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IRON MAN 3. Directed by Shane Black, with Robert Downey jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley.
REVIEW: Todd McCarthy
AFTER nearly crashing and burning on his last solo flight in 2010, Iron Man returns refreshed and ready for action in this spirited third instalment of the $1.2 billion-grossing (R10.76bn) Marvel franchise. In a way a double sequel, to Iron Man 2 and to last year’s mega-hit The Avengers, Iron Man 3 benefits immeasurably from the irreverent quicksilver humour of co-writer and director Shane Black, whose rapport with Robert Downey jr is manifest here.
Black takes this assignment seriously and not seriously at all, which is entirely in tune with the glib determination Downey has always brought to the role of Tony Stark. The star executes almost continual verbal pirouettes, barking out sardonic quips and rejoinders even in moments of greatest distress but, due to his exceptional lingual dexterity, it rarely gets old and never seems condescending to the admittedly cartoonish context.
This giddy double-edged approach extends to many of the other characters. The good-guy leads, Tony Stark/Iron Man and Colonel Rhodes/War Machine (Don Cheadle), have two incarnations. Black and his co-screenwriter, Drew Pearce, have great fun shuffling the deck, teasing about who might occupy what superhero suit and morphing the story along with identity revelations and expansions of the dramatic horizons. The well-chosen cast members respond in kind with virtually palpable glee.
After an enticing prologue in which Tony spends New Year’s Eve 1999 in Switzerland well matched with the fetching Maya (Rebecca Hall) while brushing off the professional entreaties of weird fellow scientist Aldrich Killian (a semi-disguised Guy Pearce), the current day finds the wealthy world saviour in retrenching mode in the bowels of his Malibu mansion, fussing with updates of his Iron Man gear while lady love Pepper Potts runs the show at Stark Industries. Subject to anxiety attacks and unable to sleep, Tony can’t be bothered with world bombings and grave further threats from a terrorist, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).
Pepper is approached by Killian, now transformed into a dashingly handsome think-tank genius who seeks Stark’s involvement in Extremis, an alleged mind-projection breakthrough. For unexplained reasons, she turns him down cold.
In an upsetting sequence that cuts far too close to home in the wake of the recent Boston bombings, Hollywood’s famed Chinese Theater forecourt is the scene of what appears to be a bombing but turns out to be something else, an attack by human beings whose eyes begin to glow scarily before their bodies heat up to the point of explosion. Stark’s security chief (played by Jon Favreau, director of the first two series installments) is among the badly injured, while the ever-resourceful Tony recognises a similarity to an attack previously made in Tennessee.
At first, then, it appears that the strategy behind Iron Man 3 will be to bring chilling real-world dangers to Tony Stark’s doorstep in a more immediate and realistic way than before. In fact, the enemy literally does come to his door, in the form of a merciless helicopter attack on his oceanside home that entirely destroys it. Initially presumed dead, he materialises in Tennessee, where a bright child (an engaging Ty Simpkins) helps him connect the dots between the earlier local incident and recent events, which soon are followed up by the emergence of more red-hot Extremisites.
Refreshingly, Black & Co upend sentimental expectations by having Tony blow off the kid when he’s done with him.
Downey is at his superhero genius best here, rattling off dialogue both clever and boilerplate with non-repetitive aplomb. Hall’s offbeat presence in what is her first big-budget franchise outing is greatly welcome, Pearce brings an arresting presence to his role as an egghead villain, and a fabulously accoutred and adorned Kingsley has a field day as the elusive Mandarin.
Cinematographer John Toll and production designer Bill Brzeski add class to the generic proceedings.
After 10 minutes of end credits, the usual Marvel tag-on scene amusingly shows Tony on a shrink’s couch being tended to by one of the actors from The Avengers. A final note promises that Tony Stark will be back, although whether only in the next Avengers or in another Iron Man is not made clear. That will be for Downey and his agent to decide. – Reuters/ Hollywood Reporter