YOU KNOW WHO I AM: a review of "Iron Man 3"

"IRON MAN 3"

Based upon the Marvel Comics series created by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby

Screenplay Written by Drew Pearce & Shane Black

Directed by Shane Black

***1/2 (three and a half stars) 

It's great to have you back again, Mr. Stark!

The high flying success rate with the film adaptations of the adventures of the Marvel Comics superheroes continues in terrific style with the addition of "Iron Man 3," the first installment in what has been dubbed "Phase 2" of the expanding Marvel Comics film universe. Taking over the directorial reins from Jon Favreau, who helmed the first two installments in the saga of billionaire playboy, scientific genius Tony Stark and his metal clad alter-ego, is Shane Black, Writer of the original "Lethal Weapon" (1987) and Writer/Director of the slyly comedic film noir "Kiss, Kiss Bang Bang" (2005). 

Most thankfully, the change in directorial leadership has proven itself to be simultaneously seamless and creatively invigorating. Usually, as film series continue onwards, they begin to lose steam and fall into a collection of the same old tricks that were wondrous the first time around yet have grown more tiresome over time. With "Iron Man 3," while we do certainly receive everything we have come to expect from an Iron Man movie, Black has smartly raised the stakes by making this new film considerably darker, grittier, tougher, and surprisingly riskier and even politically subversive as well. Now that is not to say that the Marvel films have taken a page from the Christopher Nolan playbook and decided to make their films lean more towards adult sensibilities.   That being said, I do think that this one, while upping the provocative nature of Tony Stark, the fun and entertainment quotient has been diminished a bit. While the film is not as grandly magnificent as Joss Whedon's "The Avengers" (2012), "Iron Man 3" is a film that does get under the skin more than its predecessors and in doing so, it leaves some hard bruises.

"Iron Man 3" begins some time after the events of "The Avengers" and our hero Tony Stark (again played to perfection by Robert Downey Jr.) has become a profoundly changed man as he is now suffering from chronic insomnia, occasional panic attacks and has taken to hiding himself away in his laboratory, endlessly tinkering away on his projects and building new Iron Man suits for sleepless days at a time, therefore neglecting the love of his life, Pepper Potts (a sassy Gwyneth Paltrow). 

Yet a new threat on the horizon arises in the form of The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), an international terrorist responsible for a string of horrific bombings and who promises to unleash catastrophic destruction by Christmas Day. Additionally, Stark faces technological and scientific competition from Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), a disabled and rival scientist who was once spurned by Stark when he rejected Killian's wishes to join forces with the development of Extremis, a revolutionary and deeply experimental regenerative treatment  designed for people recovering from debilitating injuries. Even so, Tony Stark remains in his stupor.

When one Mandarin staged bombing places Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Stark's one time bodyguard and current Head of Security for Stark Industries, into a coma, Tony Stark springs into action as he recklessly challenges The Mandarin on live television. This act unleashes an unprecedented and personally driven wave of consequences, violence and destruction against Stark, and worst of all places his beloved Pepper Potts into the greatest danger she has faced to date. Is Iron Man up to the challenge of facing his darkest inner demons to save the woman he loves?

One factor that I have always found to be a bit frustrating when it comes to comics as well as the television and film versions of those comic book characters is that there typically never seemed to be any sense of continuity from one adventure to the next. It usually felt that when one adventure was completed, it was never thought of or referenced ever again. With "Iron Man 3," Shane Black does not fall into that trap as he very wisely added some psychological depth to the proceedings by essentially making this film an exploration of fear, and in several facets and levels.

For Tony Stark, we are witnessing a man within the throes of Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome and for those few critics that have complained that Robert Downey Jr. is just performing his same old bag of quick witted tricks certainly were not paying attention in the least, as far as I am concerned. Downey Jr., while still able to keep our heads spinning with his quicksilver tongue and three steps ahead intellect continues to amaze me as he keeps discovering new layers to reveal in a character that could otherwise be painfully one note. How easy it would have been for Downey Jr. to just wisecrack his way to the bank and how thankful I am that he dug deeply to unearth a newfound sense of pathos and even tragedy within the character of Tony Stark. 

While in the second film, Stark harbored a cavalier death wish for a spell, in "Iron Man 3," he is in survival mode as he is struggling to make sense of everything he has experience thus far, including the life altering events of barreling through a wormhole in "The Avengers." Tony Stark has now gained the realization that actions do indeed have grave consequences and now that he has revealed a more vulnerable side in declaring his love and commitment towards Pepper Potts, he also now realizes exactly what and how much he has to lose, and in "Iron Man 3," Black goes to great lengths to strip Tony Stark of all of his emotional shields and the physical manifestations of those shields, including his mansion, his laboratory, and most notably, his constantly malfunctioning Iron Man suits.

I found it to be a great touch that for most of "Iron Man 3," Tony Stark is rendered without much of his technology, kind of like James Bond in last year's superior effort "Skyfall." By taking away the toys and technology, Tony Stark and the audience are given greater opportunity to explore the humanity of the piece as a whole and therefore, the film doesn't fall into the tired rhythms of most summer movie special effects cataclysms. I would even argue that this installment is the series at its most Shakespearian or existentially philosophical as Tony Stark essentially spends the entirety of the film questioning exactly what kind of a man he is and who he wishes to be. Is he a hero or even a man solely because of the Iron Man suit? Does the better part of himself arrive only when he places himself inside his costume and who is he if that element is divorced from himself? Robert Downey Jr. plays this crisis with such skill and subtlety that "Iron Man 3" becomes more emotionally turbulent and daring. 

On a larger scale, we do have the characters of The Mandarin and Killian to deal with and I was extremely surprised and pleased to see how Shane Black injected a sharp political commentary into the film that goes as far as to question the real consequences within our country's on-going "War On Terror." Yes, the violence and bloodshed cannot be dismissed and it isn't within "Iron Man 3," but Black is arguing that by becoming a culture of fear, terrorists may have already won the war whether they are real or not as well as providing public distractions from more dangerously subversive threats. With this element, Black also shows some daring risks with the Iron Man comic book mythology which may disturb some fans but I felt worked extremely well to both comic and seriously minded effects. 

And yet, and especially after "The Avengers," "Iron Man 3" is a little bit of a fall from the top. Maybe this just has to do with how masterfully Joss Whedon was able to spin a myriad of conceptual plates in the air and produce a motion picture that was intimate, epic, and out of this world fun. Frankly, "Iron Man 3" was not that much fun, so to speak. That gee-whiz excitement I have felt in the past gave way to something that felt to be more claustrophobic, perhaps mirroring Tony Stark's inner state. And while I didn't feel that the new darkness was out of place, I did, at times, tend to feel that something was a bit missing. I think I noticed it most during a spectacular sequence where Iron Man has the daunting task of saving 13 individuals from a mid-air plane explosion. That sequence was just a sensational feat of action, stunt work, special effects, terror, excitement and outlandish comic book derring do. Afterwards, those elements seemed to subside and I missed them. Again, this is not to say that "Iron Man 3" suffered in quality. I am just noting how I felt and if this is signaling a bit of a new direction for the Marvel films, then so be it as upping the emotional stakes can only help this series of films thrive and survive strongly.

Even with that minor criticism, ensuring that the special effects and spectacle remain secondary to strong writing, direction and performances is exactly why all of the Marvel films thus far have been so successful and "Iron Man 3" is no exception. Now, there is a bit of a hurdle to jump over for any future solo installments for Iron Man. It turns out that Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow's contracts have expired and aside from appearing in Whedon's "The Avengers 2" in 2015, there has been some question to whether either of them will return to their roles. I seriously hope that the powers that be understand exactly what Downey Jr. has done for them as well as this character. To think that he was really an extremely unlikely figure to play this role and now, he has made it his signature character! To me, and like Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones, Robert Downey Jr. is irreplaceable and if that means that "Iron Man 3," which does contain a sense of closure, is the last film in this particular series then perhaps that's the way it should be. None of the Marvel films have felt like a money grab so far and I hope that whatever integrity they possess they continue onwards in this vein. But, I do understand that I am getting far, far ahead of myself, dear readers. Because honestly, why would I ever want a superhero to fall and crash to Earth for any reason, especially one as pathetic as lust for box office gold? 

Take a note from the terrific artistic risks taken in "Iron Man 3" and keep aiming high!!