Hey everyone welcome back to Silver Screen Spectacle and our newest edition of Flashback: MCU Edition. We’re starting Phase Two today with 2013’s Iron Man 3. This movie was a massive hit earning $1.215 billion dollars the second Marvel film after The Avengers to do so. Reviews were overall positive with it being considered an improvement over Iron Man 2. Audiences were a little more mixed, especially from comic fans The film made some choices that divided fans and for years this was the most love it or hate it MCU film. I’ve had quite the journey with this film when I first saw it I was the only person I knew who liked it. Over time, my opinion has been all over the place but now that Tony Stark’s character journey has ended let’s look back at his final solo film.
This is a hard movie for me, as I love so much of what it’s about and have far more conflicting opinions on the execution of those ideas. Robert Downey Jr. is still incredible in the role and I thought did an outstanding job showing a different side to his character. Don Cheadle really comes into his own as Rhodes after Iron Man 2. Cheadle and Downey Jr. have a fantastic back and forth, and the film really works when they’re interacting. Gwyneth Paltrow does the best job out of the Iron Man films, even if I don’t love all the plot decisions with her character. Jon Favreau is still a lot of fun in these movies but spends a lot of the film in a coma sadly. Ty Simpkins was an impressive addition in a minor role. As for our villains, this is where things get complicated. Ben Kingsley is phenomenal throughout the film but when he was playing the real Mandarin, the performance was so menacing and made me think we were going to get one of the best Marvel villains yet. He still plays the role after the twist, but I’ll get to that when I discuss the story. Guy Pearce is good here, but he’s such a generic villain and feels incredibly rushed. Rebecca Hall is a much better villain with actually understandable motivations. She was supposed to be the main villain but a toy company vetoed it saying toys of her wouldn’t sell. Thankfully, the person who made that decision no longer impacts the films.
Shane Black directs and co-wrote the script with Drew Pearce. The direction is magnificent; it looks great and the action sequences are thrilling to watch. The script is where most of my issues with this movie lie. So first I want to discuss the Mandarin twist, I have mixed feelings about it. On one hand, I was incredibly disappointed because I adored his buildup. However, I can’t deny it’s an incredibly clever reveal that got a reaction out of me and I would probably like it more if the revelation wasn’t that Guy Pearce was the true enemy. In terms of Tony having PTSD from the Battle of New York, I adore that idea and it makes perfect sense. The execution of that idea though gets mixed results from me while I love showing the hero humanized, I don’t love the choice to play off some scenes as comedic. Also, while speaking from experience, I understand everyone processes anxiety and trauma differently the way it’s done felt too Hollywood for my personal tastes. Also, I hate Tony getting healed from the shrapnel at the end. Just one film ago he had a very touching scene with Bruce Banner, where he called it a terrible privilege. It feels incredibly out of character and has never worked for me. Just so many decisions here baffle me, Tony giving out his address to a terrorist, the rareness of him being in the suit during action scenes, Pepper randomly getting powers, I appreciate being different but this just felt like a totally different series.
So all this being said I would like to clarify I still think Iron Man 3 is a good film, but it’s my personal least favorite of this trilogy and easily one of the weakest overall MCU films for me. The great acting from our heroes, some fun action beats, and good humor makes it worth watching. I usually only return to this movie when I’m watching the entire MCU. So, everyone, that’s it for this Flashback, next time we’ll be covering Thor: The Dark World. If you liked the article, maybe share it, and be sure to check back here tomorrow for my thoughts and theories on the latest episode of WandaVision.
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