50 years back, in March 1963, Stan Lee introduced a new superhero in Issue #39 of Tales of Suspense comic series, and gave him a relatively straight-forward name, Iron Man. What began as sketches in a comic book to fill the minds of the readers with unparalleled imagination has now become a rage in the movie business, spanning a trilogy of its own, revitalizing the career of a forgotten actor, acting as a launchpad for bringing together many heroes in one of the finest films of our time, and justifying a studio's $4 billion acquisition of another. Now, beginning with Iron Man 3, Disney launches Phase 2 of the Avengers series, planning to make it bigger and better than the original, and boy, would that be a task! But if Iron Man 3 is any indication of the way things would shape up, then there is plenty on the platter to look forward to.
Iron Man 3 takes off from the battle at Manhattan when the Avengers successfully managed to wade off the alien invasion. What seemed like a happy ending then, was in fact just the beginning of a new problem for Tony Stark, the one problem we would never have associated with him in the past, that of anxiety attacks. To keep himself balanced, Stark spends more and more time in his basement, 'tinkering' around with his suits, his armour now upgraded to Mark XLII (Mark 42), which is a big jump from the Mark VII we saw him wearing last in The Avengers. The big plus point of the suit: it can be called by Tony Stark mentally and assembles itself on his body automatically. Wicked cool! But his relationship with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) becomes feisty as he spends more time with his armours then with her. Eh, typical boy-girl matters! Enter in Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a leader of a terrorist organisation who is hell bent on teaching the US President a few lessons (will no other political leader across the globe ever be worthy of the bad guy's time?), Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) who has a technology to showcase and a secret to hide and a former one-night stand of Stark and botanist (Rebecca Hall) who has played her part in building a virus that has the power to cure physical disabilities.
Iron Man 3 is the first standalone Iron Man film to not have Jon Favreau as the director, who has been replaced by Shane Black, director of another Robert Downey Jr. film Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. And thus there is a different feel to the presentation of the whole movie from the previous two. Iron Man 3 backs up Tony Stark against a wall, pitting him against an adversary who has very little fear and has snatched almost everything from him, most importantly the ones he loves the most. This movie represents that stage a superhero goes through where he has to seek inspiration once again, dig deeper than before to surface up with everything intact. The inspiration for Stark in Iron Man 3 comes from a young boy, Harley, who makes Stark realise what he really is beneath his suit.
Despite the $200 million production budget, Shane Black has not filled up the movie with flying gadgets, rather keeping the focus heavily on a battered Tony Stark fighting his inner demons. The chemistry between Stark and Harley is one of the highlights of the movie, filled largely with humour, but extending further to show the help a civilian provides Stark to rediscover himself. There is also surprisingly quite a few close up shots of the actors which is less deployed in this Imax viewing age. And then there are the elaborate grandiose large-scale shots, limited in number but made up in intensity and choreography. The destruction of Stark's Malibu house, the attack on Air Force One and the lengthy battle scene at the end, these are the ones that stand out with visually appealing choreography that live upto the 'cool' factor that we associate with Iron Man.
As it should be, Robert Downey Jr. steals the limelight for most parts of the movie. While the titular character in a superhero movie at times becomes secondary in the sequels to either a tougher villain or a grander plot, Downey Jr. has remained the heartbeat of the Iron Man movies. He owns the role, in a way that I have not seen any other actor playing a superhero do so! Be it his charm, his dialogue delivery, his facial expressions, they all have Tony Stark written over them. And while credit would go to the whole team for bringing this character to life on the big screen, Robert Downey Jr. would have to be given a bigger share of the pie! The recurring cast of Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau play their parts with ease, and this movie brings out a tougher Pepper Potts rather than the typical damsel in distress superhero girlfriends, which is a refreshing change.
But the added flavour to Iron Man 3 is brought on by Ben Kinglsey, of course, and surprisingly, Guy Pearce. Ben Kingsley is one of those 'perfect' actors I believe, like Morgan Freeman or Michael Caine, who make acting look simple, portraying any role with extreme ease. And that is what he brings to this movie too. Simply gifted! Despite the showdown between Downey Jr. and Kingsley expected to take centre stage, the performance of Guy Pearce does stand out, with his role being much more than what the trailers would have suggested. Pearce is enjoying a breath of fresh air in his career, previously playing a cameo in Prometheus as well as a commendable performance in Lawless. In Iron Man 3, he turns on his charm, in a sinister manner, matching Downey Jr. frame to frame, and evokes a screen presence I hadn't seen from him since maybe Memento. Hopefully, Pearce would be able to take this on forward in his future films.
Iron Man 3 would be there at the top of the box office charts by the end of the year, jostling for the numero uno position. It does entertain and thrill during its slightly more than two hour ride, though I would still rate 2008's Iron Man as the best yet in the series. Where Iron Man 3 falls short is in providing more of those goosebump moments, that make a great film stand out from the good ones. While the story is well-written and provides some interesting twists which are not generally expected in movies of this genre, it does not really allow for the chemistry between Stark and Potts to light up the screen, as it did in the previous films. Which seems one of the biggest missing points, as this relationship is at the core of the movie premise. But hey, every armour has its flaw. And despite that, Iron Man 3 is still suited up strong and sturdy. Phase 2 has kicked off well... now bring on Thor!
PS: There is a post-credit scene at the end of the movie, and though it does not add to the storyline much, it is one of the best post-credit scenes I have seen of the Marvel movies. I was however expecting references to some new characters, as had been rumoured for quite sometime, but could not locate any, apart from the mention of Avengers and a one-off reference to Thor. Do not miss Stan Lee's cameo though... funny as usual!
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