Thanks, in most part, to Christopher Nolan, superhero movies have been given an almost unreachable standard of quality. We no longer want the silly antics of shit-ass comic book movies like Fantastic Four, Daredevil, or Hulk. We don't want CGI bad guys, or anything that doesn't have a path of believability to it. You got lucky with The Avengers because of the star-power and the skills of Joss Whedon were able to keep your head just a little bit above water. But, trust me, in lesser hands, that movie would not fly. Now that we've had The Dark Knight, which was basically a crime-thriller disguised as a Batman movie, that's what we yearn for. Since we've had The Joker as the perfect film antagonist, that's what we yearn for. Iron Man 2 was not a good movie for a number of reasons. First, it was the first superhero film to be released after the success of TDK. So, audiences wanted more like that. There was the plausibility that Mickey Rourke's "Whiplash" would be as insane and badass as The Joker. Unfortunately, Whiplash appeared once, then disappears into a room to tinker with his outfit, leaves for almost an entire film, and returns at the end for a very less-than-satisfactory battle with Iron Man which lasts less than five minutes. It was disappointing to say the least. So, studios decided to bring in a different set of eyes and ideas into the franchise. They may have made the best decision of all time... they brought in Shane Black.
Shane who? Ryan, you set that up as it if were to mean something to me. Oh, yeah. I forgot. I'm the nerd here, you're the reader who had two minutes to yourself so you thought you'd check to see if I liked the movie or not. Shane Black is my all-time favorite writer in Hollywood. He's the sole reason that Robert Downey Jr. was resurrected back to life. He's written Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and The Long Kiss Goodnight. The latter two being a couple of my favorite movies of all time. The man is one of the smartest writers I've ever read. He knows how to write such crisp and witty dialogue that it almost makes me feel inadequate as a budding writer myself. The man knows how to play with plot and when to reveal certain information to the audience. So, when you're watching a Shane Black film, you're laughing your head off, but you're also not entirely sure what is going to happen. He'll practically leave the last bit of important information until the very end of the film where everything will tie in and the crowd will utter a resounding, "ohhhhh!". And, goddamn, does the man know how to turn a phrase. (And if you have not seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, stop reading right now, and watch it).
So, when I heard he'd signed on to continue the Iron Man series, I could think of no one else more perfect to write Tony Stark. And the end result is that this, bias aside, is hands-down the best Iron Man of the series. This time around Tony is back from New York having just saved the world from the events in The Avengers, but he's not handling it well. He has anxiety attacks whenever New York or aliens or wormholes are brought up in conversation. Despite this, a new threat is plaguing America with The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) hacking into television feed and offering up "lessons" to America backed by bombings. Also, happening at the same time is Aldrich Killian (Guy Pierce), the head of AIM an organization that has made the drug Extremis-- which allows the body, when injured, to rebuild itself almost instantly (but not without the possibility of very costly side effects). This is what Shane Black does, people. He takes three seemingly random plot courses, and eventually collides them all together at the end. Tony is ambushed by The Mandarin, sending his beach house to the depths of the Ocean, along with blowing up every Iron Man suit he owns, save for the prototype he's wearing during the attack. This sets out Tony on a mission to find those responsible for the attacks, and get his Iron Man suit back to functioning.
This is where the movie is at its best. Not with Downey donning red and gold, but when he's Tony. Left only with his cunning to defend him in moments of dire need. The film turns into a Tom Clancy-esque mystery and Iron Man is gone for a good hour. It's now a Tony-centric plot. He's still put in impossible situations, cornered by baddies with powers much stronger than his own, and we get to sit back and watch how the man, not the superhero, is the true genius. Iron Man is nothing without the man inside of it. And, I'll tell you, it looks like he doesn't even need a suit except for when it's time to take flight. Alas, do not fret Iron Man fans, the suit makes a triumphant return in the last half hour or so. The climax is one to watch. While the first half hour is Tony Stark/Iron Man fun, the next hour is Tony Stark mystery mode man, and the last half hour is pure action genius (with a tad of buddy cop movie thrown in as well). Some fans of the standard Superhero formula may be a tad turned off by the amount of time Tony spends out of suit, and in the wrong hands again, I believe that our interest in his quest to find the truth may have become a little bit stale and boring as we yearn for the suit to make a resurgence (I'm looking at you, Iron Man 2), but Shane Black can do no wrong. It's the film he's been destined to write his entire career.
Robert Downey Jr., again, is perfect as Stark. But, as great he's been, this is his best time out. Backed by Shane Black's God-given penchant for sharp dialogue, Tony Stark is in his finest form. Gweneth Paltrow isn't as annoying as she is in the other films, so I guess that's a plus, right? But, it's Guy Pierce and especially Ben Kingsley who complete the circle. While they're not The Joker, or even Bane, they're not trying to be. Shane Black didn't set out to make a Christopher Nolan superhero movie with an awesome villain. He set out to make his own type of superhero movie, one not yet seen before, and own it. Kingsley isn't trying to be the Joker, Pierce isn't trying to be a crazy, chaos-loving, brute force in the film. He's his own villainous entity that doesn't disappoint. They're the perfect combination of frightening and funny, a combo that most writers would have a difficult time with.
One of the things Shane Black does best is he knows how to pull wool over his audience's eyes. He does it again here. There's a couple of neat little twists in the film that I hope don't get spoiled for you before you're able to see it. Iron Man 3 represents the beginning of Summer Movies. Each week one gigantic, explosion-filled, hundred-million-dollar movie will enter cinemas and crowd you into sold-out shows of movies you've been waiting for. Damn it, if they didn't kick it off with a bang. I'm not sure many movies this summer will be able to top this feat. And yes, Iron Man 3 is already on its way to a billion and a half dollar profit, but it's nice to know that at least that money isn't going to a movie that doesn't deserve it. Spend your money here. Don't spend it on After Earth or World War Z or Fast And Furious 19. Guaranteed, this will be a top 3 best summer movie by the end of summer, if not the best. It still has some competition, but the bar has been set incredibly high already.
A
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