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Iron Man 3 is a decent movie

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NotLiquid

Member
I did not like how completely incompetent Tony Stark became in the movie. Why does he give his home address to a terrorist group? Why does Tony Stark have hundreds of extremely fragile suits lying around? In Avengers his suit withstood Thor's hammer and now one falls apart after being hit by a truck?

Also, the villian and his mooks were awful. I'm not a comic reader and I was actually kind of glad they didn't go with the Chinese criminal stereotype baddie, but Killian was not a good replacement.

Tony gave the terrorists his address because he figured that would be the quickest way for him to get payback for them doing Happy in. Obviously not smart but then again no one in-universe legitimately praised him for thinking it was a good idea. He was convinced he was ready to cope with himself and did a rash decision. I'd say that's far more interesting of a decision as a character in order to kickstart the main plot thread and eventually have him start from zero.

Tony stress built a bunch of armors to suit different "needs" but they were all of shoddy quality because as he put it, he's a "piping hot mess" that tinkers without aim in order to distract himself. Devin Faraci kind of said it the best in his post-Ultron character arc breakdown.

In the year since New York Tony has dealt with his PTSD in the same way he dealt with his Afghanistan PTSD: he makes suits. But while the original Iron Man armors were generalized protection systems, post-New York Tony starts making individual suits for any possible problem that could come his way. He becomes obsessive, looking at the world as a series of dangers from which he must protect himself. The suits are a symptom of that obsession, a wall that he’s putting between himself and every single part of life.

Same reason why the Mark 42 easily falls apart. It was his all purpose armor but it was still of significantly lower build quality. That said, the Extremis people could probably still tear the regular armors apart to some degree. Thor was shown to easily be able to overpower Iron Man in Avengers 1 alone, but while electricity powers up his suits it stands to reason that extreme heat would damage the metallic alloy.
 
Im probably one of the only people who likes Ironman 2 and Captain America The First Avenger :(

The New York's world fair, Tony's dad being basically Walt Disney, Richard Sherman composing Make Way to the Future Today to sound like a Walt Disney ride...
And then the innocent comic adventure, and 1940's americana vibe of Captain America, with the musical number and all that jazz...

I cant hate those movies, I simply can. I love those themes too much.

I didn't see Iron Man 3 becuase most of my friends told me it was garbage. Maybe I watch it someday.
 
the movie was shit

the worst in MCU, literally everything(except maybe Tony's PTSD) was handled HORRIBLE bad; the fight scenes, Mandarin reveal/twist, the Mandarin himself, Pepper, the ending.

By far the most useless movie in the overall MCU plot.

People complain when the movies only exist to promote the next movie. Now when you basically have a stand alone movie people complain about that too.
 

guek

Banned
First Avenger rules, found myself liking it more than The Winter Soldier on a recent rewatch.

It would be top of the line if the montage scene was better. It's great in that it allows for a unspecified passage of time, meaning we can get flashbacks and whatever else in other movies, but it killed the film's momentum and it never really gets it back. Still love the heck out of First Avengers though.
 

rekameohs

Banned
I'm not a very big MCU fan, but I really enjoyed Iron Man 3, especially after a rewatch. Iron Man is boring, so I liked the focus on Tony and not some suit of armor.
 

~Devil Trigger~

In favor of setting Muslim women on fire
People complain when the movies only exist to promote the next movie. Now when you basically have a stand alone movie people complain about that too.

1- im not people

2- A stand alone movie can still contribute to the larger plot, you can do both...

The villains sucked, the development of the villain sucked, the pacing sucked.... besides some cool looking armor and a pretty cool performance from Ben K, the film had nothing worth remembering.
 

Loxley

Member
I think a more accurate title for the movie would have been, "We're Paying RDJ $20 Million For This Shit So You Better Get Used To Him Not Being Iron Man for the Majority of the Movie: Because Like Hell We're Forking Over That Much Cash to One Guy Only to Cover up His Face for the Half the Film."

Then again, "Iron Man 3" rolls off the tongue a little better.
 

Dai101

Banned
Im probably one of the only people who likes Ironman 2 and Captain America The First Avenger :(

The New York's world fair, Tony's dad being basically Walt Disney, Richard Sherman composing Make Way to the Future Today to sound like a Walt Disney ride...
And then the innocent comic adventure, and 1940's americana vibe of Captain America, with the musical number and all that jazz...

I cant hate those movies, I simply can. I love those themes too much.
YOU. I like you.
 

wildfire

Banned
I guess it's not so coincidental I rewatched the movie at the same time as OP. I liked it the first time but I felt the ending was off but on the rewatch everything came across a lot better. This was a great movie. The ending was more appropriate than I gave it credit for last time.
 
I love Iron Man 3, then again Shane Black is one of my favorite filmmakers.

My only gripe with the movie is Rebecca Hall's character, which doesn't really work.
 
Iron Man 3 is by far the funniest Marvel movie, plus it's got some great action scenes. I don't understand the hate for it at all.

It's my second favorite Marvel movie behind Avengers 1.
 

ShirAhava

Plays with kids toys, in the adult gaming world
Iron Man 3 is my fav Iron Man movie.....2 was decent...I HATED the first one
 

Qurupeke

Member
1>2>3

I wanted to watch an Iron Man movie and this, of course, mean that Tony Stark is in the movie. But they turned the Iron Man part into trash. The armors are insanely weak, they break with even the slightest blow and their battery dies easily. I'd be fine if this was the 1st movie when Iron Man was still on its early phase but the movie gave me the impression that Mark I was actually sturdier than these armors. Not to mention the fact that they used the name of Iron Man's archenemy in the movie, only to reveal a lame human that experimented on himself is the big bad guy. And the whole finale sucked. From the destruction of many armors for no fucking reason, the fact that Pepper ultimately saved Tony's ass, to the heart surgery in the very end. Not to mention stuff like Tony openly declaring to the terrorists his address and doing fucking nothing after that or the director's need to add the kid in the movie.

I absolutely despise this movie. Stuff like Iron Man 2 or Thor Dark World aren't great but at least they're not as stupid as this movie and they're definitely not as boring. A shame that something as good as Iron Man 1 became this shit. At least they pretty much reckoned many part of the movies, like Mandarin and the heart surgery.
 

stn

Member
I've been a fan of Iron-Man even when he was a C-tier hero in the Marvel universe. Was quite disappointed when they butchered the hell out of his biggest rival, The Mandarin. Wasted opportunity.
 
I never understand this criticism.

The Mandarin that was teased in the trailers, the one you want as described in your post, his ideology, his "threats", were fucking BORING and represented the stale terrorist posturing that embodies practically all theatrical villainy in action movies.

"Heroes, there are no such thing."
"Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death."
Some dumb phiilosophically vapid shit about fortune cookies.

Give me a break. I'd take what we got over that any day, especially considering that the Mandarin character from the comics, he of eastern philosophy and magic rings, was never interesting to begin with.

I think a lot of people are so wrapped up in the "betrayal" they feel when IM3 pulled the rug from under them that they overlook what the film tried to do with the Mandarin, or what Killian tried to do with the Mandarin.

Killian IS the Mandarin. Yeah, that guy with the dragon tattoos that you're deriding, he's the Mandarin. Or at least, he based parts of his persona on a mythical figure by that name he heard of somewhere along the way to building AIM and developing better tech than Tony. The fake Mandarin? All that grandstanding and those threatening soundbites? Manufactured by Killian to be the kind of threatening presence that the American public would rally against, all the while the real threat operated well out of public focus. His was an entirely new form of terrorism, one that completely subverts expectations. The comic Mandarin is said to be an industrial genius and master tactician, is Killian not that? Strip the Mandarin of his Asian heritage and nobility, what do you get?

So maybe you can complain that it turns out that the villain of this Iron Man movie is another business man in a suit. Well, that's not really a problem when you look at the greater picture. The 3 prominent villains of the Iron Man franchise Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, both represent the worst aspects of who Tony was before fate and metal shrapnel forced him off that path -- unscrupulous weapons dealer, immoral hack inventor, respectively.

Killian is even closer to Tony as a character. A twisted mirror image of Tony. He is a man who, by his own ingenuity and willpower, overcame a disability to create an empire like Tony's and managed to beat Tony (albeit temporarily) by doing the one thing that no one thought was possible: he created tech that was better, even more cutting edge than Tony's. It's a tech that Killian relies on, like a crutch. Tony had Iron Man, Killian had Extremis. And the only way Tony could beat Killian was to believe that he was more than his tech, that he, Tony Stark the person, was Iron Man.

That's way more interesting than a vague terrorist who may or may not have any magic powers.

Awesome post.
 
I never understand this criticism.

The Mandarin that was teased in the trailers, the one you want as described in your post, his ideology, his "threats", were fucking BORING and represented the stale terrorist posturing that embodies practically all theatrical villainy in action movies.

"Heroes, there are no such thing."
"Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death."
Some dumb phiilosophically vapid shit about fortune cookies.

Give me a break. I'd take what we got over that any day, especially considering that the Mandarin character from the comics, he of eastern philosophy and magic rings, was never interesting to begin with.

I think a lot of people are so wrapped up in the "betrayal" they feel when IM3 pulled the rug from under them that they overlook what the film tried to do with the Mandarin, or what Killian tried to do with the Mandarin.

Killian IS the Mandarin. Yeah, that guy with the dragon tattoos that you're deriding, he's the Mandarin. Or at least, he based parts of his persona on a mythical figure by that name he heard of somewhere along the way to building AIM and developing better tech than Tony. The fake Mandarin? All that grandstanding and those threatening soundbites? Manufactured by Killian to be the kind of threatening presence that the American public would rally against, all the while the real threat operated well out of public focus. His was an entirely new form of terrorism, one that completely subverts expectations. The comic Mandarin is said to be an industrial genius and master tactician, is Killian not that? Strip the Mandarin of his Asian heritage and nobility, what do you get?

So maybe you can complain that it turns out that the villain of this Iron Man movie is another business man in a suit. Well, that's not really a problem when you look at the greater picture. The 3 prominent villains of the Iron Man franchise Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, both represent the worst aspects of who Tony was before fate and metal shrapnel forced him off that path -- unscrupulous weapons dealer, immoral hack inventor, respectively.

Killian is even closer to Tony as a character. A twisted mirror image of Tony. He is a man who, by his own ingenuity and willpower, overcame a disability to create an empire like Tony's and managed to beat Tony (albeit temporarily) by doing the one thing that no one thought was possible: he created tech that was better, even more cutting edge than Tony's. It's a tech that Killian relies on, like a crutch. Tony had Iron Man, Killian had Extremis. And the only way Tony could beat Killian was to believe that he was more than his tech, that he, Tony Stark the person, was Iron Man.

That's way more interesting than a vague terrorist who may or may not have any magic powers.

This can't get quoted enough.
 

Ambient80

Member
Yeah it was really good, but on the internet a movie is either the best ever made or a complete failure that never should have been written.
 
IM3 is great, that extended post by Wonkers is on point as well.

Got all the suit action needed out of Avengers anyway, wanted to see more of Tony and RDJ absolutely killed it. Loved the Shane Black feel to it, and it legit had some of the best set pieces. Airplane rescue is awesome (#screwphysics, loved it).

Also the funniest MCU movie.
 

Sojgat

Member
I never understand this criticism.

The Mandarin that was teased in the trailers, the one you want as described in your post, his ideology, his "threats", were fucking BORING and represented the stale terrorist posturing that embodies practically all theatrical villainy in action movies.

"Heroes, there are no such thing."
"Do you want an empty life, or a meaningful death."
Some dumb phiilosophically vapid shit about fortune cookies.

Give me a break. I'd take what we got over that any day, especially considering that the Mandarin character from the comics, he of eastern philosophy and magic rings, was never interesting to begin with.

I think a lot of people are so wrapped up in the "betrayal" they feel when IM3 pulled the rug from under them that they overlook what the film tried to do with the Mandarin, or what Killian tried to do with the Mandarin.

Killian IS the Mandarin. Yeah, that guy with the dragon tattoos that you're deriding, he's the Mandarin. Or at least, he based parts of his persona on a mythical figure by that name he heard of somewhere along the way to building AIM and developing better tech than Tony. The fake Mandarin? All that grandstanding and those threatening soundbites? Manufactured by Killian to be the kind of threatening presence that the American public would rally against, all the while the real threat operated well out of public focus. His was an entirely new form of terrorism, one that completely subverts expectations. The comic Mandarin is said to be an industrial genius and master tactician, is Killian not that? Strip the Mandarin of his Asian heritage and nobility, what do you get?

So maybe you can complain that it turns out that the villain of this Iron Man movie is another business man in a suit. Well, that's not really a problem when you look at the greater picture. The 3 prominent villains of the Iron Man franchise Obadiah Stane, Justin Hammer, both represent the worst aspects of who Tony was before fate and metal shrapnel forced him off that path -- unscrupulous weapons dealer, immoral hack inventor, respectively.

Killian is even closer to Tony as a character. A twisted mirror image of Tony. He is a man who, by his own ingenuity and willpower, overcame a disability to create an empire like Tony's and managed to beat Tony (albeit temporarily) by doing the one thing that no one thought was possible: he created tech that was better, even more cutting edge than Tony's. It's a tech that Killian relies on, like a crutch. Tony had Iron Man, Killian had Extremis. And the only way Tony could beat Killian was to believe that he was more than his tech, that he, Tony Stark the person, was Iron Man.

That's way more interesting than a vague terrorist who may or may not have any magic powers.

So basically, it's fine to dismiss the total mishandling of the character because you never cared for him to begin with, and a twisted mirror-image of the protagonist with a dragon tattoo is more interesting than Sir Ben Kingsley with alien power rings and Fin Fang Foom?

Applause gif.
 

Fj0823

Member
So basically, it's fine to dismiss the total mishandling of the character because you never cared for him to begin with, and a twisted mirror-image of the protagonist with a dragon tattoo is more interesting than Sir Ben Kingsley with alien power rings and Fin Fang Foom?

Applause gif.

To answer your questions.
Yes.

And I say this as a comic book reader.
stop acting like the mandarin was some super iconic villain like the joker, he's D tier at best.
 

Sojgat

Member
To answer your questions.
Yes.

And I say this as a comic book reader.
stop acting like the mandarin was some super iconic villain like the joker, he's D tier at best.

Well, I say this as a comic book reader

fWE1jDh.gif


I'm not saying the Mandarin is as iconic as the Joker, but Killian was still a much less engaging villain, and the movie lost most of it's momentum once he was revealed to be the mastermind. If he was actually interesting, the twist wouldn't be such a point of contention, and people would focus on all the other terrible shit in the movie.
 

The Technomancer

card-carrying scientician
Well, I say this as a comic book reader

fWE1jDh.gif


I'm not saying the Mandarin is as iconic as the Joker, but Killian was still a much less engaging villain, and the movie lost most of it's momentum once he was revealed to be the mastermind. If he was actually interesting, the twist wouldn't be such a point of contention, and people would focus on all the other terrible shit in the movie.

I disagree. A lot of what I see comes down to a particular emotional reaction to how the character they thought they were getting in The Mandarin was revealed to be completely unlike the comics
 

Sojgat

Member
I disagree. A lot of what I see comes down to a particular emotional reaction to how the character they thought they were getting in The Mandarin was revealed to be completely unlike the comics

Again, if Killian was a better Mandarin than what was being sold in the first place, it wouldn't be such an issue. If people loved fire breathing Guy Pearce, he would constantly be hailed as one of the great cinematic super villains despite being a deviation from the source material. Thing is, he sucked.
 
it fucking owns and it's the best iron man, and like, my 3rd favorite MCU movie (GOTG and TWS are the first 2), can't be friends with anyone who doesn't like this movie. I love the arc Stark goes through and seeing him at his most vulnerable, in addition to some great action scenes and the funniest dialogue in the franchise ("Dads leave, don't be a pussy about it") it was legit an incredible idea to turn a horrible caricuture like Mandarin into a joke and i dug that twist too,and Trevor Slattery is the greatest actor of all time. Just another film that proves how awesome Shane Black is, waiting on an actual Kiss Kiss Bang Bang 2, but i guess this filled the void kinda for now, needs more Kilmer though. When he gonna be in the MCU.
 
Just watched it again because of this thread. It is much better the second time around when you know what's going to happen. Whoever said this was a 90s action movie starring Tony Stark is absolutely correct. Iron man 1 is better, but 3 is fun, funny and much better than a lot of people give it credit for.
 

Shpeshal Nick

aka Collingwood
I thought it was fine. Tried to humanise Stark a bit more than the first two did. It's still behind the first two overall, but I think it's a great trilogy.
 

Melon Husk

Member
Just watched it again because of this thread. It is much better the second time around when you know what's going to happen. Whoever said this was a 90s action movie starring Tony Stark is absolutely correct. Iron man 1 is better, but 3 is fun, funny and much better than a lot of people give it credit for.

You are not wrong. But even IM1 wasn't perfect, the final battle was a bit mediocre.
 
You are not wrong. But even IM1 wasn't perfect, the final battle was a bit mediocre.

Almost everything after the Afghanistan scene is a blur to me. The only things I remember: "Next time baby", Jeff Bridges is bad, he gets in a big Iron Man suit, they fight on a highway, something happens on a roof, "I am Iron Man", Post Credits with Nick Fury.
 
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