Iron Man 3 (2013)

[Punishment]

Avengers: 10/10

Thor: 8.5/10

IM1: 8/10

Hulk: 7/10

IM3: 6.5/10

IM2: 6/10

Cap: 6/10

[hasanahmad]

Review:Pros:+ Action Jokes and humor were top class, better than previous Iron Man movies+ the army of Iron men reveal was quite well handled + the Airplane saving sequence was top class+ remote controlling iron man was a cool addition+ RDJ anxiety scenes were well handledCons- remote controlling iron man was overused and essentially nullified any danger posed to stark himself- Mandarin reveal was right out of a b-grade comedy film so bad. It was like I was watching a hangover scene- pepper action was so cheesy and cringe worthy - there was more time spent by a man in the iron patriot suit than the iron man suit. That was incredible disservice to the character- the whole purpose of the real mandarin was so scattered and without purpose the explanation they used as to why he did what he did was ridiculous- i wish we would stop seeing experimentation with suits and get a good story instead over suit explorations7.5/10HistoricallyIron man - 9.5/10Iron man 2 - 6/10

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

Mandarin twist wasn't as disappointing as it could have been since the movie was not taking the character seriously from the get-go. I hated the twist, the character and the whole idea. The rest of the film was awesome so I'm pretty torn. I'm going to re-watch it from the P.O.V. that Killian is actually the "Mandarin" and see if I like it better. But regardless, Kingsley's character and plot arc is still completely weak since I couldn't take him seriously which made the "twist" more annoying than shocking.

 

They did something similar with Ra's Al Ghul in BB, but the switch worked because a) the fake Ra's was taken seriously and b ) Liam made a great Ra's. Killian as Killian? Awesome. Killian as Mandarin....meh.

 

I'm holding a letter grade until the second viewing.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Accursed Arachnid!™

[Gopher]

The movie asks you to take the Mandarin seriously up until the twist, in which the rug is pulled out. That's because Shane Black really has no respect for the Mandarin as a character worth taking seriously. If you wanted to take Kingsley seriously then your hopes and dreams died when he made that poop joke. Killian's always Killian, his 'I am the Mandarin' line is a sort of statement that he was pulling the strings the whole time and using an actor as a figurehead for his destruction. But different strokes, I suppose. I thought the twist was hilarious and very original for a big-budget superhero movie.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Gopher

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

Agreed. They could have still done the proper Mandarin without being racist

That's what these writers get paid for. I'm sure there is a Mandarin could have been written that was not racist, lame or hokey. There had to be a better way to handle the character than Black did. And this is coming from one of Black's best fans.

[Accursed Arachnid!™]

The movie's never asking you to take the Mandarin seriously because Shane Black really has no respect for the Mandarin as a character worth taking seriously. If you wanted to take Kingsley seriously then your hopes and dreams died when he made that poop joke.Killian's always Killian, his 'I am the Mandarin' line is a sort of statement that he was pulling the strings the whole time and using an actor as a figurehead for his destruction.But different strokes, I suppose. I thought the twist was hilarious and very original for a big-budget superhero movie.

 

There are plenty of comic book villains that have had good and bad interpretations over the years. The Mandarin was just one of those. That doesn't mean some writer/director should just shit on the character. What if Burton had treated The Joker the same way since the  version the public most remembered was Cesar Romero's over the top version? We would have gotten a Schumacher like character instead of the classic Jack Nicholson helped create.

 

And what you call hilarious and original, I see as a slap in the face of any real comic book fan(maybe that's why you like it?). You know, the bread and butter demographic of these types of films?

[Gopher]

The Joker ain't the Mandarin. The Mandarin is a problematic character for a bunch of reasons (he's dated, silly, he's got a convoluted fantastical backstory that doesn't go with the tech-focused Iron Man stories, and he's a crazy racist Yellow Peril stereotype). I thought what they did added a whole new layer to the absurdity of the character itself. A lot of the people who watch these movies don't read comic books. So as a fan of MOVIES that have smart, surprising turns, I quite enjoyed this twist.

Edited May 6, 2013 by Gopher

[John Marston]

I wish Mandarin was closer to the original since the whole technology versus magic idea seems interesting

[redfirebird2008]

The fact that Manderin is considered the best Iron Man villain is pretty sad. Iron Man is an awesome character, but it sucks that he doesn't have better villains in the comics.

[RobinHood26]

Iron Man A-

Iron Man 2 C+

Iron Man 3 C-

Edited March 6, 2018 by Jay Hollywood

[Sam]

The fact that Manderin is considered the best Iron Man villain is pretty sad. Iron Man is an awesome character, but it sucks that he doesn't have better villains in the comics.

It is sad  The villains of Iron Man I like more than others are Ghost and Madame Masque, so I hope they can make it to the big screen. One of the most interesting villain that IM faced for me is Dr. Doom, but then Doom is mainly FF's villain, not his.

[redfirebird2008]

It is sad  The villains of Iron Man I like more than others are Ghost and Madame Masque, so I hope they can make it to the big screen. One of the most interesting villain that IM faced for me is Dr. Doom, but then Doom is mainly FF's villain, not his.

 

Can they even use Dr. Doom for an Iron Man movie or does Fox own the rights since they own the rights to Fantastic Four?

[Sam]

Can they even use Dr. Doom for an Iron Man movie or does Fox own the rights since they own the rights to Fantastic Four?

I don't know about this. When talking about FF's rights, I usually hear that Galactus and Silver Surfer are a package deal with FF, but I haven't heard anything regarding Dr. Doom.

 

Doom is in my top three Marvel villains, I would love to see him in MCU movies if possible.

[CloneWars]

I don't know about this. When talking about FF's rights, I usually hear that Galactus and Silver Surfer are a package deal with FF, but I haven't heard anything regarding Dr. Doom.

 

Doom is in my top three Marvel villains, I would love to see him in MCU movies if possible.

Considering Dr. Doom is the FF's main villain, I am sure that he came with whatever deal Fox made with Marvel all those years back.

[ACCA]

Regarding The Mandarin, saying he's a silly, racist or outdated character that cannot be adapted to a modern film is a huge copout and just a lame excuse from anyone who defends this view. Bane in the Batman comics, for the most part, was a silly and sort of over-the-top villain, save for only a few comic stories where he was good. Then Chris Nolan took Bane, changed some parts of the character, and made him a more serious and believable villain. Same thing with Ra's Al Ghul and his ability to be immortal in the Batman comics. Chris Nolan changed that, and very cleverly made Ra's believable as a villain in his Batman films, while at the same time keeping Ra's "immortal" symbolically.

 

There are many ways that the Mandarin character could have been changed to be modern and believable in IM3, but it seems that Marvel/Disney and the writers, including Black, were too lazy and careless to go through the time and work required for that. You can clearly tell Black didn't care at all about the Mandarin character judging by the way the entire Mandarin plotline was handled in the film.

 

The most insulting part is that they successfully made Thor work on film, and work decently well with the other mortal heroes in Avengers, yet the Marvel team couldn't make The Mandarin work in their movie universe? There are no good reasons or excuses for that.

 

I also mostly agree with others here regarding the inconsistency of Iron Man's strength in the suit in IM1, IM2, Avengers and IM3. That just brings up a major annoyance I have with Avengers, which is that it threw the entire logic in the Marvel universe out the window in terms of how powerful each member of the Avengers is, all for the sake of more box office profits and the movie catering to the broadest demographic. Avengers made a huge mistake in showing that Iron Man and Captain America could hang with Thor. Thor is in an ENTIRELY different league in terms of strength and power compared to Iron Man and Captain America.

 

Now in IM3, I agree the suits seemed weak overall and the suits' strength was inconsistent compared to IM1 and IM2, but, it was still MUCH more realistic than Iron Man and Captain America being able to hang with Thor in a fight in The Avengers.

 

I'll respond to you since you singled out my comment- You understood that Tony revealing his address was all part of one huge mistake he made, yes? He didn't protect his house or Pepper or himself because he didn't think about the consequences. At all. There's huge differences between actual story plotholes and character decisions. But hey, it's fine if you can't roll with the Extremis stuff because I think that's easily the most questionable part of the movie (though it never really took me out of it). It's never really clear that Guy Pearce is actually dead- he just kind of goes away- unless I missed something someone else picked up on. 

I think Shane Black knows every stock comic book movie storyline there is and he plays with some of them brilliantly. I can't give Marvel enough credit for pulling that Mandarin bait-and-switch. People say these movies are too big to take risks? Well there you go. 

 

What you mention is irrelevant. Think about the events of IM1 and IM2, and everything that happens pre-Avengers.

 

Do you SERIOUSLY believe that between IM1 and pre-Avengers, Tony, being the genius that he is, did not install any radar, sensors, or defensive capabilities of any sort for his house? That's just a big fat slap in the face to Iron Man fans, and a huge insult to Tony Stark's character.

Edited May 6, 2013 by ACCA

[CoolioD1]

They wasted Rebecca Black, why is she in this???

She didn't get to film a lot of her part because of the schedule. Wouldn't work on Fridays.

[The Dark Alfred]

If you watch all the IM films and TA you will laugh of how badly they fit together. How stupid that a million IMs are flying around and the fact that they based the whole story on how Stark can't leave without that shiny piece of crap and all of sudden in IM3 in twenty seconds it's removed and all is good. Not to mention that Stark was plain stupid in IM3, not coll just a total dumbass. Where was the script supervisor?

[vc2002]

So, this is not getting good reviews on this site either?

[Jack Nevada]

So, this is not getting good reviews on this site either?

Nah, most people seem to like it/love it

[The Dark Alfred]

People who are at the age of 8 love it, most people just like it, but in general it's not getting great reviews.