Iron Man 3 (3D Blu-ray + Blu-ray)

Iron Man 3 (DVD + Digital Copy) is a Great marvel movie.

Warning: here be spoilers.Iron Man 3 sets out to return Iron Man to his roots of dark, believable action established in the first movie, while retaining the big-spectacle adventure of Avengers. To that end we see Tony Stark face off against a peculiar new representation of the Mandarin, a snarling, ethnically nebulous terrorist ringleader portrayed by Ben Kingsly. After an exasperated Stark promises to end the Mandarin's reign of terror, the mastermind seemingly orders the destruction of Stark's house, setting him on a quest to locate the Mandarin through an entertaining combination of detective work and MacGuyver-esque trickery. Stark is opposed by an army of mysterious flunkies who have been granted superpowers by Extremis, a genetic modification originally meant to help the disabled (as opposed to military nanites as in the comic).Viewers have made much of this film's twist- that the Mandarin is in fact a puppet of the real villain, AIM director Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), who has hired a degenerate English actor to portray a power-mad despot as part of a political misdirection. This was a polarizing twist- for those who are new to the franchise it is a clever, Shyamalan-esque turn, and for serious comic nerds, it's an unexpected twist that is not out of line with the spirit of the franchise. For many, however, the reveal that the Mandarin was not in fact his usual Ming-the-Merciless-esque self, or even real, was a huge disappointment. For me the twist worked- I was disappointed at how generic and ridiculously grimdark the Mandarin initially appeared, but the reveal that he was a fiction- and not a very bad guy in reality- was something I did not expect. One can also read the twist as something of a satire of Ben Kingsly's career, which has been heavily built on playing ethnic and foreign characters, just as his filmic alter-ego does.Another point of contention is that Iron Man spends so much of the film outside his armor. I would assert that this is important- by pitting the largely average Tony Stark against the super-powered AIM operatives who obstruct him we see him acting as a hero without the crutch of dominating technology. It makes for a refreshing reminder that under the armor there is still a hero we can root for.Although it's not as BIG of a movie as Avengers, Iron Man 3 succeeds at being a thriller, and action film, and just a bit funny all at once. It rekindles the new, fresh feel of the first movie in a way that the second missed, and develops all of its characters in entertaining, satisfying directions. Of particular note is Ty Simpkins as Harley, a bratty sidekick who attaches himself limpet-like to the unwilling Tony. I am always leery of kids in movies of this kind, but he's spot on. It's also hard to fault Shane Black, who blends 90s directorial sensibilities with modern FX and camerawork to create a movie that feels different from its predecessors and from the rest of the MCU. Among other things, Black dials back on the CG of Avengers with numerous effective practical effects (I could swear I spotted a cable when Iron Man rescues the crew of Air Force 1, though) and excellent set design and lighting throughout.Were I to complain about any part of the film, it would be the character of Tony's friend James Rhodes, AKA War Machine (Don Cheadle once again). Back when he was Terrance Howard, Rhody didn't even GET to be War machine, and he was only limited in the second film. Here once again the producers seem concerned that audiences will be confused by the presence of two Iron men, as War Machine spends most of his time out-of-scene, and participates in the climax out of his armor. I love Cheadle's take on the character, and would have loved to see him get a better part as what we DO see is well in line with the character as he appears in other media.PROS:-Unique direction makes for a film that feels genuinely different from the other coming attractions-Good acting from a pretty diverse cast of characters-Recaptures the feel of the first Iron ManCONS:-Editing is sloppy in some places-Soundtrack is not particularly memorableFINAL THOUGHTS:Iron Man 3 is a worthwhile entry in MCU canon, and its departures from the comics are justifiable as part of building the film.

Enjoyed it to be a long movie to end the series

I watched all three Iron Man movies over the last week for the first time and I am going to roll my review for all three into one because I am lazy and I do not have a ton to say. I will start by saying that I am not really a comic book fan and I have not bothered to see most of the Marvel movies made in recent years. I have seen one of the Captain America movies and The Avengers and that is it. So I did not approach these movies as someone who already has a deep love for the Marvel universe and its mythology. I just approached these as movies. I am going to list pros and cons. My cons list will probably be longer because the things I do not like about things tend to stick out but I enjoyed all three movies. I was entertained by them which is all I was looking for.Pros: The movies were quite funny and they had some genuinely unexpected moments. I laughed out loud a number of times in each film. The movies have a light tone and the action is mixed with some slapstick. I tend to prefer darker movies most of the time but I also sometimes crave a lighter tone and these movies fit the bill. The writing for the most part was pretty good. The writers mostly avoided cliche and they often went in a direction I was not expecting. I was actually glad that the action scenes did not overwhelm the entire movie. When I was younger I loved action scenes and I was bored by the talking scenes. Now that I am older I am the exact reverse. I start to tune out when there are really long action sequences in movies. They bore me (which is one reason I have not watched very many of the Marvel movies). The Iron Man movies had a good mix of both action and "talking".Cons: I read an interview where Matt Stone and Trey Parker made fun of the character arc in Top Gun. Basically, the movie starts out with the hero thinking he is awesome, then he begins to doubt whether he is awesome, but in the end he realizes that he really is awesome. I thought it was a humorous and apt description of the character arc in Top Gun. The Iron Man movies basically have the same character arc except they leave out the part in the middle. Tony Stark never has any doubt that he is awesome. They attempted to put a character arc in the movies, especially the third where Tony starts to have panic attacks, but it is skin deep. Tony essentially remains the same fast talking, unapologetic narcissist throughout. I did not really like the character much. I could handle two hours of Tony but if I had to spend any more time with him I would want to blow my brains out. I find people who have to be clever or funny all the time unbearable.I do not usually complain about plot holes. If a movie has emotional power or if it is entertaining then I usually do not really care if there are parts of it that are unrealistic or do not make sense. I do not watch movies in the hopes of seeing a carbon copy of reality. However, there was a plot hole in the third movie that annoyed me. SPOILER ALERT. For much of the movie Tony Stark is struggling without his suit because his house is destroyed and the suit he is wearing when he fled is in disrepair. He has a panic attack when he realizes that his suit is not charging but a little boy inspires him by telling him to “make something” so he does. He makes a very crude mitten with an electrical current and a few other small gadgets and uses it to infiltrate The Mandarin’s lair.While he is in the lair, and shackled to a bed frame, he manages to call his suit which is miraculously fine now. The suit was broken when the writers needed it to be broken and it was fine when they needed it to rescue Tony. But that is not the worst part. Eventually that suit really is destroyed and Tony again inflitrates Aldrich Killian’s hideout with nothing but a T-shirt and a pistol. He again finds himself in trouble but luckily it turns out he had about 30 more suits stored deep beneath his house and he calls them all to the rescue. Why did he have a panic attack when his one suit was “not charging” when he knew he had about 30 more suits in his house he could call at any time? He could have called one and still left himself 29 backups but instead he decided to make a mitten with a few wires attached.I think this plot hole points to another problem I had with the movies. Super hero movies face a challenge that non-super hero movies do not. They need a villain that is equal to the super hero. The villain needs to appear even more powerful than the super hero for at least part of the movie. Watching Iron Man foil run of the mill bank robbers for two hours would not be exciting. I was not super impressed with any of the villains in any of the movies. Ivan Vanko was my favorite and Aldrich Killian had his moments but I never really felt like Iron Man was in all that much danger, at least, when he had his suit. I think if the writers had managed to create more imposing villains they would not have needed to resort to all the tricks with Tony’s suit.They needed him to be vulnerable at times but he is essentially invulnerable when he has his suit. So they invent reasons to leave him without his suit. But then they need to get him out of trouble and no one wants to watch Tony Stark battle it out with a super villain. They want Iron Man! So they give him back his suit without worrying about continuity too much. This seemed like a flaw to me.But I will say this for the third film: at least the rich, handsome, fast-talking, insincere womanizer eventually triumphs against the awkward, crippled, disadvantaged but sincere dork in the end. Score one for the good guys! I say that in jest but to return to the character arc. Tony claims he is a changed man at the end of the third movie. He also claims that he created his own demon by leaving Aldrich Killian alone on the roof because he was "weird" and off putting to all the beautiful people. But, at the end of the movie, do we really believe that Tony, if faced with the same situation again, would invite Killian in to talk instead of leaving him alone on the roof? I do not. I think he would do the same thing again. There is no believable change or growth. That was my main complaint with the movies. They were still entertaining though.

Well worth a view

Ottimo

Der 7. Teil des MCU bietet zunächst einen Rückblick ins Jahr 1999, also noch vor der Zeit bevor Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) zum Iron Man wurde. Dort bandelt er mit der Biologin Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) in Cern an und feiert die Silvesternacht. Hansen hat das Verfahren Extremis erfunden. Mit diesem ist es möglich, die menschliche DNA beliebig zu verändern. Auf der Party ist auch Aldrich Killian, der Stark einen Vorschlag unterbreiten will. Stark verabredet sich mit ihm auf dem Dach des Gebäudes (um ihn abzuwimmeln). Während Killian in der Kälte friert und vergebens auf Stark wartet, vergnügt der sich mit Hansen.Jetzt, nach "The Avengers": Der Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) ist ein Top-Terrorist und bedroht die USA ganz unverhohlen in seinen Videos. Die amerikanische Regierung sieht darin einen rein militärischen Auftrag und nutzt auch keine Superhelden - nun ja, bis auf einen, den von War Maschine in Iron Patriot umbenannten James Rhodes (Don Cheadle). Stark hingegen hat sowohl die Alien Invasion in New York als auch dessen Beinahe-Tod durch die Nuklearexplosion bzw. das schließende Tor über der Stadt nicht verarbeitet. Er leidet unter posttraumatischen Belastungsstörungen und schweren Panikattacken, die immer mal wieder auftreten sodass er plötzlich Schutz in seiner Rüstung suchen muss.Selbst bei Gesprächen mit seiner Freundin Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) ist er nicht zugegen sondern lediglich die leere Rüstung, während er wie ein Besessener im Keller arbeitet - ohne schlafen zu können. Das führt natürlich auch zum ein oder anderen Unfall beim Basteln. Nunmehr wendet sich nach all den Jahren Killian an Potts, die Extremis allerdings ablehnt, da das Projekt auch als Waffe verwendet werden könnte. Als Tonys ehemaliger Angestellter und Kumpel Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) ermittelt, da er Killian nicht traut, wird dieser schwer bei einer Explosion im TCL Chinese Theatre verletzt. Der Mandarin übernimmt die Verantwortung für den Attentat. Daraufhin lässt sich der wütende Stark durch Journalisten zu einer unüberlegten (mal wieder) Aussage hinreißen und erklärt dem Mandarin den Krieg - unter Angabe seiner Anschrift. Es kommt, wie es kommen muss...Neben all der Action werden die Charaktere nicht vergessen. Das ist das Schöne an den Marvel-Verfilmungen. Stark kommt hier nicht nur als narzisstisches ungehobeltes ... rüber, das er ja auch früher war, sondern kämpft hier mit inneren Dämonen und versucht dies hinter Sprüchen (und drei Meter Plüschhasen, für die Wände einzureißen sind um sie ins Treppenhaus zu stellen) zu verstecken. Er ist nicht perfekt, sondern macht Fehler. Immer wieder lässt er sich zu unüberlegten Aktionen hinreißen ohne über die Folgen für sich und seine Umgebung nachzudenken. Das ist gerade in den Anfangsfilmen immer wieder deutlich geworden.Ebenso kann der Zuschauer bei der Entwicklung des Marvel-Universums entdecken, dass diverse Handlungen von Helden, insbesondere die von Tony Stark, immer wieder dazu führen, dass hier eigene Feinde erschaffen werden. Das mag vielleicht nicht immer anfangs erkennbar sein, aber das hat ein Muster. So macht er sich hier Aldrich Killian zum Feind. Im 16. Kinofilm des MCU: Homecoming ist es Adrian Toomes, dessen Unternehmen von den Aufräumarbeiten in New York wegbeordert wird. Die Vorgeschichte in diesem Film spielt ungefähr zur gleichen Zeit wie Iron Man 3. Und in "Far From Home", Film 23, ist es Quentin Beck und eine Anzahl von weiteren Mitarbeiter, die Stark Industries verprellt hat.Der Mix aus Drama und Komödie wechseln sich dank Robert Downey Jr. ab. Aber auch Ben Kingsley ist in seiner Rolle stark und ganz anders als zunächst erwartet. In Shang Chi (Film 25) sieht man ihn dann wieder.Die Extremis-Handlung ist einer Comicreihe für Iron Man entnommen worden, die zwischen 2005 und 2006 erschien. Es taucht in Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. erneut auf. Im bereits genannten Shang Chi taucht ein Extremis-Soldat auf.

After 4 movies from the third phase, on which I already left a review, I became a big fan of the Marvel world and I was into getting the full collection. The interaction between the characters through that incredible story is simply trilling ! From one movie to the next, you are slowly lead through the plot and you always wish to know more. It took me a long time and many movies to become a true fan, I’m a picky 65 years old woman. But if you like the genre, no doubt, you will be entertained. I’m giving a 5 stars to every movie because I chose to evaluate the collection, the full story, and each of the movie is a marvelous chapter of it.If you are a beginner and to help you to start on the good foot, I decided to let you know the movie’s chronology, so you can keep track and follow the story smoothly, understand where they’re going with it and keep the same interest from the first to the very last one. At the moment of this review, the 3 first phases are completed and you can get these now. The phase 4 and 5 titles are to come, the 6th is still unknown. And here is the right sequence :* Phase 1 (6 movies) : Iron Man // The Incredible Hulk // Iron Man 2 // Thor // Captain America (the first Avenger) // Avengers.** Phase 2 (6 movies) : Iron Man 3 // Thor: The Dark World // Captain America: The Winter Soldier // Guardians of the Galaxy // Avengers: Age of Ultron // Ant-Man.*** Phase 3 (11 movies) : Captain America: Civil War // Doctor Strange // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 // Spider-Man: Homecoming // Thor: Ragnarok // Black Panther // Avengers: Infinity War // Ant-Man and the Wasp // Captain Marvel // Avengers: Endgame // Spider-Man: Far from Home.**** Phase 4 (6 movies) : Black Widow, 2020 // The Eternals, 2020 //Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings 2021 // Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, 2021 // Spider-Man 3, 2021 // Thor: Love and Thunder, 202I.***** Phase 5 (6 movies) : Black Panther II // Ant-Man 3 // Blade // Captain Marvel 2 // Fantastic 4 // Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3.****** Phase 6 and over (number and titles of the movies not yet available at the moment of this review).ENJOY !!!

Great entertainment