Krishna
This is the third installment of the franchise. It appears as if, like M Night Shyamalan’s movies, this series is also on a downward trajectory, each succeeding movie worse than its predecessor. The first iron man was brilliant, the second was very watchable but paled in comparison to the first, and this one has a lot of clichés that bring it down another level.
Now, first, there is this disappointed disciple turned super villain. How many times has it been done? (From Incredibles onwards, where it was brilliantly portrayed) to (do I remember right?) one of the Spiderman movies in the series right? So when you see the avid fan Aldrich Killian bitterly disappointed after Tony Stark (the industrialist who is Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr) stands him up, you know something is going to happen out of this. When it does, you are underwhelmed. The villain is played by Guy Pearce, known for his role as the King in King’s Speech.
You need to take it to the next level, right? In a franchise, every new movie has to have a new gimmick that was not there in previous movies. This time, it is the new model 42 of the iron suit. Its unique feature is that it can fly over to wrap around him from a remote location. The initial failed trial of this is a very funny scene in the movie.
The other interesting scene is when Iron Man crash lands after escaping the complete destruction of his home (unseen where everyone believes him dead – another cliché of superhero movies) he hooks up with a boy who is eager to learn and is patient with him, throwing off his usual arrogance and also as a penance for his being arrogant to Aldrich before, I guess. These are touching and funny scenes in the movie, even though, with another hat on, you can see tons of clichés riding on these ones too.
The other interesting thing is the Super Super villain, above even Aldrich, called Mandarin – the international terrorist. (Played in a very unusual role by Ben Kingsley; if I tell you more, it will be giving away one of the twists in the movie). The twist about Mandarin is a cute one, and definitely catches you unawares.
Purists may crib – and I do too, with them – that in this movie Iron Man really doesn’t do anything except call his techie prowess to his help whenever needed. In the climax scenes, it is his technological wizardry that conquers the day – not him personally. Is it really Superhero stuff?
And, Oh, there is Don Cheadle too, as an able assistant to Iron Man. Robin to his Batman, so to speak.
Well due to the so many repeats, clichés and let downs, I will give it a 6/10.
— Krishna