Would you believe it, I've watched Iron Man 3 TWICE already in the span of 2 days with my wife and son, fulfilling two different movie date invitations. Honestly, I didn't really have to watch it 2 times to acknowledge the film's awesomeness (and I'm not saying this because I'm a huge Marvel fan!) but it does help you to discover those bits & pieces you might've missed from your first sitting.
Anyway, here's some of my quick thoughts on the movie...[SPOILER ALERT!]. Those who haven't watched the movie yet, thou have been warned!
If ya ask me, this third outing feels more like a Tom Clancy-Jack Ryan thriller rather than the first two films. The movie still has the quirkiness and the humour factor but this time I felt they spent too much time on Tony's inner-conscience and his personal dilemma(s). I don't know, maybe it's due to the change of director from Jon Favreau to Shane Black (Favreau's still in the franchise as one of the supporting cast by the way).
Anyway, Iron Man 3 draws heavily on the elements from the 2005-06 Iron Man comic run, entitled "The Extremis". That 6-part comic series, took place after the Avengers' "Disassembled" story arc but I guess none of the comic continuity exists in the movie-verse, so let's just leave it to that. The "Extremis" story arc focuses on how a bunch of scientists tried to develop a super-soldier nanotechnology serum just like Captain America received back in the 40's. There were a few familiar characters adopted directly from Marvel comic pages i.e. Maya Hansen, Aldrich Killian and Ellen Brandt (hey, isn't she Man-Thing's wife or something?).
There's even a throwback to Warren Ellis, the writer of the comic Extremis story arc. The President of the US is aptly named President Ellis, thus signifying that the screen writers borrow stuff from Warren Ellis' story arc for the film.
What I didn't really liked about the plot was that Mandarin 'decoy' was somewhat mirroring the whole Batman Begins Ra's Al Ghul identity cover-up plot. But I guess it's done in two completely different context, so there's not much similarities anyway between those two (Marvel flicks still reigns over them DC flicks in my opinion!).
Seeing Pepper in an Iron Man suit really fuelled up my inner geek. Darn I was really hoping to see her going into that 'Rescue' suit that she gleefully wore in the comics, but I guess a few minutes (of screen time) being in that Mark 42 works fine too.
I'm a Marvel comics fan. So it was kind of a bummer to see the 'Iron Patriot' suit worn by Rhodey on-screen when that suit is in-fact worn by a certain Norman Osborn during his time at the helm of SHIELD and leader of the Dark Avengers in the Marvel comic-verse.
Overall, I think Robert Downey Jr. gave a rousing performance and dare I say it, his finest hour as the playboy billionaire. Let's just hope that he would still play Tony Stark for upcoming Avengers movies. That role was just made for him and I don't think anybody else could pull it as good as he did.
There's even a throwback to Warren Ellis, the writer of the comic Extremis story arc. The President of the US is aptly named President Ellis, thus signifying that the screen writers borrow stuff from Warren Ellis' story arc for the film.
What I didn't really liked about the plot was that Mandarin 'decoy' was somewhat mirroring the whole Batman Begins Ra's Al Ghul identity cover-up plot. But I guess it's done in two completely different context, so there's not much similarities anyway between those two (Marvel flicks still reigns over them DC flicks in my opinion!).
Seeing Pepper in an Iron Man suit really fuelled up my inner geek. Darn I was really hoping to see her going into that 'Rescue' suit that she gleefully wore in the comics, but I guess a few minutes (of screen time) being in that Mark 42 works fine too.
I'm a Marvel comics fan. So it was kind of a bummer to see the 'Iron Patriot' suit worn by Rhodey on-screen when that suit is in-fact worn by a certain Norman Osborn during his time at the helm of SHIELD and leader of the Dark Avengers in the Marvel comic-verse.
Overall, I think Robert Downey Jr. gave a rousing performance and dare I say it, his finest hour as the playboy billionaire. Let's just hope that he would still play Tony Stark for upcoming Avengers movies. That role was just made for him and I don't think anybody else could pull it as good as he did.
And of course, the post end-credits scene has become somewhat of a hallmark for all Marvel Studios films nowadays. I was gutted to see half of the cinema empty even before the end-credits reached its halfway mark. Don't these people realise there's bound to be one since every single movie leading up to The Avengers had it? Anyway, this time, the scene's pretty simple but we do get to see another 'Avenger' guest-starring together with Tony Stark! Simple yet hilarious!
THE REBEL SAYS: A MUST-WATCH superhero movie for the year. Go watch it if you haven't already!
THE REBEL SAYS: A MUST-WATCH superhero movie for the year. Go watch it if you haven't already!
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