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| Courtesy of Marvel |
Don’t
worry, there’s no crazy Sixth Sense-style reveal that hero Tony Stark (Robert
Downey Jr.) has been dead the whole time. But the brilliant screenplay by Drew
Pearce and Shane Black (who also took over directing duties from Jon Favreau) constructs
such a smart, cohesive narrative that it’s far more entertaining if you let the
story unfold in front of you with no preconceived ideas about where it’s going.
The
first act of Iron Man 3 establishes that Stark is having a tough time processing
the life-changing events of last summer’s The Avengers. Barely surviving after
flying a nuclear weapon into outer space through a wormhole would be a lot for
anybody to come to grips with. He’s suffering from panic attacks and PTSD, so he
overcompensates by building dozens of new Iron Man suits designed to provide
strength and safety in any situation.
Pepper
Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), his girlfriend and CEO of Stark Industries, is trying
to be patient with him, but it’s evident that his emotional state is putting a
strain on their relationship. Even his best friend James Rhodes (Don Cheadle)
and former bodyguard Happy Hogan (Favreau) aren’t sure how to interact with him
anymore. Stark tries to mask his condition with the usual sarcastic quips, but
he’s not fooling anyone.
It’s
the perfect time for an enemy to strike, and two villains take advantage of the
situation. First is the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a media-savvy terrorist whose speech
patterns, body language and methods of attack are meticulously calculated to
reverberate through our pop culture-obsessed society. Then there’s Aldrich
Killian (Guy Pearce), a business rival of Stark who has a personal reason to
hate the visionary engineer. After an attack on Stark’s home leaves the
superhero without his usual methods of fighting bad guys, he’s forced to
improvise. The results are surprising, creative and often hilarious.
The
best part of Iron Man 3 – and there’s plenty of praise to go around – is how
Black never forgets to let the characters have fun while still acknowledging the
danger of the situation. This isn’t some grim slog like The Dark Knight Rises.
Instead, the script maintains a light tone while also taking the plot seriously.
The director gets help in that department from actors who’ve had plenty of time
to get to know their characters and also have extensive experience in both drama
and comedy.
Downey
maintains the character’s smarmy charm, but returns a bit of the humanity he
lost in Iron Man 2 (which, in hindsight, is pretty rough). Cheadle gets to
have a lot more fun in his supporting role this time. He’s not in the movie
much, but he certainly makes his scenes count. Paltrow is also phenomenal and
gets far more to do. It seems like standard damsel-in-distress fare at first,
but Black is famous for upending cinematic tropes and audience expectations. (Also,
anyone questioning People Magazine’s recent decision to name Paltrow the world’s
most beautiful woman should see her abs on the big screen before disagreeing. Seriously,
they’re insane.)
Pearce
is reliably effective on the villain front, but Kingsley is the standout by a
mile. The Mandarin is the best baddie the Marvel cinematic universe has given
us, for a number of reasons I can’t get into without spoiling the fun. But rest
assured Kingsley makes the character absolutely fascinating.
Those
familiar with Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Black and Downey’s previous collaboration,
will be thrilled to learn that their partnership continues to produce dazzling
results. (And if you haven’t seen it, do so immediately. It’s brilliant,
hilarious and one of my all-time favorites.) The dialogue is sharp, the
narration is fantastic – especially once you realize who Stark is talking to –
and each scene sets up something important that’s coming later, no matter how
extraneous it may seem at the moment.
Black
is also adept at handling the jaw-dropping action sequences and CGI effects.
Studios don’t hand out $200 million to just any director, but Black has proven trustworthy
with that kind of money. I’ve got a feeling he’ll be getting plenty of offers
to helm big budget tentpoles for the foreseeable future.
Iron
Man 3 was going to make unfathomable sums of money whether critics loved it or
not (it has already cleared $200 million worldwide and it doesn’t even open in
the U.S. until tomorrow). But now it’s going to be the rare summer blockbuster
that is beloved by critics and audiences alike. Five months into 2013, it’s my
favorite movie of the year.
Iron
Man 3 is rated PG-13 for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence
throughout, and brief suggestive content.
Grade:
A
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