Short Round: Iron Man 3 (2013) ****/*****
By the time a third film in a series rolls around, you usually have a pretty good idea of what to expect from it. Iron Man 3 is a little bit different though, and that’s because it’s the first of these technology-driven superhero films that isn’t being directed by Jon Favreau. Instead, we’ve got action-genre veteran Shane Black at the helm, and he represents something of an x-factor for the franchise. Though he was once a fairly prominent screenwriter, Black is generally known for producing material that’s darker than most mainstream superhero fare, and the only film he’s ever directed is the considerably smaller scale Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Given his potential ill-fit for the material, what does a Shane Black-directed Iron Man movie end up looking like?
In the most general sort of way, it ends up looking a lot like the first two Iron Man movies. When we’re reintroduced to Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) he’s very much where we would expect him to be, living in his lavish mansion and dealing with the ramifications of his close encounter at the end of The Avengers. Favreau is still on board as his best friend/body guard, Gwyneth Paltrow is still on board as his love interest/business partner, and the content and tone of their daily lives is much unchanged, despite the fact that Stark is having trouble coping with having come face-to-face with the unpleasant truth that there are things in the universe that even he can’t handle. This time around the villains our heroes run afoul of are an insecurity-driven scientist who has developed a dangerous technology that allows organic material to repair itself played by Guy Pearce, and an infamy-seeking international terrorist played by Ben Kingsley. Both actors are strong in their roles, and both characters are largely in tune with the Iron Man villains we’ve gotten in the past.
Of course, given the fact that this is Black’s show, there are a few differences between this and the first two Iron Man movies. In general, there’s a slightly darker tone to both the humor and the pathos the film is injected with, which comes as a welcome spin on the familiar formula. One detriment to losing Favreau as a helmer is that the lyrical, sing-song nature of the banter shared by Downey’s Stark and Paltrow’s Pepper Potts is missing, and its absence is noticeable enough to change their dynamic. This slightly different feel combined with some clunky setup scenes at the beginning of the film at first makes it seem like Black might not be a good fit for the material, but happily Iron Man 3 is a film that gets better as it goes on. Which brings us to the one big advantage of having him in charge of this film instead of Favreau: finally we get a third act that doesn’t look weak compared to the rest of the film. The threats that Favreau introduced us to in his Iron Man movies were never as interesting as his protagonists, so his films generally fizzled out by the time you got to the big fight. Black gives us an action movie showdown big, loud, and dangerous enough to feel like a real climax, which ultimately allows you to leave the theater with a smile on your face.
