Tuesday, May 7, 2013

Iron Man 3



Directed by Drew Pearce (screenplay), Shane Black (screenplay), Stan Lee (comic book), Don Heck (comic book), Larry Lieber (comic book), Jack Kirby (comic book). Starring Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark), Gwyneth Paltrow (Pepper Potts), Don Cheadle (Colonel James Rhodes).

Bottom line: Iron Man 3 seemed like it was trying to be funny and cool and had too little to say about too much. I wouldn’t recommend going out of your way to see it in 3D.  
2/4

The basic plot of Iron Man 3 doesn’t really matter, right? Sure, the movie follows Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) as he battles The Mandarin, a terrorist whose nationality was somewhat unclear to me. He sounded like he was related to Bane from Dark Knight Rises so maybe a nondescript Middle Eastern country. Largely though, we are here for the super fancy special effects and Robert Downey Jr.’s snarky, glib dialog. The movie knows this and it shows. It opens and closes to a Robert Downey Jr. voice over a la Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. In line with the other movies of the franchise, Iron Man tries to be the cool kid in the class.

Is it possible to be a hip with a budget of $200 million? It feels like a teacher who wants to be the “cool teacher”. Take, for example, the role of computer hacking in the movie. We hear all over the place ‘cyber-attack this’ or ‘hack that’. “How did he hack my phone,” asks the President. At one point, Stark says to Col. Rhodes (Cheadle), “Stop saying ‘hack’. No one says ‘hack’ anymore.” Because of the repeated use of ‘hack’ in the rest of the movie, it makes you feel like Stark’s statement is just another construct in this production. It would be great if the movie is being meta but it isn't. It is a big cold product of a big cold corporation. This statement makes the movie, once again, come across like it is trying to be hip. It doesn’t stop with Stark either. At least three times in the movie, a character says ‘My/An old man once said: <insert an incomplete/misquoted turn of phrase>…or something like that. I don’t know what it means though.’ These characters are too cool for school so they don’t have the time or inclination to remember old sayings. Give me a break, movie.

According to screenrant.com,“…Marvel wants Black to deliver not only ‘a better Iron Man movie but THE BEST Marvel movie, hands down.’” How do we up the visual ante? More Iron Mans- (or is it Iron Men?) The result is literally, at more than one point, a firework show. To be honest, I bet it looked really good in 3D. If you have read any of my other reviews you know I refuse to be won over by visual masturbation. As the movie provides Robert Downey Jr. as a counterbalance, I left Iron Man 3 wanting.

I've noted product placement in past reviews but let me reiterate my feelings. I don't really mind product placement. I understand that if a movie costs $200 million, that money has to come from somewhere. I do, however, very much appreciate subtlety. After all, the product placement shouldn't interfere with the film any more than necessary. Iron Man 3 was about as subtle as a brick through a window. Let me describe a couple shots for you.

When doing initial testing with the computer system Jarvis, Stark video records everything like he did in Iron Man. We get a clear shot that he uses a Samsung HD video camera. It is only a couple seconds and I noticed it because I like to look for this type of thing. A shot that made the packed theater laugh out loud was that of a newly renovated garage. It has a cool new car, fancy tools and a new computer, right in the middle of the shot, with the words "FIOS" on the monitor. Wow, this must be tricked a out garage. Thanks Comcast! My main beef was with the placement of Oracle Database servers. Jarvis (Paul Bettany) mentions that they were using Oracle servers. That's fine. It was a passing comment that integrated into the plot of the movie. But this passing mention wasn’t enough. Stark is talking to someone and he stands in the middle-right of the frame and the other character is on the fringe of the frame-right and behind Stark is an Oracle database server. It is a really ugly, distracting shot that lasts, what feels like a minute or two. Clearly, it was successful because I am talking about it but do we want our movies to be reduced to fancy commercials? I, for one, don’t.
I may not hate product placement but do you know what I do hate (in movies)? Precocious children.

Before Iron Man 3 I would’ve said that I ‘dislike’ them but now it has gotten to the level of hatred. Tony Stark crash lands in Tennessee and takes shelter in a garage. The garage belongs to a single mother and her snarky, glib son. The movie spends a solid twenty/thirty minutes with the banter between the kid and Stark. I am a fan of suspension of disbelief but this little punk is much more than I am willing to give. ‘Yeah, my face was almost just melted off by a fire-breathing mutant. It’s what’evs.’ I don’t think it is cute or funny.

Aside from the product placement and annoying child, it is somewhat hard to describe the thematic weaknesses of Iron Man 3 without giving away too many spoilers. There were three major themes: terrorism, evil big corporations, and the threat of new technology. It probably would've been a better movie if it just stuck to one because each of these feels unfinished. It doesn’t even quite say enough to have a discussion. Even though the movie criticizes buzzwords like ‘hack’ it still uses them. For example, when the villain captures someone, they go to an old oil tanker. That oil tanker had spilled causing untold damage yet the executives got off scot-free *cough* BP *cough*. "That is why you are bringing me here", asks the hostage. The villain responds with "Nah, I just needed a good sounding reason". The fact that the movie brings up the topic of oil spills is significant but why doesn’t the movie doesn’t explore the subject? It is a disappointing cop out. Maybe it ties in with the cool attitude of the movie. It throws out provocative buzzwords but doesn’t care enough to make an actual statement.
 
Overall, despite how pretty a movie it is, I wouldn’t really recommend going to see Iron Man 3. This is what happens when a movie has too little to say about too much. It makes more of a clear effort to be funny but it comes across as forced and/or disingenuous.

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