IRON MAN 3 (2013)
“It’s Christmas. Take them to church.”
MAKE MARVEL MINE DISCLAIMER: I’m indifferent to concerns over an accurate representation of the original comics. Adaptation means interpretation. Secondly, I don’t care how later films do or don’t back up this film. Each installment is its own experience and that’s how I’m weighing this.
This is my favorite IRON MAN movie. Plus Marvel’s one true Christmas movie.
The first installment is still the popular favorite and it’s damn good. It also feels like the pilot to a great TV show. The best parts are Robert Downey, Jr.’s career reviving performance and the playful tart dialogue from Shane Black’s uncredited polish. When RDJ finally got major pull in his exploding stardom, he brought back Black to write and direct the third installment. So Shane Black did what he does best: a late ‘80s Joel Silver action flick, the very genre Black helped perfect 25+ years earlier.
IRON MAN 3 is a lark, a fun reset after the epic events of the first Avengers movie. IRON MAN 3 has all of the best elements of previous installments possessing all the trappings of a Shane Black Christmas flick: A wounded hero with toxic behavior, Sarcastic banter. An elaborate noir mystery, Colorful henchman, A smart-mouthed younger sidekick, Subversive and surprising action scenes.
It’s also a little bit of a Christmas Carol. Each IRON MAN movie is about someone who profited off war revisiting his past sins and family legacy. Unlike the previous two, this movie isn’t about Tony Stark inventing new technology to solve that problem. He’s already invented everything by the beginning of the movie so the focus here is on Stark himself. Stark is Ebenezer Scrooge. He has to look at his past actions and finally do something for others.
Each movie also showcases a special Iron Man suit. The latest model is the Mark 42 (meaning he’s invented 35 new suits since the Mark VII in 2012’s THE AVENGERS).
Only this time, Tony can’t invent technology as a solution to his emotional problems. He’s been inventing suit after suit for any potential threat he can think of. Suit 42 is unique in that it’s mirroring his behavior. But it is an empty shell.
The events of THE AVENGERS have left him with PTSD (traces of Martin Riggs in LETHAL WEAPON) leaving Tony with crippling anxiety attacks.
With the Iron Patriot—the propaganda-led rebranded War Machine—flying around enforcing American policies and piloted by James “Rhodey” Rhodes (Don Cheadle), what use is Tony Stark?
What even IS Iron Man?
Shane Black knows the Iron Man suit is the ultimate Deus Ex Machina, so he strips away all of Tony’s typical accouterments. By the end of the first act, Tony has lost his Point Dume manor, ALL his Iron Man suits and it is close to 50 minutes before he puts the full armor back on.
This is because Black wants Tony to EARN the right to wear the suit. Tony’s always at a disadvantage and each successive fight scene involves ingenuity to survive:
What weapons can he jerry-rig while on the run?
How does he fight a super-powered enemy while handcuffed?
Can he fight a platoon of goons when he only has part of a suit?
How can he save 13 people in free-fall when his suit can only carry four?
IRON MAN 3’s first words are “We create our own demons.” It literally stakes out the military proliferation metaphor subtext at play in the trilogy. Each film presents an American villain that funds and supports a foreign power to do their dirty work (which perpetuates a cycle of violence that funds the next generation of weapons). Our villains are led by competing weapons industrialist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce, doing a fantastic Val Kilmer impression). They are also perfecting themselves as well via genetic engineering. Only this time, there is no foreign power.
The all-powerful terrorist, the Mandarin (Sir Ben Kingsley) is merely a false flag operation that Killian’s marketing think-tank created. This Mandarin is a sharp critique of American politics. When Tony finally comes face-to-face with his enemy, he finds Trevor Slattery, a vainglorious actor from the Peter O’Toole school of sobriety. A similar empty shell.
Kingsley turns this potentially offensive caricature into a hysterically useless fool, throwing all of our presumptions back into our face.
This bait-and-switch is the breaking moment for some fans. Honestly, it’s my favorite moment of the series. After previously simplistic representations of other cultures, it was a welcome surprise.
I’m also thrilled because Marvel’s pivot after the movie also gave us both the delightful 2014 short HAIL TO THE KING plus this year’s SHANG-CHI AND THE LEGEND OF THE TEN RINGS with the seemingly ageless-Tony Leung as the proper Mandarin.
Admittedly, there are plot holes: Why wasn’t Rhodey killed after Killian captured him? Why isn’t Tony’s lack of access to the other suits better clarified? Rebecca Hall is criminally short-changed in a role clearly laid out to be the main villain (until it was rewritten by studio notes). One element often misinterpreted as a story flaw (“why don’t the Avengers come to Tony’s aid?”) is invalidated by the brevity of the timeline: 2/3rds of the story takes place in a little over 24 hours.
Shane Black has the gift of bouncy propulsive dialogue, giving everyone including the Mandarin’s henchmen strong personalities. James Badge Dale makes a delightfully hateful second banana (perpetually chewing gum is a great evil shorthand). Stephanie Szostak also makes a strong impression. Multiple nameless one-scene goons get hysterical dialogue (“Honestly, I hate working here. They are so weird.”).
Shane Black loves subverting expectations. He keeps all the action scenes smaller than usual, leaving the literal fireworks for the last act. On a harbor crane platform (very LETHAL WEAPON 2), dozens of Iron Man suits fight an army of super soldiers. But Black deconstructs the power fantasy. Even when fully armored, one suit isn’t enough. Killian’s Extremis Soldiers can cut through the Iron Man armor like butter. So Tony jumps from suit to suit (each with a slightly different design and specialty) to survive. Black seems indifferent to the Iron Man suits, teasing us with their capabilities before destroying them without a moment’s thought.
Plus Tony doesn’t even take our main villain out. Long-suffering girlfriend/damsel-in-distress Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) delivers the final blow. It feels earned, finally giving Pepper agency and graduating her to a superhero in her own right.
The Tony/Pepper relationship is the heart of this story. Iron Man is what’s getting in the way of their relationship. All of the suits he’s building are his misguided attempt to protect her. Early on, Tony gives her a lavish but pointless Christmas present and sends an empty suit to chaperone rather than spending time with her himself. Through all this, the movie makes it clear he loves her. When attacked, Tony performs his most heroic act of the movie: he throws the Mark 42 armor onto Pepper to protect her, leaving himself defenseless as she first escapes before him.
Tony’s moment of clarity is during the final confrontation admitting he doesn’t deserve Pepper. “She was already perfect.” He acknowledges, finally understanding you can’t FIX everything. Tony Stark’s own Scrooge story resolves when he realizes his armors are just window dressing. HE himself is Iron Man. The suits are irrelevant.
Once all the bad guys are defeated, Tony self-destructs his remaining suits as a gift to Pepper. The suits explode above the two of them like fireworks in the sky. This gesture finally frees Tony of his traumatic past and provokes him to finally remove the deadly shrapnel in his chest, healing him and allowing him to move on.
For a man who has it all, true sacrifice is the only gift Tony Stark can truly give. While later movies would retcon this moment, the climax within itself is a powerful moment of growth, one that’s a true Christmas miracle.
