While not the most cerebral of films, ‘Iron Man’ is thoroughly enjoyable and a tiny bit silly
As with every successful franchise, Iron Man 3’s appeal lies in the immense charm of its main character, Tony Stark, aka Iron Man himself.
As with the Tom Cruises and Julia Roberts of this world, Robert Downey Jr almost always plays a version of himself and since Downey’s character Tony Stark insists that he IS Iron Man then, since Downey is Tony Stark and Stark is Iron Man, well then, Downey is therefore Iron Man, and so without him, there would be no Iron Man. I am making this needlessly complicated point only to ensure that people realise how much these Hollywood blockbusters rely on the attached star, without whom, there would be no film, sequel, and successive franchise.
In this third installment however, while Downey is clearly indispensable, Jon Favreau, the director of the first two films is not. Although he made a voluntary decision to step down, Favreau is not particularly missed, this is partly because, while the two previous Iron Man films have been great fun, they are not particularly noteworthy in originality or skill, greatly relying, as I have hammered into you, on the attractiveness of the staple characters. Favreau is present, however, on scene, as Happy Hogan, Stark’s bodyguard and best friend, making up for his absence behind the camera. Also, reprising their roles are Don Cheadle as Col James Rhodes, and, of course, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Tony Stark’s long suffering girlfriend.
Perhaps what is most interesting about Iron Man 3 is the evolution of Pepper’s character. Paltrow’s Pepper Potts has always left me cold up until this film where she finally comes into her own, the writer’s having generously (and wisely) made her the moral and emotional core of the film. Unlike most other woefully superficial Hollywood heroines, it is always worthwhile to see a girl actually worth saving, who is also funny, clever, and gorgeous at the same time.
The plot of the film is fairly straightforward. At some point in the past, Tony Stark, in the process of pursuing a love interest, Dr Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), proceeds to humiliate and ignore a crippled Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who wants to include Stark in Advanced Idea Mechanics, a company he is on the verge of founding. Maya Hansen, in turn, is on the verge of perfecting Extremis, a virus that can regenerate parts of the human body, providing it with superhuman strength.
Fast forward over a decade later: Tony Stark is dealing with the aftermath of an alien invasion and other events from the The Avengers (2012) film, puttering around creating numerous versions of the original Iron Man model and driving Pepper crazy, when a series of bombings wracks the western world. A shadowy figure called The Mandarin (played to perfection by Ben Kingsley), claims responsibility, Happy is hurt in one of the bombings, a newly invigorated Killian re-enters the scene (he is also, incidentally, in love with Pepper) and off we go on a 130 minute long adventure, where, Iron Man inevitably will save the world, himself, and Pepper.
While not the most cerebral of films, Iron Man is thoroughly enjoyable, a tiny bit silly, and unabashedly relies on Downey’s innate insouciant charm. Go and see it for pure distraction: there is a preposterous but thoroughly riveting scene that must not be missed when Iron Man jumps out of an exploding plane and rescues a dozen odd people who are hurtling through the air by creating a human chain of sorts. Even while you’re rolling your eyes, your mouth will be grinning at Tony Stark’s witticisms and Iron Man’s prowess over the course of that memorable sequence.
Trailer of Iron Man 3, directed by Shane Black