Iron Man 3 (2013) begins with a flashback of 1999s New Year’s Eve. Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) who is with gifted botanist girlfriend, Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) haughtily shuns a disabled scientist, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce).
Fast forward to the present, as a way of confronting anxiety attacks and insomnia as an effect to defending Manhattan from aliens, Tony becomes obsessed with his Iron Man suits. And while he is creating a wardrobe of them, he is neglecting his girlfriend and CEO of Starks Industries, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). Concurrently, terrorist attacks from The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) are making the headlines. On live television, Stark threatens to find and extinguish The Mandarin when his head security, Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) becomes one of the casualties. Following the threat was an immediate retaliation by bombing his Malibu home. Stark survives the attack but finds himself in rural Tennessee. Armed with innate ingenuity and instincts, Stark embarks on a battle with an enemy who does not seem to exhibit a weakness to rescue and protect Potts as the one person he cannot live without.
As it has been from its first two franchises, Iron Man 3 continues to delight its audience with Starks’ witty and oftentimes heartless remarks especially with the 8 year old kid, Harley. While the movie’s high-tech extravagance is anticipated, there are slight flaws in the sequences of the scenes. The insertion of The Mandarin’s logo after a scene to shift to the terrorism issue is not as smooth as it has to be that it momentarily airs a split second gap for the audience to conceive its continuity. Did Iron Man 3 meet technical expectations? Due to its high acclaim in Iron Man and Iron Man 2; brilliant and thought-provoking taglines and trailers, Iron Man 3 does not seem to astound much despite its twists.
For every action is a reaction. A ripple effect. For Killian, the rejection he experienced from Stark made him very ambitious that eventually created a vengeful monster out of him. Killian could have been a great leap for humanity but he made a desperate and selfish choice. On the other hand, Starks’ deliberate negligence and arrogance is coming back to him and he is going to pay for it. Indeed, Revenge benefits no one. It destroys everyone, more so with the avenger. Does a man make a suit? Or does a suit make a man? As Starks’ is becoming fixated with his hobby for coping mechanism, it slowly destroys his relationship with himself and others especially with Potts. Relationships are to be nurtured not robotically lived. It does not aim for glamour but an experience of being human. Starks is becoming consumed. He is becoming inhuman. But, as Starks is able to realize that his suits are destroying him and his relationships, he takes on a suit that would bring him back to reality and make him human again. Yes, even without the iron suit and with a belief he can truly own… That he will always be Iron Man.
(3.5, 2.5/5)
_
© rooks 2013
cruisingcherokee 