IRON MAN 3 REVIEW

-->

Fresh off from last year’s epic box office hit The Avengers Assemble, Iron Man 3, directed and written this time around by Shane Black, takes place after the previous film’s events and finds Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr) aka Iron Man struggling to find peace in a world he thought he knew while also facing some demons from his past which plays into the film’s overall theme.

The Story follows with a Flashback to a pre-Iron Man Tony that sets up the upcoming threat and events to come before cutting back to present time to find us with an obsessed Tony who has been suffering from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder and secluded himself from those closet to him including Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) which drives a wedge in their relationship, all the while Tony continues to create more and more new and improved Iron Man suits in order to better prepare to protect himself and most importantly her.

The latest and primary Suit of the film, Mark 42 has its big reveal in the opening with Tony using new technology to telepathically call the Suit to him with bits and pieces attaching to his body here and there and offering a interesting and humorous way of suiting up for the duration of the action sequences.

At the same time The Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley), mysterious leader of the Ten Rings whose presence was hinted at in previous instalments finally unveils himself to the world by committing acts of terrorism around American and threatening the US President (William Sadler) directly.

Having failed to take proper matters into their own hands during the Invasion crisis at the time of the Avengers, the President takes it upon himself to handle this latest threat and issues Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) aka War Machine to hunt down the Mandarin while being repainted and redubbed Iron Patriot as a symbol of hope to America and its people.

Plus there is the inclusion of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), their respected characters taken from the comic storyline that the film is inspired by and has adapted, Extremis, who are people from both Tony and Pepper’s past that appear somehow embedded in the Mandarin’s schemes.

That is the basic outline of the third solo Iron Man plot and already it sounds a bit too much. If there was one thing that Iron Man 2 suffered from then it was the many subplots and characters coming in and out throughout that film. However Iron Man 2 still managed to maintain a certain pacing that moved to reach a concluded goal by the end while still managing to develop its characters and bridge the gaps between its predecessors and sequels.

Iron Man 3 while not overly complicated manages to tackle its multiple characters and plot threads through the okay-written script laid out by Shane Black and Drew Pearce, starting slow before racing off to a thrilling climax. However the story does suffer from the lack of character development with its supporting cast, the film opting to focusing its full attention on the title character at all times and less on returning and new comers.

It is a back to basics, a solo film through and through as it follows Tony’s journey through his obsession and somewhat drug-like-addiction with the Iron Man Suit, questioning whether it is the Suit that makes the Man or vice verse while at the same time exploring the element that made the character so appealing in the first film, that Tony Stark’s most dangerous weapon is his mind. 

And the film shows these through its use of the action scenes where Tony has to be creative and intelligent when without the suit, creating interesting and engaging scenarios for Tony to solve and overcome while at the same time managing to be very original and entertaining that in the end gives the film a type of Bond like feeling as Tony comes up with various home-made gadgets and weapons. 

The Action Sequences themselves are visually impressive and original, managing to combine real life stunts and visual effects to create spectacular sequences that up the tension, drama and humour with the action always focused on Tony at all times which might be disappointing for some who were hoping for a very long final battle with the Iron Legion Suits each getting their fair share of screen time but only a few making a quick second cameos here and there.

Then there is the overall tone, which has a very distinct 80s vibe to it with some scenes in particular paying somewhat homage’s to certain classics. But the closet comparisons would be Shane Black’s first feature film back in 2005, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (also starring Robert Downey Jr), which borrows many subtle moments and structures from that film making Iron Man 3 feel almost like Shane Black’s family friendly version of it, making this not the traditional Marvel Studios picture seen in the previous Phase Ones but still managing to retain the style of plot structure and humour seen in them.
 

And right there is one of the disappointing aspects of this film. The Trailers and Marketing have managed to deceive audiences that they are in for a thrilling dark and serious story this time around but the reality is far worse. The film while offering moments of grim reality is overshadowed by the amount of humour peppered throughout all its scenes. 

With Shane Black behind the writing it would’ve been assumed that some form of the dark humour in his previous works would be thrown into here. Instead the humour is hit-and-miss and even at times very childish and insulting to the intelligence of the mind. Nevertheless, RDJ manages to deliver every line and moment with wit and perfect timing, making the film at times very funny, maybe more so than the Avengers but still not managing to quite set itself up there with the likes of the original Iron Man.

But Performance wise, Robert steals the show, showcasing he hasn’t gotten tired of the character yet and instead embodying the character and becoming one with it proving that whoever might take up the role in the future will never be as good or as committed to it the way Robert is.

Gwyneth returns again to hammer in the romance and drama that has become the backbone of the franchise, the chemistry between Robert and her still sparking with no hint of it ever dying down making them one of the best onscreen couples in superhero movies. Plus the added short moments here and there where Gwyneth kicks ass in more ways then one and looking good while doing it if somewhat ridicules makes her character one not easily forgotten.

Don Cheadle whose presence was mildly off putting in the previous film, what with taking over the character role of Rhodey from Terrance Howard in the original film seems right at home here, showing a lot more comfort in taking over someone’s part and making it his own.

Shane Black’s buddy cop like writing in his lethal weapon series is brought onto here between Robert and Don, helping to solidify their relationship as both best friends and rivals with their competitive banter and teamwork. That said, the role of the Iron Patriot is wasted here, Don never doing anything with it or given the chance to. But even without the suit, Don shows a talent for action even if it is wasted on him somewhat.

Then there is the addition of Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian whose so-called glorified cameo is nothing like his comic counterpart, whose version of the character is given more development and focus here, managing to transform himself from multiple personalities that his character offers, from a charming yet mysterious individual that by the end of the film turns into a very sinister man that harbors the characteristics and spiritual essence of a more modern take of a certain villain, showing the determination the cast and crew have gone to mask the true revelations that the film hasn’t even hinted at making it a movie that holds many surprises in store and a experience that will leave some happy or angry. 

Ty Simpkins joins the growing cast as child genius Harley who befriends Tony in the middle of the film and aids him in his mission to find the Mandarin. While usually child actors in such films tempt to downgrade them, Ty Simpkins performance seeks to levitate it, managing to have great comedic chemistry with Robert that serves to develop his own character as they both see aspects of themselves in each other that helps grow both story and character with their short yet entertaining time together.

Jon Favreau, director of the first two Iron Man films returns once more as Happy Hogan, this time acting as Security Head of Stark Industries, giving Favreau plenty of the early laughs at the start and a emotional moment that is sadly lacked in the rest of the film’s duration.

Finally there is James Badge Dale and Stephanie Szostak who complete the cast serving as the Mandarin’s main Extremis Super Soldiers with Dale serving as the primary muscle. Szostak on the other hand isn’t given much to do besides her one sequence that offers a deadly game of cat and mouse that showcases her as a sexy and demonic figure that makes her performance stand out among the other cast of villains but also lacking because of her very quick and short screen time.

But the performances that get the biggest short stick are Rebecca Hall and Sir Kingsley unfortunately with Rebecca’s Scientist Maya Hansen not given much to do and thus having a very underdeveloped role that never reaches the emotional context the film aims for.

Sir Kingsley on one hand while providing a darkened presence over the first half of the film is never given the chance to truly shine as the formidable and cunning villain and when the second half comes around that reduces the character and actor himself into a laughing stock whose performance would benefit more in a Pirates of the Caribbean movie, it begs the question of whether or not Extremis or The Mandarin were a plot device too much because both these elements from popular source materials are pretty much wasted and a slap to the face of hardcore fans.

However, in terms of how they are combined together to represent the Themes of the story then to a certain extend there is depth to it with Extremis and The Mandarin very much being physical manifestations of Tony’s own created Demons that come back to hunt him. But any connection to the previous instalments are never mentioned or brought to light in order to create what could’ve been an emotional moment and thus such context is gone to waste begging the question once again whether this film should’ve opted for less instead of trying to go all big.

The biggest problems that really lie with the film are the manners in which it strives to tell its narrative with many things that are positive also proving to be a negative such as twists for the sake of twists, humour for the sake of humour and so on and so forth. And it is because of such methods that result in Iron Man 3 not being able to set itself as high as the Avengers.  But it is still overall a entertaining experience that manages to kick start Phase Two even if it does feel like a conclusion to Tony Stark’s adventure making one wonder where the character can go from here.

From a slow but character heavy first act that ends unexpectedly with Tony’s entire world crashing down around him to a journey of revenge and justice that sees him acting upon his intelligence and creativity to discover the mystery behind Extremis while escaping the danger that follows him to a very unexpected twist that results in a humorous confrontation with Tony’s long awaited arch-nemesis that will leave casual movie goners laughing but the comic Fanboys raging to a action-pumped, fast-paced, explosive final that ends with a surprising conclusion, Iron Man 3 is as every bit a Shane Black film as it is a spiritual successor to its predecessors making it a worthwhile watch if not one of the better number threes of the Comic Book Movie Superhero Genre.

I give Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 an overall score of…7/10

Likes:

·      Action Sequences. All of them including the Final make this a very creative action adventure movie.

·      Tony kicking ass without the suit. Tony kicking ass using his mind goes to show how creative and dangerous he can still be even without the suit.

·      Gwyneth Paltrow in just a bra with muscles showing equals super badass and super hot.

·      Stephanie Szostak is both sexy and freaky making it disappointing she isn’t in the film more.

·      Paul Bettany as JARVIS is given more presence to be both funny and a hero.

·      Suit, Suit, Suit, pick your favourite.

·      The End-Credit Scene might not set up any of the next films but it does continue the relationship between two friends whose chemistry will hopefully be just as good in Avengers 2.

Dislikes:

·      The film tries to hard to be funny and the Humour thus comes off as too much and too forced.

·      Sir Ben Kingsley doesn’t get much screen time as the Mandarin and while he offers a funny performance the change of transition from serious to comedy doesn’t work.

·      If you’re going to use the Extremis Storyline to adapt from at least use the Villain from that story in your film instead of wasting away potential future villains like Eric Savin, Jack Taggart and Ellen Brandt who are nothing like their comic book counterparts.

·      Wang Xueqi as Dr. Wu has two scenes that don’t even make it past one minute so why bother casting such an actor if you’re not going to use his full potential?

·      Adding a kid to the plot that adds to Tony’s development and making it work is acceptable. Adding a scene where Tony wastes time talking his number one fan for the sake of comedy is not when it could be used on other character’s development.

·      Rhodey and Iron Patriot in general just felt pointless in the greater scheme of things.

·      The Avengers ends with Aliens and Magic revealed to the world but a guy with Ten Alien Powered Magic Super Rings is far-fetched?  

SKYFALL REVIEW

-->

Four years after the mixed package that was Quantum of Solace was released have British and World Wide Fans alike awaited the return of the next Bond film. Four years we have waited and after such a long time, waiting for the atmosphere at another Bond Adventure to rise in our midst the Sky falls, crumbling away to satisfy our thirst and excitement once again.

Bond, James Bond is back, this time with Director Sam Mendez at the helm to deliver what is possibly the most personal Bond story to date and what is at this point the final nail in the coffin of the Bond Origin that Casino Royale began back in 2006.

This Film truly ends the humane journey of Bond as a character and finally sets up all the much needed mythologies to get the ball rolling in getting Bond back the way people have craved for many years now. But this comes with a heavy price to those who appreciated the more realistic and darker manner in which Bond had been portrayed for the last two films.

Gone is the subtle and somewhat cold humour, gone are the quick and intense action sequences, gone are the larger to earth conspiracies that Casino Royale started and Quantum continued. Gone is the Rebooted Bond that was meant to be more grounded in reality the way Ian Fleming had wrote him.

Instead Skyfall returns to a more traditional respect of the character that older fans are more in twine with. And while that may upset the established aspects from its rebooted predecessors the film as a whole itself tries its best in maintaining some of those aspects while mixing in the elements of a more classical Bond.

Skyfall begins with Bond, played brilliantly yet again by Daniel Craiq who finds the hard-drive containing data on all their fellow agents infiltrated in terrorist organizations missing, having been stolen by silent Henchman Patrice (Ola Rapace). Giving chase along with fellow agent Eve (Naomi Harris) the two follow in a car chase in the middle of Istanbul before switching for a motorcycle and finally having a fist fight on top of a train with the would be French Man. 

But with risks high and pressure been put on M (Judi Dench) she orders fellow agent Eve to sniper the target. With no choice but to do as told Eve takes ‘The Bloody Shot’ and it ends with Bond falling off the speeding train and to his eventful waterfall death. 

And thus the first 15 minutes of none-stop action ends with ADELE’S SKYFALL Intro playing and it has to be said that this is the first time a Title Sequence and Song have matched perfectly, delivering the themes the film is playing on, along with some major foreshadowing of what is in store for the rest of the narrative. 
 

A great opening, a great song and intro to what would be otherwise a great film but sadly that is not the case because the next few minutes of drama and exposure absolutely do nothing to add to the narrative or characters and the weakness of the writing shines through, exposing itself like the blood flowing out a wound.

3 Months pass and M comes under pressure to retire from the Chairman of the Intelligence and Security Committee, Gareth Mallory, played by Voldermort aka Ralph Fiennes who many people may be surprised to discover he is much more than he appears to be. 

Heading back to office, a hack occurs that results in the MI6 building been blown up a second time. Lucky only a few people get killed that no one gives a toss about and the next few scenes are of Bond doing what any man shot in the shoulder, chest and is declared dead would do. Shag, drink and a hangover on a remote location somewhere before seeing the news of the attack on his precious HQ and deciding to return back home and ‘Rising’ from the darkness.

30 minutes into the film and already Bond has returned from the dead making the entire death subplot just pointless filler. While the rest of the film uses it to have us see Bond train and get back into shape and throw in a mention of the film’s title that will come into play later on, the overall progression and how its done was not needed at all.

The aim of it was to humanize Bond and make him look and feel weak but the previous films already accomplished those acts through the use of the natural flow of the narrative, showcasing his killer instincts and psychotic attitude along with his obvious human weaknesses and thirst for revenge and killing because of having lost a loved one and a possible chance at a normal life. Adding in a death subplot that is resolved in a matter of minutes in a few quick scenes later is just a waste of time for both plot and audiences and just spells this entire segment as a means to just get from point A to point B of the story.
 

We get that Bond is human and can feel but to also add in some kind of ploy that he is getting older and should quit is an insult to the myth and character of Bond. 23 Films now and it has been well established that Bond can never grow old or die. He has been immortalized throughout the years of history and while these films may be a reboot of those legends of past it should still aim to follow suit with those myths and legends. 

The Theme that does work and that the film does take a chance to explore is whether or not agents or people like Bond in general are still relevant in today’s world of cyber-terrorism and unknown shadowed enemies. Gone are the days of the cold war and now each villain crawling out the woodwork is a by-product of today’s society and whether the right course of action is to stick with old methods of sending in people to kill each other or simply use technical tactics to get the job done. It’s almost an argument of keeping in with the old and down with the new and that sometimes the old fashioned way is always the best approach to take in certain situations.

This form of argument is ever present between the characters of M and Mallory including the first meeting and relationship between the older Bond and younger Q (Ben Whishaw). 

The relationship is that of both been experienced and good at what they do but only one of them truly is capable of the harder tasks at hand and Q while as intelligence as he is does one point fail at not noticing a certain danger. Even Eve who wishes to be a field agent doesn’t quite live up to the experiences and work Bond has gone through and in the end it all comes down to Bond knowing how to approach these obstacles more than the new generation of spies do. 

However the main plot progression resolves around the relationship between Bond, M and the film’s villain Sliva who in this film is mix of Goldeneye Rogue Agent Sean Bean and Die Hard 4’s Cyber Terrorist Timothy Olyphant’s characters.

Javier Bardem possibly gives one of the best Bond Villain performances seen yet. By the time his character is introduced at the halfway point the plot of the film really starts and that sadly just demonstrates the lack of risk taken with the script and the constant filler that is the first half of the movie. But once Javier makes his Long-Take Introduction it becomes a plot of sibling rivalry between a Mother’s love and betrayal. 

And that is pretty much the film in a nutshell with Sliva wanting revenge on M for betraying him years ago and Bond going out of his way to protect her and while that is a narrative seen many times in differently done scenarios the plot here while interesting is simply to lacklustre with the first half delivering on the amazing cinematography and action but failing to really tell a interesting story until the last half when things really go wild.

And while Javier’s gives a exceptional performance his character doesn’t really do much and fails miserably in achieving his goals considering the amount of hype that is established on him within the plot and skills he processes, but nothing remotely great is done with those skills besides a few basic hats of tricks that isn’t nearly as exciting then what other film Villains have brought to the table.

It is as uninteresting as the entire last half of the movie where the plot really picks up but fails to showcase any form of originality as it strives to copy its own version of “villain having planned to be captured and escaping ” to ending it with a stand off at Bond’s place of origin in where it suddenly fills like we’re watching a more tamed modern version of Home Alone/Straw Dogs but with explosions and a helicopter included.

While entertaining and visually spectacular thanks to Roger Deakins’ Cinematography which’s makes it one of the most beautifully shot films to date and the combination of the action with the stylised look that almost resembles certain aspects of Christopher Nolan’s The Dark Knight, the overall progression and reality of the story is a insult to the intelligence of the mind. It being the 50 Anniversary of the entire series doesn’t help matters either when the film pays homage’s to the classic tales by forcing down constant jokes, quips and other unexplained ‘Classic Bond Moments’.
 

On one hand the action and adventure elements familiar with Bond films is there but on the other, the over use of trying to stuff the film with plot points like the stolen Agent List and Bond’s weak aiming skills are all dropped at a moments notice in order to serve the plot and thus a development of these essential plot devices is never fully completed and become nothing more than pointless filler and a waste of just so the entire story can get to the ending twist that is surprising but not unexpected and closes of Bond’s 007 Origin story for good and sets him for what will possibly be a return back to basics.

That said however it manages to still be an entertaining thrill-ride with the Cinematography really setting apart each scene and location with it’s own unique look and style. And while the script is weak and unoriginal it is the performance of the actors that sets each character apart, giving them each moments to showcase their individual talents of humour, emotion and fear that set it apart from previous Bond Film’s altogether with Action that is both fun, unexpected at times and full of tension and drama, making it a worth-while watch despite all its obvious flaws. 
 

With Pleasure, I give it an Overall Score of…(8/10)

Likes:

·       Roger Deakins’ Cinematography

·       ADELE’S SKYFALL Song and Intro

·       Javier Bardem as Sliva

·       Daniel Craiq as Bond

·       Ben Whishaw as Q

Hates:

·       Plot Devices that are dropped and never mentioned again. What actually did happen to the stolen List? And when did Bond suddenly get good at shooting again?

·       Bond’s Death. If you’re gonna kill off the main hero only to bring him back to the world minutes after without perhaps maybe pulling some undercover or lost memory bullshit, don’t bother next time.

·       The lack of a proper final confrontation with Hero and Villain. You pick Javier Bardem of all people to play the main Villain and the man never throws a single punch. I’m insulted.

·       Berenice Marlohe gives off an attracting presence but isn’t given much to work with sadly and her final scene is tasteless, unforgiving, sexist and insulting.