Jack Ludtke
Business Manager
Robert Downey Jr., Don Cheadle, and Gwyneth Paltrow star as billionaire Tony Stark fights both the machinations of a terrifying new terrorist that is threatening the entire world, while also confronting personal demons left over from the events of The Avengers.
Any expectation of what I thought this movie would be was pretty much thrown out the door as soon as the movie started. Shane Black lives up to his name when taking over for John Favreau as director, taking the series towards a
darker bend. Whether it was the frequent use of terrorist bombing attacks or the fact that the villains turned out to be more relatable, Iron Man 3 definitely was not as light-hearted as its predecessors. Don’t get me wrong, I really enjoy those superhero movies that pull off the gritty look, such as Batman, but the panic attacks Robert Downey Jr. experienced just felt out of place with the witty and devil-may-care character he had made over the last movies.
That all being said, I really liked it. The movie really developed a lot of the plot points put forward in the first movie, and the plot felt like it had continuity with the events of the first two; everything from the Afghani doctor from the first movie in the first flashback scene to Don Cheadle’s continuing roll as James ‘Rhodey’ Rhodes. This movie was also faithful to the comic books that the plot was derived from, namely the ‘Extremis’ line of comic books from the early 2000’s. Marvel did a nice job by marrying both the film series and the comics by including most plot elements that were in the original book. And despite the darker edge to the movie in general, Downey delivers another fantastic performance that is still hilarious and endearing at the same time, which is also supplemented from fantastic performances by Cheadle and Sir Ben Kingsley.
To sum it up, Iron Man 3 is definitely a fun movie to see and one that will make a lot of money, but it is by no means a movie that will define superhero movies for years to come.
