After all, it’s Sunday. I figure any real comics fan saw it by Friday.
Personally I loved it. SO much better than Iron Man 2 (which I despised). Robert Downey once again makes the argument that no one can play Tony Stark the way he can: he comes across as a combination of arrogant and vulnerable, dealing with a massive case of PTSD after the events in “The Avengers.” Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper is more a damsel in distress than ever, but somehow manages to make it work. And the villains are great, especially Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin who will doubtless drive many of the long time fans nuts, but yet somehow totally works.
3D is wholly unnecessary. Save money and see it in 2D.
PAD
• 
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
Pepper may spend some time as the damsel in distress, but I thought her kicking the bad guy’s ášš in the climax more than made up for it.
I’ll support that argument. Living up to the “Rescue” nickname of her comics counterpart.
Agreed, Pepper was badass
I totally agree a good movie and better than 2 by far, My only thing is this in my opinion is not a repeat viewing film. It was good but i can’t see myself a few years from not wanting to see it again on dvd. The story at times left me going “Why did they do that?” and the changes to some of the characters made me feel like why did they even bother putting that character in the film. Kingsley was hilarious at certain points but i expected just a tad more respect for the source material. I liked the film but in my opinion its a good film but not a repeat viewing film at least for me. Glad to hear you’re doing better Peter, You’ve been in my prayers. Hope to see you at nycc this year. Best wishes. Daut
Agree, in part. I liked it a lot, but somehow can’t imagine seeing it as often as I have the other two. As for the Mandarin, it’s hard to be respectful to source material when the source really was a caricature, at least for a long time. I felt they handled it very well. Made perfect sense to me.
I haven’t seen it yet, despite living in a country where it came out a week early. I’ll see it with some friends in the next few days. I’m very much looking forward to it.
I like Iron Man 2, for what it’s worth. I felt like the emotional journey in the first movie was over after the first third (once he left the desert) and the rest felt like an afterthought. Entertaining, but not really meaningful. The second movie felt more like the character was struggling all the way through.
Until I followed the direct link to this post I thought your website was still down. Every time that I enter go to the main page at peterdavid.net, I get immediately directed to a “Default webpage” at http://www.peterdavid.net/cgi-sys/defaultwebpage.cgi . it’s been like that for a while. Pretty much since the announcement was made that comments were going down to fix some site problems. This happens at home and at work in both google Chrome and Firefox. Is anyone else having that problem and/or have any suggestions on how to fix it as it now seems that the problem is on my end?
Also, I have seen the film and greatly enjoyed it.
“peterdavid.net” works fine for me.
Of course, i use Opera; that may have something to do with it.
But i have a question for the Honourable Maintainer – what’s happened to the Gravatars?
Let me take a look. (You do realize you’re probably the only reason we haven’t migrated to FB comments here, right?)
Really?
Then my work here is justified.
The day you migrate to exclusively Facebook comments is the day i stop posting.
Now, some people might see that as an incentive to do it, i admit, but…
I just wanted to add my voice of agreement: the day that Facebook comments are the only option is the day that I stop posting. I love Gravitar.
It’s not that i love Gravatar that much … but i refuse to associate with Facebook.
This is the same problem I’m having, but only on Chrome for Win7-64. Weird.
Hmmm. I haven’t tried Firefox since Friday at work. I just checked Firefox here at home and it’s working fine. So maybe it’s just Chrome now…
Hmmm. I haven’t tried Firefox since Friday at work. I just checked Firefox here at home and it’s working fine. So maybe it’s just Chrome now…
Could be browser caching on your end. When was the last time you rebooted your machine?
Yesterday. Cleared Chrome’s DNS cache a couple of days ago.
I had the problem too, in Chrome. I cleared the cache and things went back to normal.
Sigh. So clearing the browser’s cache isn’t the same as clearing its DNS cache. When I did the latter, which is suggested by the error page, nothing happened. When I did the former, magic. Problem solved.
I enjoyed the hëll out of this one. Definitely better than IM2.
As for how they handled the Mandarin: often, characters are changed from the comics for no good reason whatsoever; perhaps more than any other ‘series’, the X-Men films have been guilty of this.
However, I’ll support a change if I think it works. And this change, I think, worked.
Ebert would have adored it.
I still catch myself wanting to look up his review of a movie. It makes his loss fresh and hurtful again and again this time of year…
A friend died in 1981 (at the Denver WorldCon); every so often i STILL catch myself thinking “I ought to call Dave – he’d know that…” (Mot so much as for the first ten years after his death … but still, on occasion.)
I thought it was enjoyable, albeit with plenty of inconsistencies (from why Stark had to fake his own death to how one Extremis person could be killed with one bullet while others too multiple shots — and worse — and managed just fine). My review’s at http://thearmchaircritic.blogspot.com/2013/05/iron-man-3.html
SPOILERS
The action was better than the first two, but I hate retconned origins ( this happened in spiderman 3 as well, when we learned that sandman actually killed Ben) Revisiting Tony and his supposed creation of this movies protagonist was a stretch, Pepper Potts gaining superpowers made me smh and the forced addition of the kid was lame as well. I try not to dissect movies too much but I found those things annoying. It’s worth a watch but not memorable imo. And the twist with mandarin was funny, but beyond that a waste of a character and performance.
Not a retcon. The Mandarin’s involvement was hinted at in Iron Man 1 (the Twelve Rings terrorist group).
“Ten Rings”, and yes. They were there at the beginning via Raza. Whether or not (spoiler identity) was backing them at that point is unclear to me.
Kate and her friend Jane went to see it Saturday evening; i’ll be going later in the week.
Kate liked it a lot.
I am a big time Marvel comicbook fan. Alot of what they did to the mandarin character i felt was done by Shane Black only looking at the old source material. I don’t believe he looked at modern interpretations of the Mandarin.
He then decided to completely forgo the character,the rings simply because it wasn’t realistic? Please,their is a guy with a hammer that allows him to fly and shoot lightning but 10 alien rings is any less believable?
It was a fun movie but i must repeat what my peers complained about. The part with the little kid was corny and tony not upgrading to use extremis like he did in the comic was way off the story mark.
On a slightly related note, has anyone else noticed that the “night before” showings are getting earlier and earlier? Some Friday movies used to have a special showing at Thursday at midnight. But IRON MAN 3 showed locally on Thursday at 9. In addition, THE EVIL DEAD remake had a 10 P.M. advance showing on Thursday, and there’s a 10 P.M. advance showing of STAR TREK INTO DARKNESS next Thursday.
I always thought the midnight shows were a reward for the die-hard fans willing to stay up past midnight to see a movie before most (not me — I’d rather enjoy a movie on Friday than struggle to stay awake during it a few hours earlier), but if they’re going to start releasing the movies early on Thursday, why not just make that the release date?
Sometimes it is a special promotion between the studios and local businesses. I’m in the Chicago area and my local library arranged a special showing of the last Harry Potter movie to coincide with the London opening.
Had I been home, I would’ve gone to a midnight show.
As I’m not home, I won’t be able to see it until *next* Sunday… maybe. *grumble*
I thought it had a few flaws, but overall it rocked and definitely was better that “Iron Man 2”. I would say to go see it in 3-D IMAX if at all possible because:
A.) I feel any movie with this much spectacle should be treated as an event
B.) Every dollar this movie makes helps ensure a little bit more that RDJ will remain “Iron Man” for a few more films and THAT will help ensure the Marvel Studios movie increase in quantity and quality and do not lose steam.
This was the first Marvel-generated film I truly loved. I liked a lot of the others, but they always came up a bit short. Till now. A very strong mix of acting, script, pacing, plot and direction came together for me. We even had some of the best music in a Marvel film. (Anyone else notice that we don’t get great theme music from Marvel to rival a Superman or Star Wars theme?)
I have some small qualms and questions – where was SHIELD in all this? Where exactly is JARVIS’s mainframe? Did Tony actually remove Extremis from Pepper, or is she now super for good? – but nothing that hurts the film.
And that opening narration is priceless.
Loved it and my wife LOVED it, so much that what I thought was our second viewing was actually her third, as she took advantage of me shooting a short film in the cold wet woods to go out and see it again without me, the sneak.
Since the Mandarin is wayyyy down on my list of favorite villains I had no problem with what they did with him. Kingsley’s a scream.
I liked the lack of sentimentality in the kid scenes and the young actor was very good–I wish someone like this had played young Anakin or,alternatively, Lucas knew how to direct kids.
They should back up the money truck and pay MDJ whatever he asks. Neither Disney nor marvel Studios are exactly back up the money truck entities, so it might not happen but I don;t think Iron man is like James Bond and would thrive under a new actor…of course, I would have said the same when Connery left Bond, so what do i know?
Well, Bill, Disney will occasionally breal the bank. For example, Johnny Depp has earned $350 MILLION from the four “Pirates” movies AND a mind-boggling $116 million to do a fifth “Pirates”…Which may either be brilliant or tough sailing. “Pirates 5” is scheduled for summer of 2015, which may be the most brutal summer at the box-office ever, with “Avengers 2”, “Star Wars VII” both confirmed, and likely “Justice League” and “Avatar 2″…”Pirates” is like a slightly aging champion next to those.
Sorry..Here’s the link for above: http://moviepilot.com/stories/586572-johnny-depp-to-get-116m-booty-for-pirates-5–585999
I don’t care what the article says, that doesn’t sound right.
PAD
Which part doesn’t sound right, PAD?
Paying 116 million to Depp seems like a stretch…as you say, Pirates seems played out. I guess these things do great overseas so it just has to break even in domestic gross but still…as you say, it looks like the weak link in that summer.
I really enjoyed this movie. IM2 was not my favorite, by far. I had even hyped myself up for 3, and it did not disappoint me. Every movie has a few little things that we don’t think are “right”, but I just kept having FUN watching this movie. We even made it a date movie!
And, I can’t love Sir Ben any more than I do. What a versatile actor. I howled. Literally. Only about half of the theater was enjoying themselves, and I was absolutley one of them.
And, for the Mandarin naysayers: he can be used, again. For the first time. Rings and all.
And, for the people who are desperate for RDJ to be Iron Man, again, remember that we may be able to have the “I quit, but Iron Man goes on! — Hey, who’s in the suit, now???” story. He would make an excellent “guest star”, helping the science-guys figure crap out, while they leave it open as to who IM is, for the moment.
S
P
O
I
L
E
R
I thought until the movie was over that the head of AIM was Val Kilmer. I never noticed how much Guy Pierce looks like Kilmer till this movie. Wonder if it was intentional. Loved the movie, didn’t like the cop out Mandarin.
Saw it Sunday. First 3D for me in a couple years and things haven’t changed. After about 10 minutes I forget it’s 3D unless there’s some in-your-face effect and then I consider it’s taking me out of the movie. For me, 3D only artificially enhances what your brain is already doing anyway, so what’s the big deal? I think I’ll go back to saving the extra bucks.
Really enjoyed the movie. Was surprised that the Mandarin reveal hadn’t been spoiled before the movie’s release. How much footage does everybody think they added for the China special edition?
“How much footage does everybody think they added for the China special edition?”
Io9 had an article saying it was only a few minutes total and that it was more about advertising local Chinese products than actually adding something to the film.
I have to ask – why did you despise Iron Man 2 Peter?
Because the whole film was him worrying about that he was going to die. So it was both a bummer and also a waste of time since we all knew he’d survive.
PAD
Whereas I enjoyed the way he finally solved the problem enormously. As for ‘waste of time’, I knew how the story was going to end in THE LONGEST DAY but it’s still one of my favourite films.
Who knew that Iron Man 3 would leave me wondering when the next season of Downton Abbey is coming?
I thought the second film was pretty good. I didn’t think the third one was all that great.
I never got a consistent feel that Tony or Pepper were in any real danger in the third film.
And I do not like how they ruined the Mandarin, either in terms of the ethnicity change ( I know that actors of one ethnicity can play characters of different ones in the books, but C’mon, guys, it’s in the character’s NAME, for cryin’ out loud) or in his origin or status. Killian came across as just another rival businessman; a version of Sam Rockwell’s Justin Hammer, but super-powered and less smarmy.
I was also disappointed by the depiction of Extremis, as I had hoped it would find itself in Tony, much as in the comics. Instead, we got sequences that almost had the feel of Tony retiring from Iron Man (at least until Avenges 2, I guess).
I also thought the Easter Egg was a bit of a let-down.
It was an okay movie. But that’s it.
That should’ve been:
“…either in terms of the ethnicity change…or in the way they made the “public face” version of him a bumbling, washed up drunk actor.”
If you squint at it a little bit, the villain of the film might actually be The Melter.
-B
Speaking of changing a character …
Spoiler-ish
I always felt those AIM beekeeper outfits were pretty silly. You could spot one of those goons a mile away, making them not the brightest sorts around, in spite of the fact you were supposed to have at least a PhD to qualify as one of the gumbies in that organization. Doing away with the outfits was not a bad thing.
Mr. David,
Did you catch the homage to yourself in the cut scene/Easter Egg after the credits? At lest, I felt it was an homage to your issues where teams like X-Factor are doing a psychoanalysis session with Dr. Samson, and we only see him revealed in the last page or so. What do you think?
I don’t think it was intended as an homage, but I admit my first thought was “Maybe that’s Doc Samson.” Wrong gamma-irradiated doctor.
I just liked that the villain in this movie didn’t have as his own bigger, badder set of high-tech armor… science, but not the same field of science. I also thought the Mandarin revelation was a fun surprise.
I agree on both points. My biggest gripe with Iron Man 2 was that the final battle was another big suit like in the first movie.
Overall I liked it but some parts were a bit confusing for me, especially the VR sequence after the airplane passenger save. It made me think: “was that all a simulation?”, but it was just to try to find the president (I think).
Nice use of Stark and Rhodey being heroes out of armor, and Pepper being a hero with powers/armor. Are they hinting at Pepper becoming a hero?
I didn’t catch Mia as an anagram for AIM, but I thought she’d make a great Madame Masque. Who knows? Maybe she can be…
Mr David, I just wanted to say thanks again for being so nice to our daughter at Phoenix Comicon. I know fussy toddlers can be trying at the best of times, so you going out of your way to try to comfort her meant a lot to my wife and I.