By Jeff
Comic book movies suffer from the same problem regular books that become movies do. That problem is the hardcore fans of the comics or books get very upset when the movies deviate from the original works. Especially when that deviation is drastic.
It has happened to every comic book released, beginning with "Spider-Man", the film that kicked off the modern day comic movie craze. And if you read the blogs and message boards regarding "Iron Man 3", you'll see it's a trend still going strong.
I'm fortunate in that I have a basic knowledge of many of these comic book heroes, but the only comic I ever read was a random "Thor" issue in which there were two Thors fighting each other for reasons I don't remember. This allows me to just sit back and enjoy the movie for what it is, a re-imagining of the original work.
Sometimes the re-imagining falls on its face (I'm looking at you, "Daredevil" and "Fantastic 4"), but "Iron Man 3" suffered no such fate. It was an enjoyable story with great dialogue and some fun action that didn't take over the film.
The Iron Man movie franchise is unique compared to all the comic book movies that have come out in the past 13 years. Robert Downey Jr. absolutely owns the character of Tony Stark. So much so that the movie is more interesting and fun when Stark is out of the Iron Man suit and being Iron Man.
"Iron Man 3" showcases this fact as we only see Stark in his suit for about 20 minutes of the film. Most of the time it's Stark running around and being his hilarious, narcissistic self. There was a point where you're afraid he's going to take a kid with him on his adventure, which would be terrible, but instead he makes fun of said kid and drives off. It was one of the best parts of the movie.
That's not to say the movie doesn't have action. The final 15 minutes or so is nothing but action. It's kind of ridiculous, and you get the feeling director Shane Black was making up for the lack of explosions in the movie to that point. At the same time, it never felt like it was too much. Just sit back and enjoy the explosions, as well as the great chemistry between Downey and Don Cheadle.
The movie is far from perfect. There are some large plot holes. The whole PTSD thing was silly and awkwardly discarded, and I'm still not sure why some of the extremis soldiers die somewhat while others get blown up and survive. But when you're watching a movie where people take a mystery drug that makes them the love child of Wolverine and a dragon, you tend to let it go without too much questioning.
The biggest complaint I've heard and read about was the treatment of the Mandarin. This guy is a major villain in the comic series and he is very different in the movie. But it's not a bad thing. It's an interesting take on the character and Ben Kingsley does a great job.
All in all, "Iron Man 3" wasn't "The Avengers", but it was a good, fun movie that is probably the best of the trilogy.
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