Finally found a chance to see the latest film in the "Marvel Cinematic Universe." While everyone seems to think this is the kickoff to "Phase 2," i think, pretty clearly, this is the cap off to "Phase 1." We'll get back to that.
In one of the box office reports after the opening weekend, one of the many entertainment sites seemed aghast at the amount of money Iron Man 3 made. The said Iron Man 3 was "performing more like a sequel to Avengers than to Iron Man 2." Well yeah, dummies, because it is a sequel to the Avengers. The movies are not tangentially linked...they are directly linked. The previous Iron Man films fed directly into Avengers, and clearly Iron Man 3 follows on that. To further the point, when Regal Cinema did their Iron Man marathon, it was Iron Man, Iron Man 2, The Avengers, and Iron Man 3.
Onto the movie itself. Iron Man 3 is, without a doubt, an enjoyable movie that lives up to the high standards set by the other Marvel movies. Tony Stark, suffering from PTSD from the events at the conclusion of the Avengers, tinkers and twitches through the first half of the movie. Robert Downey Jr. is charismatic and quick witted and carries this well. There is something about soldiers who are injured who decide to volunteer for a procedure to heal them or maybe make them blow up, the ones who don't blow up, apparently forget what it is like to be a good guy and just decide to be weird nuclear mercenaries. Oh, and they can breathe fire, i guess, sometimes?
Blah blah blah...the cast is fantastic from top to bottom. Guy Pierce is clearly in a career renaissance. They find, literally, every reason in the book to keep Robert Downey Jr. out of the armor, which is awesome since there is that set piece with something on the order of 30 pieces of armor. Did Don Cheadle show up on set in a Fred Perry polo and no one decided to "costume" him? Why would a soldier, wearing Stark Tech Iron Patriot armor be wearing a polo and some dockers inside? Gwenyth Paltrow clearly did some serious ab work and they found a way to make sure that was showcased. Former director Jon Favraeu returns as Happy Hogan and, as always, is just delightful. Was there any doubt about the greatness of Ben Kingsly? If you had any, his performance in this will totally eradicate it. He is ridiculous in the best possible way.
My biggest complaint with the movie is probably part of its success. I would love to know how all of the events of this movie happen without there being even a mention of the Avengers, of SHIELD, there is a terrorist bombing the U.S. and threatening the president and there is not even a passing reference to Captain America? You spent all this time building this cohesive universe, you cannot just ignore it as you see fit. I'm not saying every movie has to have a team up, but you can't just pretend they are not out there. The next Thor movie will have Thor in yet another of the 9 realms, thus negating the need for explanation. The next Captain America movie will feature Black Widow, but even at that, with it being the Winter Soldier, that makes it a personal mission for Steve. He must handle it alone. It's his responsibility, etc. Iron Man 3 needed to at least address the situation.
The ending, the resolutions, even the credit sequence all have a bit of a finality to them. I doubt we will see an Iron Man 4. This movie acts almost like an epilogue to the Avengers, it certainly does not set up anything for Marvel's "Phase 2", it just seems to float between what has happened and what we know is coming. Apparently it is not even confirmed that Iron Man will be in Avengers 2. (Although Downey made 50 million dollars on the back end of the first Avengers...so i'm sure something will be worked out.}
It's fun. The post credit sequence, like the Avengers, goes for cute as opposed to hooking into the next movie. I still believe we will see Iron Man, in fancy new armor to boot, in Guardians Of The Galaxy next year, rushing back to earth after getting his ass handed to him by Thanos, to rally the Avengers to kick some ass.
And i will still be first in line.
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