Iron Man 3 (2013)

Shane Black is quite a distinctive director. He director ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ and ‘The Nice Guys’, two very unique, stylistic films. When ‘Iron Man 3’ was going to be directed by him, I’m sure people were excited. It’s a shame this is the end product we got.

Both of the previous ‘Iron Man’ films have a certain level of character. Both of them are incredibly witty and filled with semi-iconoclastic dialogue from Tony Stark. To my dismay, the third instalment lacks this. It instead prefers perhaps my biggest problem with the MCU: quips. What a quip is to me is a very quick joke. It’s safe because if it isn’t funny we’re onto the next one and laughing at that one instead. It’s cheap. This may deliver many laughs but not very strong ones and so intensely quickly that they undercut each other. Few jokes in the film actually made me laugh. The ones that did were those that were allowed time to breathe and actually have their moment. I can’t even count the amount of times Tony made a remark to someone calling them a name that was some random, obscure pop culture reference. Jokes even manage to undercut dramatic moments because if the viewer isn’t laughing, they’re not entertained, right? Take ‘Star Wars’ as an example. Let’s say Darth Vader is having a fight with Luke and the latter keeps on making fun of the former. It just wouldn’t be right.

Action sequences on display here are actually one of my favourite parts of the film. The new Extremis villains Tony has to face allows for some brilliant creativity that Black manages to bring to the film. Choreography is amazing in this film at times. At others it is pretty standard but on the whole it is a diamond in the rough. Removal of Tony’s suit for a large part of the film allows for a second act fight in a small town setting that is so tense just because of the vulnerability. Often (especially when I’ve seen these films before) I completely feel no tension for whether the characters are going to live or not. For once though, I felt like Tony might actually be in danger.

Outside of Tony there’s only one character I actually really enjoyed. Robert Downey Jr. deals well with the lacklustre dialogue he’s given but not as well as one character that I simply cannot spoil if you haven’t seen it. This character was a major point of protest from fans but is something I found incredibly refreshing. When the alternative from the comics is a fairly racist stereotype as well, I’ll forgive it. Undeniably, what comes after could have been done better but this inclusion was hilarious. Outside of the action sequences, this guy was the only thing to give me any kind of stimulus so that I could feel something.

‘Iron Man 3’ is just so safe that it is a sanitary experience. So much so that not to risk anything it basically ignores its two main supporting characters. Pepper Potts and James Rhodes, the newly-dubbed Iron Patriot have nothing here. Both characters vanish at points in the film and I just don’t care. I guess now that Tony and Pepper are together there’s nothing to do with her character or their relationship. At least that’s what the writers thought. And Rhodes has some good banter with Tony but apart from that, his character goes through no changes. At one point he’s put in extreme danger and just looks mildly agitated. Certainly a good pay check for Don Cheadle though.

‘Iron Man 3’ is entertaining, I’ll give it that. It’s fun if not a very hollow experience. I would recommend watching it if you want to complete the trilogy and I can’t deny that you’ll be entertained. It is sadly, the worst of the trilogy.