Movie Review: Iron Man 3

(Image from:  Comic Book Movie)

In addition to watching The Avengers, in preparing for the sequel, Avengers: Age of Ultron, I also got around to finally seeing Iron Man 3.

 

In this film, Tony Stark is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), from his experience fighting the alien invasion of New York City (as depicted in the first Avenger movie).  His condition is causing a rift between him and his girlfriend/Girl Friday, Virginia "Pepper" Potts.

 

But trouble is also brewing outside the Stark Mansion.  A terrorist leader calling himself The Mandarin, has been staged bombings within the United States.  The motives for these attacks turn out to be "demons from Tony's past" in the form of Aldrich Killian and Maya Hansen. 

 

In the end, Tony unmasks Mandarin, tries to save Pepper, but she saves him from Killian, while James Rhodes rescues the president. The full plot synopsis is available on Wikipedia.

 

What I liked about the movie is that it showed Tony Stark to be more vulnerable and becoming more personable.  That is, he's treating people like human beings rather than objects.  He's not quite there yet, but he seems to be working on it.

 

What I didn't care for was the plethora of Iron Man suits, and even their individual components, can be powered remotely.  If so, then why bother climbing inside one?

 

As to the Mandarin, I have mixed feelings about the movie version.  On the one hand, I thought the "Big Reveal/Plot Twist" was funny, when Mandarin turned-out to be a doped-up British actor, played with great understated comedic effect by Ben Kingsley. 

 

On the other hand though, the producers diminished and threw away one of the best known arch villains (comic book version of Mandarin) in comic book lore.  While I realize this was done to avoid the Yellow Peril Trope, there's a lot of comic book fans who aren't happy with the Phony Mandarin.  (See also the Comic Book Movie link under the above image).

 

But overall, there was more to like about Iron Man 3 than to dislike about it.  Plus I thought the post-credit scene of Tony Stark relating his tale to a dozing Dr. Banner was hilarious.

 

Iron Man 3 is worth the 3.5-star investment.