Ten years ago, audiences were treated to what would be THE final stand-alone movie focused on the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr.....and for his solo swan song, he helped bring over an old friend to direct, Shane Black. Black had previously directed RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang eight years prior, a dark action comedy which is among several notable entries in the buddy cop drama written by Black including the original Lethal Weapon.
Also returning for this "three-quel" are the previous Iron Man films are Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau.....now facing off a couple of new villains played by Guy Pearce and Sir Ben Kingsley. The story focuses on a dangerous new technology developed by one of Stark's rivals which he must face head-on....often without the help of his Iron Man suit no less. And what results is a superhero epic which is fast, funny, action-packed....and takes place during Christmas, go figure!
Host & Producer: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
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Ten years ago, audiences were treated to what would be THE final stand-alone movie focused on the character of Tony Stark/Iron Man played by Robert Downey Jr.....and for his solo swan song, he helped bring over an old friend to direct, Shane Black. Black had previously directed RDJ in Kiss Kiss Bang Bang eight years prior, a dark action comedy which is among several notable entries in the buddy cop drama written by Black including the original Lethal Weapon.
Also returning for this "three-quel" are the previous Iron Man films are Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, and Jon Favreau.....now facing off a couple of new villains played by Guy Pearce and Sir Ben Kingsley. The story focuses on a dangerous new technology developed by one of Stark's rivals which he must face head-on....often without the help of his Iron Man suit no less. And what results is a superhero epic which is fast, funny, action-packed....and takes place during Christmas, go figure!
Host & Producer: Geoff Gershon
Editors: Geoff and Ella Gershon
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
https://livingforthecinema.com/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/Living-for-the-Cinema-Podcast-101167838847578
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/livingforthecinema/
Letterboxd:
https://letterboxd.com/Living4Cinema/
IRON MAN 3 - 2013
Directed by Shane Black (Audio clip)
Starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostack, James Badge Dale, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer, Jon Favreau, Ty Simpkins, Dale Dickey, Paul Bettany, and Ben Kingsley
Genre: Superhero Movie
This might very well be not only the most rewatchable MCU movie but now looking back on the ten years of MCU episodes since, I'm fairly confident that it has THE best action of any film in the franchise. Writer/director Shane Black REALLY leaves his stamp on this one and it's all the better for it! :)
It's SUCH a strange tonal balance that he pulls off in that this easily has as many jokes or quips as any other MCU entry but there's also a genuine sense of danger to the proceedings to....the Extremis stuff (the villain's army of regenerative super soldiers) is pretty hard-core for PG-13 and these seem like stronger foils for our hero and his Iron Man suit, definitely more than anything else he has fought in any Avengers or Iron Man sequel. The humor is also a bit nastier but it helps to have peak RDJ delivering the snark!
The story? Well it's nothing particularly original, really just a rif on the original Incredibles....or honestly a variation on pretty much every Tony Stark-centered story and that's even including 'Ultron, the first two Spidermen, and even 'Civil War when you think about it. š¤ Stark's (and his father's) ongoing effort to "privatize world peace" has caused him to overreach and/or act arrogantly, resulting in collateral damage OR just a potential partner transforming in a bitter rival. In this case, that bitter rival is scientist Aldrich Killian played by the ever-reliable Guy Pearce - Stark snubbed him at a party decades prior (in a pretty clever flashback sequence which opens the film) and now Killian is looking to unleash his new "Extremis" program on the world under the guide of contacting terrorism.
And wouldn't you know it....there's a fierce new terrorist on the loose know as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) who's masterminding bombings all over the country while also promoting his dangerous message via hacked TV appearances that are even getting to the President. :o And the only ones who can STOP him are Iron Man and Iron Patriot (Don Cheadle also known as War Machine because....well this is an stand-alone Iron Man sequel. š)
Of course through Happy Hogan's (Favreau, still in this despite leaving directorial duties for IM) amateur detective work into Killian's own nefarious main Extremis hit man played pitch-perfect by James Badge Dale, this leads to an explosion in LA which kicks off the central mystery. Tony publicly challenges The Mandarin who then dispatches gun-ships to his Malibu cliff-side mansion resulting in the first of several dazzling TANGIBLE action setpieces. You've got this house on stilts being taken down AND an attempted helicopter assassination at a cliffside location which both seem to be homages to Black's Lethal Weapon roots....just on a bigger budget, superhero tech scale and the comparisons don't end there! ;)
Best Needledrop (best song cue or score used throughout runtime of film):
Over the past decade, Brian Tyler has become one of the most reliable composers for franchise movies ā heās done scores for various Fast & Furious sequels, the most recent Rambo movies, the last two Screams, AND for a few years he was a go-to guy for the MCU composing the scores for this, Thor The Dark World and Avengers: Age of Ultron. And I gotta say that even though his music doesnāt resemble the themes heard in the two previous Iron Man movies, itās pretty rousing stuff!
For one thing, he introduces a muscular new theme for the titular hero which seems to always kick in whenever he gets suited upā¦.itās fast-paced, filled with blasting horns, and punctuated with metal-clanging drums. Not only is it an improvement over the past two Iron Man themes but it stands out as one of THE better stand-alone themes in the entire MCU possibly second only the original Avengers theme composed by Alan Silvestri. (Audio clip)
But even better when the movie ends kicking off with ONE final declaration from our hero, we are THEN treated to a more swinging ā60ās version of the theme from Tyler replete with bongos, organs, trumpet blares, surfer guitarā¦..just full-on playful hero music blasting over a closing credits montage showing us ALL of the major players from all three previous Iron Mansā¦.EXCEPT Terrance Howard, ok I get why but still sad. And all of the imagery is shown to us primary colored frames right out of a comic bookā¦.itās definitely one of the better closing credits sequences of this universe right up there with the one from the first Black Panther. And Tyler even gave this particular theme a catchy nameā¦.āCan you dig it?ā And yes I mean he actually named this track āCan you dig it?ā (Audio clip)
Trailer Moment (scene or moment that best describes this movie):
And that brings me to this film's standout sequence which MIGHT not only be the best Marvel action sequence but the best of any superhero movie in recent years. Watching our metal-clad hero rescue about a dozen passengers dropping quickly from an exploding Air Force One....it's not only thrilling and funny but just truly rousing stuff! Obviously they used some green screen but the environment being thousands of feet up in the air is just SO convincing...it feels momentarily harrowing to see these folks free-falling so high, making it even more of a kick to watch how Tony wittily saves them using the "Barrel of Monkeys" approach. It's just a masterclass in bid-budget filmmaking, you can even imagine James Cameron watching this tipping his hat. ;) And disappointingly, this also helps serve as a pivot point for films like these moving forward.....
Wasted Talent (most under-utilized talent involved with film):
With this category, Iām actually going to address the backlash this movie received and how it affected the franchise moving forwardā¦..which yeah given the category this is in, was NOT positive in my opinion. Regarding the Mandarin twist, I have always been kind of ambivalent towards it - it makes sense for the story though I think the drugged-out actor bit is overplayed despite a good performance from Kingsley. But apparently, taking the Mandarin this route SO pissed off much of the Marvel fanbase that it resulted in a sizeable backlash which hurt the legacy of this film which is more often now perceived as a silly "detour" from the MCU.
Which is unfortunate because not only would Black not return to this franchise again but fast-forward a year in 2014 and this SAME fanbase would be gushing over the mildly competent mediocrity of Captain America: The Winter Soldier....a film that's FINE overall but by comparison is so much blander and toothless in comparison to this film....even with a much higher body count. Yeah think about that SHIELD tower/Helicarrier climax - we're talking THOUSANDS killed and completely brushed over while our supposed "hero" is too wrapped up with his beloved Bucky. (Don't get me started on Bucky....) Unlike IM3, 'Winter Soldier only barely dabbled with expanding the superhero genre into something more grounded...only to toss that all aside with an absurdly overblown third act. :/ Now imagine an MCU moving forward where some one like Shane Black was given the keys to the kingdom as opposed to the Russo Brothers.....sigh. ā¹ļø
And....just to make it clear, I'm not just picking on Marvel here. The SAME summer IM3 came out, we had Man of Steel...the collateral damage in that film's climax has already been litigated to death but answer me this: how come in THREE films directed by Zach Snyder featuring Kal-El the ULTIMATE superhero.....we never get even ONE thrilling demonstration of a flying hero to rival this sequence from Iron Man 3?!? š® Superman is SUPPOSED to be a beacon of light and even rescuing a space shuttle in BVS, he's presented doing it mopily with sad music playing over....apparently Snyder and his fanbase just could never accept the character of Superman as anything but a disturbed edgelord who was two movies away from becoming Homelander! (This is pretty much shown during the dreary post-credits sequence of the otherwise pretty excellent Snydet Cut. )
Throughout Iron Man 3 and especially during that indelible Air Force One rescue sequence, we see the thrill and joy of our protagonist doing something HEROIC with actual stakes no less. š The Russo Brothers, Snyder, Feige, and SO many others should have been taking notes....
MVP (person or people most responsible for the success of this film):
In case it wasnāt already obvious, the success of this movie REALLY does come down to two people. First there is the Iron Man himselfā¦.Robert Downey Jr. Returning as Tony Stark, he gives a strong performance with a couple of added dimensions from the previous films: this post-Avengers version of Stark is obsessively mission-focused, guarded, and somewhat traumatized.....but at least (unlike Wayne in various incarnations) quite self-aware.
At its core, RDJ plays that self-awareness to the hilt as only HE can....rapid-firing mumbling, quippy asides, and just an overall jittery pathos which makes it clear that even though he's very aware of his situation, he doesn't have the first clue how to work his way through it. It's a very good performance only lessened by the fact that within this universe, he would be expected to repeat virtually the SAME exact arc for at least two more movies. (Civil War, Age of Ultron) In retrospect, this would have been a very fitting swan song for this characterā¦.yes as far as Iām concerned a better one than he got in āEndgame.
And a big reason for that is that Downey has reunited with the writer/director who helmed what many consider to be the Downeyās first real post-recovery comeback vehicle eight years priorā¦.which is the action comedy Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And if you have been a regular listener of this podcast, you KNOW how much of a fan of Shane Black I amā¦.he wrote previous episodes Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, and The Last Boy Scout. Now keep in mind that these were all R-rated action films loaded with profanity and violenceā¦.in fact Iron Man 3 MIGHT be the only film directed by Shane Black which ISNāT R-rated. And yet he brings all of his sensibilities to it regardlessā¦..
None of this is ripping off Black's previous films mind you but it's just borrowing his vibe: Christmas in warm climates, bar brawls, protagonists with healthy sex lives, wisecracking kid sidekicks put in peril, ponytailed henchmen with machine guns, AND.....a Lethal Weapon 2-on-steroids climax on the docks among shipping containers. It's actually surprisingly seamless fitting this content into the family-friendly MCU as Black (with co-writer) Drew Pearce seems to just be having PG-13 fun riffing on the absurdity of this whole central premise of a world filled with alien invasions, hot-flaming skin supersoldiers, and of course flying metal suits.....and how half the time, none of the tech seems to work as it should. š
On paper, this movie just should NOT work nearly as well as it doesā¦by this point, nobody was clamoring for a third Iron Man movie after the second one was so lackluster. But it does thanks to peak-level work from its star and directorā¦and for that reason, Robert Downey Jr. and Shane Black are your Co-MVPās.
Final Rating: 4.5 stars out of 5
Happy Tenth Anniversary to what MIGHT be the most underrated film in this increasingly expanding Marvel Cinematic Universe. Among all of the MCU films which I have seen ā most of them basically, I have seen 26 out of 32 so far ā I would probably rank THIS one fourth overall, after the first Iron Man, The Avengers, and the first Black Panther.
Streaming on Disney Plus
And that ends another MACH FORTY-TWO review