29 April 2013

Is the Third Iron Man Really the Charm?

I must confess that I was conflicted to whether I should actually go and recommend this one or not.

It is not how you might think it would be given the trailer, I will say as much. Also it should definitely be noted that if you are a fan of the Iron Man comic book I should warn you that there is a risk you might be disappointed with certain developments in this story. Last but not least keep in mind that this is not The Avengers (2012) and that Shane Black and is not Joss Whedon.

I am going to be honest; I am very partial to, what I think is, Whedon's ability to maintain depth while still having his characters deliver funny one-liners. I love his wit and his kind of humour. I did expect something similar from Shane because of the good work he did on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (2005) but just as that film falters slightly story-wise and struggles with character depth at times so does Iron Man 3. The one-liners are, in my own honest opinion, too many, not always spot-on placed and tended to feel piled up. There is an honest attempt at development and depth but it does struggle a bit. What I personally would have liked, though, would have been if they had explored certain character elements and put emphasis on that more than they did.

As far as the plot goes I will say it's not as much about plot holes, as some might have said, as weak plot points. There are some genuinely amazing scenes though and a bunch of the comedy is actually entertaining. The problem is that the story feels jumbled, that a few things are just too convenient for the story to the point where it's almost deus ex machina devises and that reactions and motivation in all characters seems shaky and off at times.

On the plus side this film did have me on the edge of my seat a bunch of times. And it did make me laugh at a few points. Also all the actors did brilliantly and I personally enjoyed that Pepper Pots was not the damsel in distress in this film because that is just one of the most tiring and overused themes out there. I also enjoyed, even though it had its weaker moments, the closer portrayal of Tony Stark and I am very biased here, I must confess, because I think Robert Downey Jr is an amazing actor and he is perfect in his role as Tony Stark. Even in the moments where I felt like the jokes Tony delivered were a bit too scripted, as opposed to the effortlessness it had in The Avengers, Downey Jr still delivered quality acting.

All in all I am still not sure how to feel. I am conflicted. Though whilst some say they regret ever going and that it's not worth your money I am, for one, going to go see this again. I feel like I need to in order to fully form an opinion and decide if I do really like it for the good acting, nice special effects and clever underlying story (not mentioned here since I don't want to spoil) and the edge-of-the-seat moments or if I don't like it because of the deus ex machina and faltering character development and the characters' strange actions/reactions/motivations as well as the comedy that went overboard.

To the important part then; do  I recommend it? Well, I do not do typical reviews so I would not write this if I had no intent in recommending it. I do recommend it. But I also recommend that you keep in mind that it is not like what you have seen in the trailer, it does not stick to the story arc in the comic books and that it is not like Jon Faveru's Iron Man films. What it is on the other hand is Ben Kingsely, Guy Pearce, Paul Bettany as the sassy voice of Jarvis, Gwyneth Paltrow as the lovely and fantastic Pepper Pots and, of course, the one and only Robert Downey Jr being undeniably awesome as Tony Stark and Iron Man and, on my part, they (along with the other great actors) absolutely make this film worth a recommendation!

No comments:

Post a Comment