You'd think that after saving the world and nearly dying in the vacuum of space that would be a sign that you deserve a tiny bit of a break to recharge the o’ll batteries, take some time off, go on vacation? Now see that’s what most sane people do, now for guys like Tony Stark, that means make several new versions of your best and most popular toy. And while there are some bugs to work out after a 72 hour straight calibration and maintenance session I bet turning on the tv and relaxing seemed like a good idea. But remember, 72 hours of straight consciousness. So thus he learns about the leader of the 10 rings, The Mandarin (played by Sir Ben Kingsley) who knows where the president is and has assured him of one thing.
Since that little calling card the President decided to repaint the War Machine suit into the Iron Patriot (nice little shout out to when Norman Osborne was in charge of Shield) and of course the irony of the repaint job is not lost on anyone who was paying attention, why the name change? Focus groups, of course. Needless to say after the Chitari invasion, nearly dying in space, non stop working and the Mandarin Tony starts having severe panic attacks. On top of this the Mandrin has been responsible for several terrorst bombings on American soil, one of the victims of the attacks was Happy Hogan, leaving him in critical condition. All of these factors eventually culminated with Tony literally telling the Mandrin his home address as a personal challenge, say how'd that work out again?
Oh right his house getting blown up, his suit trashed, Pepper's life is in danger and Tony's now stuck in Tennessee having to fix his suit from stuff he found in a local store with help from a snarky equally intelligent kid. After repairs, creating some improv weapons and learning more about the suicide bombers Tony heads to the Mandarin's HQ in Miami Florida to learn the truth. It turns out that the Mandarin was just a performance by Trevor Slattery to divert blame for the real cause of the bombings, testing of the Extremis virus on disabled war veterans carried out by Aldrich Killian (played by Guy Pearce) and his think tank Advanced Idea Mechanics (or A.I.M for short). Killian not only used the virus to cure his own disabilities but also in revenge against Tony for snubbing his idea and A.I.M at the 1999 New Years Eve Party in Switzerland. So with Extremis so close to being perfected Killian plans to kidnap the president by having his #2 steal Roddy's Iron Patriot suit in a Trojan horse maneuver, kill him on Christmas Day and have his patsy, the VP take the Presidency and thus monopolize the war on terror.
Basically his goal is to turn A.I.M into the Patriots thus creating and controlling his new war economy. To force Tony to cooperate and perfect the virus Killian subjects Pepper to the Extremis procedure, figuring that if he doesn't cooperate she'll lose control and explode. But Tony escapes and with his repaired suit takes on Killian and his Extremis enhanced solders with the help of Roddy and his "house party" protocol which allows J.A.R.V.I.S to remote control all of the Iron Man suits. Tony is nearly killed by Killian but Pepper managed to survive the procedure and gained powers in the process which lets her deal the finishing blow to Killian, killing him and stopping his plans. In a sign of his devotion to Pepper, Tony activates the "Clean Slate" protocol which destroys all of his suits and tells he that he's done with being Iron Man. So the movie ends with the Vice President and Trevor arrested, Pepper's Extremis condition stabilizing and Tony having the shrapnel removed from his heart, tossing his old chest Arc Reactor into the sea and declares that even without the suit, he's still Iron Man.
As a conclusion to the main Iron Man trilogy and in comparison to what's come before, how does Iron Man 3 hold up? Really well in my opinion. As I've been saying Tony's biggest nemesis is himself as well as the demons of his past and those two forces nearly do end up destroying him, from his PTSD issues after the Battle of New York, to his challenge to the Mandarin and his refusal to entertain Killian and his think-tank. I mean Staine, Whiplash and the Mandarin are still threats but the way I see it they're symptoms of the disease that is Tony Starks personal demons.
Speaking of the Mandarin I know that what they did with him drew more then a fair share of ire from hardcore fans but I'm not a hardcore fan, I knew a little bit of what the original Mandarin's deal was and was interested to see how this movie handled him and, well I honestly didn't see it coming and I was just laughing about how it turned out in a good way. I mean to see this big bad mysterious and honestly intimidating character turn out to be such a drugged out goon was just hilarious. Though Killian being the real power behind the Mandarin was not so good, I mean he's just another douchebag in a suit with an axe to grind with Tony, big freaking whoop, but again a symptom to the disease that is Tony Starks poor life choices.
Though it was great to see Pepper land the killing blow on this smug little weasel. After having to constantly be the point of stability in the mad schemes of Tony; Pepper actually taking charge was a welcome sight to see. I do like how Pepper is the only person in this movie who has the gonads to call Tony out on his stupid crap. I mean sure, he's Iron Man and a wealthy genius but that still doesn't mean that there shouldn't be someone to scream "are you out of your mind!?" and Pepper is just the person to do that. Because not only does Tony appreciate what she does for him he honestly feels a connection to her and is honestly torn between her and his suits, he honestly has to consider what is more important to him, and in the end he knows he's made the right choice.
Now after something as big as The Avengers this movie had to keep the momentum going and well, it does in some areas but not so much in other areas. I mean we went from an army of Aliens destroying New York City being lead by a god to a douchebag in a suit with an army of super powered pissed off army veterans. A bit of a downgrade in scale and menace is what I'm saying. But we'll be getting back to the escalation of tension and stakes. Or at least that's what we thought as we head with Thor into the Dark World as we continue the March to Infinity.
Special thanks to my Patreon backer Jesse for his support.
Iron Man 3 is owned by Marvel Studios, Written by Shane Black and based off the characters created by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Leiber and Jack Kirby.
Persona 5 is owned by Atlus and Sega.
No comments:
Post a Comment