REVIEW - IRON MAN 3
I always feel a little illegitimate attempting to review
any superhero film having not read the comics. Then again, I guess I am part of
the main target market for the film, as films are always made to make the
majority happy! Not the hardcore fans. Of course, a great superhero film will
make both target groups happy, but those are few and far between! There are many great things to be said about this sequel.
The mere fact that it succeeds as an enjoyable film with a number ‘3’ in the
title, is a triumph. The action sequences and visual effects were, as always,
wonderful – as was, most of the acting.
Robert Downey Junior is, in my eyes, a perfect Iron Man. Not only is he cocky and cool, but through all three films he has managed to keep the human side of Iron Man alive, making his flaws as constantly evident as his coolness. Gwenyth Paltrow plays a great damsel. A great sidekick. A great girlfriend to a superhero – she does not, unfortunately, play a very strong female character in this film. I think I had high expectations of Pepper because some of the reviews I had read make mention of the fact that she "gets to wear the suit" and I assumed that would be a far more central plot point than it was. Disappointingly, Pepper remains a damsel in this film. The evidence of her as an object is so profound that she refers to herself as "a trophy".
Although the writers may not have found it in themselves to break the mould on gender stereotypes, they did do a great job playing with racial stereotypes. The ‘Mandarin’ is portrayed so evidently as of Middle-Eastern background, but sports an American accent. As soon as he was introduced as a ‘terrorist threat’ I rolled my eyes and felt thoroughly disappointed with Marvel for playing into that stereotype. Fortunately a plot twist reveals that Shane Black actually seems to have been questioning this kind of discrimination which was very refreshing and a great twist. Another strong point was the soundtrack, which was really well constructed. The use of Eiffel 65's 'Blue' was fantastic.
Robert Downey Junior is, in my eyes, a perfect Iron Man. Not only is he cocky and cool, but through all three films he has managed to keep the human side of Iron Man alive, making his flaws as constantly evident as his coolness. Gwenyth Paltrow plays a great damsel. A great sidekick. A great girlfriend to a superhero – she does not, unfortunately, play a very strong female character in this film. I think I had high expectations of Pepper because some of the reviews I had read make mention of the fact that she "gets to wear the suit" and I assumed that would be a far more central plot point than it was. Disappointingly, Pepper remains a damsel in this film. The evidence of her as an object is so profound that she refers to herself as "a trophy".
Although the writers may not have found it in themselves to break the mould on gender stereotypes, they did do a great job playing with racial stereotypes. The ‘Mandarin’ is portrayed so evidently as of Middle-Eastern background, but sports an American accent. As soon as he was introduced as a ‘terrorist threat’ I rolled my eyes and felt thoroughly disappointed with Marvel for playing into that stereotype. Fortunately a plot twist reveals that Shane Black actually seems to have been questioning this kind of discrimination which was very refreshing and a great twist. Another strong point was the soundtrack, which was really well constructed. The use of Eiffel 65's 'Blue' was fantastic.
A common complaint of this Iron Man film is that it there
were too many different plots vying for your attention. Although I enjoyed all
of them, I did feel that if more screen-time had been spent delving into Project Extremis, Aldrich’s motivation may have become clearer (something
I felt was lacking). Aldrich’s back story too, did not manage to be very
memorable – it simply played out the stereotype of rejected nerd-come-super-villain. Maya’s
motivation for being part of AIM was clouded as well.
In the end, I felt like the moral of Iron Man 3 was really confused. Stark is admitting, through the retrospective recount of these events (the form that the film takes), that his treatment of Aldrich was probably wrong, but there is no apology, there is no change or growth from the mistakes that were made. Pepper and Tony's relationship too, doesn't seem to develop as it should have from the events in the film. In the end she still relies on him to 'fix' her, despite her being integral to the defeat on the main villain.
In the end, I felt like the moral of Iron Man 3 was really confused. Stark is admitting, through the retrospective recount of these events (the form that the film takes), that his treatment of Aldrich was probably wrong, but there is no apology, there is no change or growth from the mistakes that were made. Pepper and Tony's relationship too, doesn't seem to develop as it should have from the events in the film. In the end she still relies on him to 'fix' her, despite her being integral to the defeat on the main villain.
A film that sticks with stereotypes is not a
bad one - it just is not fantastically memorable either. Despite its flaws the film remained enjoyable from start to end.
Iron Man is one of my top two favourite superheroes, and I can confidently say that
I would happily watch six Iron Man films, if Marvel was willing to make them.
However a really exceptional film will attempt to surprise it’s audience,
usually by breaking with tropes and stereotypes and I feel like there was ample
room for Iron Man 3 to push that bit further.
