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| CHUCKLES |
The one thing I didn't expect was that I was going to be laughing more than saying "Wow, the MK 42 Armor just blow an entire shipyard up!" In there lies the rub with Marvel/Disney's newest blockbuster superhero epic, "Iron Man 3." While great at times, I couldn't help but think I was watching "Lethal Weapon," "Predator," and "The Last Boy Scout" all at once, and oh yeah, there happened to be some superheroes doing some superhero-type stuff.
When I first heard that Shane Black was taking over for Jon Favreau with "Iron Man 3" I thought it was really interesting. I know Black from the "Lethal Weapon" series and of course as Hawkins in "Predator." There were moments in "Iron Man" that I thought Jim Rhodes was going to lean over and tell Tony a joke about his sister, but sigh, it wasn't meant to be. Anyway, but with Black at the helm you get a totally different take on a Marvel movie, it's dark, funny, twisted, and bombastic, even more so than "The Avengers" at times.
The sequel picks up about a year after the events in New York in "Avengers." Tony Stark is suffering from post-traumatic and has become obsessed with building new Mark Armor, preparing for humanity's next big threat. Jim Rhodes has taken his role as War Machine in stride, now becoming to overly-patriotic American savior, The Iron Patriot. Of course things don't stay quiet for long as The Mandarin, a mysterious new terrorist with a Baptist preacher drawl, begins his reign of destruction, which brings Iron Man back into the fold, ready to stop this newest villain.
Stark's newest adventure draws inspiration from the "Extremis" storyline from 2005-2006, and throws in The Mandarin for an added bad guy, which works, but you might be surprised by way he is ultimately used come the end of the film. While the first two "Iron Man" films focused on Stark and his shortcomings, there is more of a sense that while Tony is still a loner at heart, he is broken down emotionally after "Avengers" and relies more on Pepper Potts, Rhodes, and his trusty robot buter, J.A.R.V.I.S. The film talks a lot about demons, and while it could have been said and forgotten about, this theme plays well into what Tony is fighting with, both internally and externally.
The casting is once again pitch perfect, and the additions of Rebecca Hall and Guy Pearce give the film more clout, especially Pearce, who is great and fills the void that Sam Rockwell vacated when Justin Hammer was essentially written out of the Iron Man universe, sadly.
Like Jon Favreau said, it's Kiss, Kiss, Clank, Clank." For some that might not be what you were looking for in the newest Iron Man film, but Black has set the tone for Marvel's "Phase 2" plans, by adding more humor and a few big twists that should hopefully carry over to "Captain America 2" "Thor 2" and what I'm waiting for the most "Guardians of the Galaxy."
Fun Fact: Between "The Last Boy Scout" and "Last Action Hero" Black made a pretty penny; netting over $3 Million dollars for his scripts.
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