The first Iron Man was a perfect mix of wit and action. Iron Man 2 boosted that formula to ridiculous proportions.
Now Tony Stark returns for Iron Man 3; it’s a damn sight better than the latter (which was hogwash), but a far cry from the former.
This time round, Stark’s nemesis is The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a media-savvy terrorist, with an army of super-evolved humans who explode like walking atom bombs… and then regenerate.
Writer/director Shane Black wrote Lethal Weapon, so inevitably what we get is a lot of crouching around with guns and snappy one-liners.The end titles even resemble a particularly bad 70’s cop show, possibly Beretta.
The script aims for an emotional depth, but doesn’t develop it. Tony Stark is suffering from post traumatic stress disorder after the events of Avengers Assemble. He gets over this with the help of an orphan. This must be the first time in history that Shane has stolen from “Shane”.
Tonally, the film is all over the shop. For a start, it’s set at Christmas, which makes no sense in the chill of an English spring. My guess is that The House of Mouse knows of this film’s mediocrity, and ported it up to 3D to boost the profits. And the pop cultural references, from Downton Abbey to, er, Croydon grate the synapses after a while.
In the middle of this, we have Robert Downey Jr, phoning in a disinterested performance from a Swiss tax haven. The sexual chemistry between him, Gwyneth Paltrow and Rebecca Hall is non-existent. Ben Kingsley sees the top, and goes over it. Guy Pearce does his usual rent-a-baddy shtick.
What are good are three action sequences, one playing out like a moral conundrum from a Christopher Nolan film. However, it’s obvious that this is Downey Jr’s last ride in the cybersuit. If the rumours are true, Jon Hamm is taking over. Iron Don, anyone?
A pile of scrap with a silent S, Iron Man 3 just doesn’t fly right.
Image courtesy of Walt Disney Studios via YouTube, with thanks.
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