Zachary Brenner
Life Editor
While preparing myself to go see the third installment of the Iron Man franchise by watching clips and trailers of previous movies, I was expecting to see a movie with cool visual effects, but no story. I can happily say that my expectations were not completely met. Don’t get me wrong, the previous two Iron Man films were extremely entertaining, but at this point in a massive movie franchise, the fans are due something different. To sum it up, this movie was completely different from any of the previous Iron Man film.
What frustrated me the most about previous Marvel films, specifically The Avengers, was the lack of originality in plot and character and the studio’s inability to surprise the audience. I enjoyed The Avengers, but not because I was constantly leaning forward in my seat, anxiously awaiting what would happen next. I enjoyed the films because they had some of the best visual effects I had ever seen. However, a movie needs more than just cool visual effects. Unfortunately, Marvel is a franchise than can afford to dismiss the importance of a script and compelling characters and still take in over a billion dollars worldwide in the box office. Finally Marvel realizes that they can do so much better with their movies by writing a good script and combining that with the usual awesome visual aid.
Iron Man 3 takes the franchise to a whole new level. The story contains twists, turns, intelligence (yes, intelligence) and a completely new and troubled Tony Stark. There is nothing I like more than a troubled character, because we as an audience can actually relate to what the character is feeling. I will not even try to hint at certain twists in the movie, because then they would not be genuine when you witness them for yourself.
Iron Man 3 had my jaw dropped at certain points, which I hardly say for any movie these days, especially multi-million dollar blockbusters that are supposed to be wildly predictable and spoiled through their overly-revealing trailers.
During the movie, I looked down a few rows to see a young child in his father’s arms, scared by the intensity of the movie. While I felt extremely bad for this young soul, I was glad that this moment finally came. For once, Marvel has made a movie that surprised me at certain moments with the unpredictably dark material that was added in.
For those of you reading this and thinking, “Oh no, where’s the action?”, I assure you, the action is more than present throughout the film. The action sequences were done tremendously well and looked stunning in 3D.
New director and writer Shane Black came into the franchise with a new idea for Iron Man, and it showed. Previous director John Favreau had done a sensational job creating the world of my favorite Marvel character in the previous two Iron Man films. But it was time to take a new approach.
Although this film has surpassed the first Iron Man film and The Incredible Hulk to take the sole position as my favorite Marvel film, I can’t help but feel the absence of the old Tony Stark, the cool Tony Stark that I loved. The Tony Stark diving through skies to AC/DC’s “Shoot to Thrill”. But I guess there is a price to pay for taking a new approach to the franchise. I sincerely hope that Marvel sticks with good storytelling for the remainder of their days.
And I would advise Marvel fans to, as usual, stay until the end of the credits.
Grade: A-