Movie Discussion: Iron Man Three

Scott Hardie | May 4, 2013
Time just pointed out that Iron Man 3 is more anticipated than The Avengers last year, and speculates that Robert Downey Jr's slyly charismatic embodiment of Tony Stark is the reason: Thor and Captain America make for stiff heroes on screen, and Hulk is too random. The article claims right in the headline that Iron Man is the only interesting Marvel superhero, and maybe that's true of the characters available. I've long thought it too bad that Marvel lacks the film rights to their own best characters, because Spider-Man and Wolverine have plenty of personality and would improve an Avengers movie considerably. Here's hoping that the upcoming Edgar Wright version of Ant-Man, said to be an offbeat comedy more than a straightforward hero adventure, will inject more levity and charm into Marvel's mix.

Evie Totty | May 6, 2013
Well as you can see from my review, I loved it. I want to even see it a third time and am considering an IMAX viewing (I wanted to do that in the first place but the Conference inhibited that).

Given that in retrospect on the comments of the other characters (no mention of Black Widow or Hawkeye?) I would have to agree with you. Though it would seem Thor and Capt are being played the way they are supposed to be... people just like smartasses on screen. That's why the new Spidey did well (one of the reasons anyway). And it is definitely a shame we can't get Tony, Peter and Logan in the same movie. But who knows? Maybe the 3 houses will realize the amt of money they could make and strike a deal (maybe add Gambit in there?).

As far as the movie is concerned, I've since realized some fanboys are not happy with what they've done with IM storylines. I didn't consider that while watching it. After all - I forgave Jackson for Helms Deep (among other things) because it made for a good movie. I forgave Kubrick for The Shining too. Because it was a good movie in the end.

I know it is disappointing when you expect one thing but get another... however I feel the persona of Iron Man/Tony Stark has been preserved and that's good enough for me.

(WARMACHINEROX)

Scott Hardie | May 31, 2013
It seems pretty likely that Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow will not return for another movie in the series. If so, they picked a great way to go out. For a series that is most certainly not over, the ending of this movie very much has a feeling of closure and finality to it.

My biggest gripe about the movie is the sudden introduction of the twenty-odd suits at the end, done with a shit-eating grin on Robert Downey Jr's face as I recall. So he had his own private army of Iron Man suits running on auto-pilot the entire time and didn't use them? Not when his wife (girlfriend?) was abducted and tortured, not when the president of the United States needed immediate rescuing, not when he was stranded in wintry mountains with no help or resources for a third of the movie? I guess his lack of contact with JARVIS was supposed to account for this, but the boy restored that before long. Maybe there was another reason that I missed why Stark couldn't summon the suits until that very moment, but it sure felt like a huge, huge problem with plausibility, not to mention a near-literal deus ex machina. We were made to think that all variant suits were destroyed at the beginning, which makes the ending even less fair.

How did the first explosion not kill Killian, but the second explosion did? We've seen people infected with the Extremis virus/whatever survive all kinds of explosions, so why was the final one the final one? Kelly said that he had to survive long enough for Gwyneth Paltrow to give him a very satisfying beating with that metal pole. It's like a bad tabletop RPG: The villain has 45hp, and someone sets off a 40-damage explosion that staggers him but doesn't kill him, then someone hits him on the head and he dies. Huh?

Evie Totty | June 11, 2013
Didn't see this til now :)

And of course we've discussed this IRL but I'll go ahead and put it in writing here: the suits were buried. As soon as they were recoverable JARVIS told Stark they were and Stark was like 'bring 'em'. So he had them involved as soon as he was able.

The explosion thing with Killian. I had this whole thing written out playing Devil's Advocate... but no. I can't. You are right, it was implausible. And I'm pretty sure I was all like 'Really?' at the screen.

The last IM with RDJ and GP? I don't know. I hope not. I can't imagine anyone else playing IM but RDJ. He made the role his own. But it will go on and I'm sure the next guy will do a decent job.

As far as the end of IM? No way. You saw where he got the 'bots at the end there. And his screwdriver (hah). Plus, he HAS to do the next Avengers.