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Laramie Movie Scope:
Iron Man 3

Not as good as the original, but better than the other sequel

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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May 3, 2013 -- Not as good as the first “Iron Man” film, but better than the second, this Iron Man sequel is a mixed bag of comedy and action, but it works well enough. It is expected to make about as much money as last year's mega hit, “The Avengers,” but it is a significantly lesser film than that one was.

“Iron Man 3” starts off with a flashback to Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr., reprising his role from the first two films) playboy days. At a 1999 party, Stark crosses paths with two men and a woman who would later have a profound influence on his life, Ho Yinsen (Shaud Toub of “Iron Man”) who would later save his life and inspire him to become a super hero, Maya Hansen, a scientist whose research would come back to haunt him, and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce of “Prometheus”) who would later become Stark's deadly enemy. In a voice-over narration, Stark talks about the momentous events he carelessly set in motion that day years ago.

Back in the present day Stark's life is picked up, along with others from the previous films, including Pepper Potts and Happy Hogan (Gwyneth Paltrow and Jon Favreau reprising these roles. Favreau also directed the first Iron Man film). Stark has settled down with Potts and Hogan is now head of security for Stark's company.

A megalomaniac (and where would action movies be without their megalomaniacs?) named “The Mandarin” is causing havoc with assassinations, kidnappings and bombings. When Happy is injured in one of these bombings, he becomes a target for Iron Man. In response to a media question, Stark issues a direct challenge to the Mandarin and, giving his home address out to the media, invites him to do his worst. This is sort of like President Bush's ill-fated “bring it on” remark, which led to so many deaths. In fact, there are a lot of similarities to the ill-fated “war on terror” and what happens in this movie.

In response to the challenge, the Mandarin “brings it on” and blows up Stark's house with Stark, Potts and Maya Hansen inside of it. Somehow, they all escape this disaster. Stark ends up over a thousand miles away due to a power suit malfunction and is presumed dead. There, Stark meets up with a young boy, Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins of “The Next Three Days”) who becomes Stark's apprentice, helper and friend.

It is pretty obvious the boy character, Harley, was added to this movie just to court the kiddie crowd. Kiddie pandering and the sheer magnitude of product placement in this film kind of remind you that you are watching a market product rather than a work of art. The kid, Simpkins, does a nice job with his deftly-written role anyway. Downey and Simpkins also make a nice pairing on screen. On the other hand, you would be hard pressed to find an odder U.S. President and Vice President pairing than William Sadler (playing the president) and Miguel Ferrer (playing the V.P.). This is not typecasting, to say the least. Sadler usually plays bad guys.

One of this film's unexpected pleasures is the performance of Ben Kingsley as an unexpectedly comic character where you would least expect to find one. Kingsley is a delight in this film. I won't spoil the surprise for those of you who haven't seen the film by saying much about his character, but I had a blast watching Kingsley steal all the scenes he appeared in. For some reason Tony Stark is shown suffering from several panic attacks in this film. I didn't really buy this act and it didn't really add anything to the story. These panic attacks were distractions and they don't fit well with Stark's character, which is confidently casual most of the time.

In the other Iron Man movies, Stark does most of his damage when he is wearing the power suit. In this film, he spends most of his time not utilizing the suit, even engaging in fights and shootouts without the benefit of this wondrous flying armored gizmo. Stark is a great character and Robert Downey Jr. has been the heart and soul of the Iron Man franchise, and really, the whole Marvel universe, since he so flamboyantly arrived on the scene in 2008. The same is true here. This film rates a B.

Click here for links to places to buy or rent this movie in digital formats, or to buy the soundtrack, posters, books, even used videos, games, electronics and lots of other stuff. I suggest you shop at least two of these places before buying anything. Prices seem to vary continuously. For more information on this film, click on this link to The Internet Movie Database. Type in the name of the movie in the search box and press enter. You will be able to find background information on the film, the actors, and links to much more information.

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Copyright © 2013 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

(If you e-mail me with a question about this or any other movie or review, please mention the name of the movie you are asking the question about, otherwise I may have no way of knowing which film you are referring to)