IRON MAN 3

US, 2013, 130 minutes, Colour.
Robert Downey Jr, Gwynneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer.
Directed by Shane Black.

Fans of Marvel Comics and their film versions will feel that Tony Stark is an old acquaintance. This is the third Iron Man film but Stark was also one of The Avengers in that very successful film of 2012. We remember him as a brash young man, inheritor of a company than encouraged innovations where he made suits that enabled him to confront villains and save the world.

The film begins with him telling the story of New Year’s Eve 1999 in Berne where he was with a scientist Maya (Rebecca Hall) and was accosted by a wild-looking man whom he stands up after promising to meet him. Obviously a bad move.

Robert Downey Jr is a screen master of the sardonic screen presence who can toss of jokey references and one-liners but who can also be charming. He has made the character of Tony Stark his own. Actually, he seems to have settled down with Pepper Potts (Gwynneth Paltrow) but then his seaside mansion is attacked and destroyed and he suffers panic attacks and disappears.

In the meantime, a scrawny-looking character who calls himself The Mandarin, who looks like a cut rate Osama Bin Laden (Ben Kingsley chewing the scenery), cuts into television programs with threats and an on-screen killing, wanting to taunt the American president (William Sadler). Tony Stark is not quite ready to resume action, especially when he is accosted by strange men and women whose limbs and face light up like smouldering charcoal.

We are not surprised when the wild-looking man from the past turns up and takes responsibility. He is played with satisfying mad villainy by Guy Pearce. Maya has sold out to him and he is transforming war-disabled veterans into fiery weapons.

Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle) is back, using Stark-invented suits to fly to trouble areas. Speaking of suits, Tony Stark has quite a wardrobe of suits to pick from, not all of them top quality, some quite breakable, and relies on in his invisible valet (voiced by Paul Bettany) to dress him with the suits, part by part. This does complicate things when Tony is captured and when he ultimately has to face the villain.

Jon Favreau, who directed the first two films, is a letter-of-the-regulations security man who has a weakness for episodes of Downton Abbey. Ben Kingsley’s The Mandarin turns out to be a different villain, with some unexpectedly funny sequences. In fact, there are some funny episodes (like that of the gob-smacked adulation fan who helps Tony) and some funny lines.

Which all seemed quite entertaining – until one reads the angry and disappointed fans who have blogged their displeasure at this sequel. It seems they want action rather than humour – perhaps they need to lighten up. After all they are only comic strips on screen, not dramatic realism.

1. The popularity of the Iron Man films? Marvel comics? A character, Iron Man? One of the Avengers? His contribution to saving the world?
2. The previous Iron Man films, the avengers, a number eight in the role of Tony Stark?
3. The action sequences: the collapse of the mansion into the sea, Iron Man’s suit and the fights, the characters transformed by fire and the destruction, deaths? Air Force One and the rescue of the crew, the ship and the final confrontations? The special effects, especially for the suits and Iron Man being clad in them?
4. Audience knowledge of Tony Stark? His heritage, the industry, his previous feats, an American hero? Relationship with the government? His many fans, and the humorous sequence of the obsequious fan? His confrontation of villains? His friendship with Colonel Rhodes and working with him? The relationship with Pepper? Familiar characters? New characters?
5. Robert Downey Jr. in the role, his presence, sardonic tone, the one-liners, the offhand jokes, the references, to popular films and television like Downton Abbey? At home with Pepper, his commitment to her? His suits, with Jarvis? The humor about the strength of his suits, putting them on it in pieces, his telecommunication with Jarvis? His motivations?
6. The voiceover narrative, New Year’s Eve in Bern, with Maya, her experiments, the fire, its intensity, the encounter with Killian, the mad look, waiting on the roof, stood up, his plans for revenge?
7. Tony Stark and a comfortable life, the sabotage on his house, his disappearance, on the road, the encounters with the little boy, his help, his gift to him at the end? The mystery of the characters on fire, the destruction?
8. Maya, her warning Tony, the destruction of the house, consoling Pepper, the Irony of her betrayal, the money with Killian? Her destruction?
9. The Mandarin, interrupting the television programs, the warnings? His appearance, overtones of Osama Bin Laden, sinister? His voice and threats? The assumption that he was an arch-villain? The succession of disasters? Tony, his deciding to act, to fight? The details of the one-on-one combats?
10. Killian, his appearance, setting up the think-tank, with Maya, her giving him her findings? The veterans, the flashbacks to his using them, transforming them, fire, using them as weapons? The men, the woman, their vicious attacks?
11. The political background, the president, the vice president, the vice president and his deal for the money, the president and his phone call, the shooting of the hostage? On Air Force One? The president captured, his being strung up, Rhodes and the rescue?
12. Rhodes, his use of the suits, his missions, gearing things from within, his character, sparring with Tony, helping him? The final fights, the rescue?
13. The suits, the wardrobe full of suits, the facts about them, the comedy of the fittings, the collapses, communication with Jarvis and his British servant voice? The suits and their coming at the crisis times?
14. Tony and the capture of the president, his own internment, getting free?
15. The discoverer of Trevor Slattery, British, his behavior, the girls, his being an actor, his performances, inept? His mention of the boat, their taking it to go to the ship?
16. Tony and his mission, gaining control, going to the boat? The rescue of Pepper, Killian and his transforming Pepper? The rescue and her recovery, her will-power in resisting Killian? The elaborate details of the battle, the defeat, the success of the mission?
17. Tony saying he would reform, removing the shrapnel, not becoming involved with further projects? But…?