, and deconstructing them so's to make it look like "Lethal Weapon" with super powers, was just wrong. Still, it'll be #1 at the box office. The "Marvel zombies" will flock like sheep. They usually do.
Rating: C.
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