Rating of
3/4
It’s incredibly flawed, but it’s a lot of fun
Looneymanthegreat - wrote on 05/04/13
Iron Man 3 was directed by Shane Black, the guy who wrote and directed Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, and has most of the flaws of that film along with a good chunk of the other Marvel films flaws as well.
Much like last years the Avengers this film tried to do a lot of cool things with it’s plot and characters, but didn’t have the talent to pull it off. Shane Black takes a lot of risks in Iron Man 3, and they work Individualy, but Shane Black never brings them together, and the third act sort of devolves instead of evolving like a third act should. The movie creates an interesting message with the villains motivation and it’s parallel to Tony’s PTSD, but downgrades into black and white morals and quick-fixes.
I’ll give this to Shane Black: he tries a lot of fun stuff that I didn’t expect (spoilers.) He turned the mandarin in to an out of work drug addicted actor, he gave Pepper Potts super-powers and in the end Tony Stark destroys all his Iron Man suits and removes his chest piece. Even if most of these twists aren’t permanent in the long run (I’m sure Iron Man will be right back were he was by the end of The Avengers 2 if not long before then) it still works surprisingly well in the movie; making things unpredictable and exciting for the viewer.
There are a lot of really good individual Ideas in the film, but there just isn’t enough talent to pull them together. I had the same problem with the Avengers. Both films attempt to be better then they’re directors can manage.
The result is better then Iron Man 2, but still far from the first Iron Man film. It’s about on par with The Avengers, but maybe a little bit better. It’s incredibly flawed, but it’s a lot of fun.
