Guess what we’ve got for you? A little glimpse of what you’re going to see tonight if you plan on going to see the new Iron Man 3 film (and why wouldn’t you be?). We had a chance to see the film a few days early, and it’s taken us a couple of days to write up this review for you. Why? We had to sit back and take in what we saw – yep; we were that blown away!
WARNING: Spoilers Below!
Storyline Review
This time around, Tony Stark is a deeper and jumpier version of his old self. He suffers from insomnia, the inability to concentrate, and a heaping helping of anxiety – can you say PTSD? Not surprising considering the events that went down in New York after the last Avengers. In this installment of Iron Man, Stark seems to be searching for his “true self,” and that makes for a much more dramatic (and richer) film.
Stark’s search for more life meaning leads directly to his love, Pepper Potts, of course. Paltrow is great in this film, and the chemistry between her and RDJ is intense (and far more believable this time around). Potts even gets to “suit up” in more ways than one…She almost burns up the screen! She’s so Hot!
Some Old Characters and Some New
The film also features Iron Patriot/War Machine/Rhodey played by Don Cheadle who was visibly more comfortable in War Machine’s shoes this time around. At one point in the film, Rhodey and Stark team up to form a partnership that’s reminiscent of a cop movie that’s also a lot of fun to watch. Cheadle and RDJ work well together on-screen too.
You’ll see a few new characters this time around as well. Guy Pearce plays a mean Aldrich Killian (ruthless businessman that rivals Tony every chance he gets), and, of course The Mandarin (!). We’ve been waiting a long time to see Sir Ben Kingsley take on the role of The Mandarin, and guess what? Kingsley doesn’t disappoint – it’s like he was born to play this role, and we love him for it.
We’re going to go ahead and bill Kingsley’s character’s storyline as “the craziest and nuttiest and most unpredictable” character in all the Marvel films that have been release so far. Kinglsey’s portrayal of The Mandarin will be talked about for years to come. Mark our words!
Visual Effects
What can we say? We’re not even going to try to put the effects into words. We’ll let Joss Whedon (‘Avengers’ director) say it for us: “how the hell and I going to top that?!” Good luck, Joss, good luck.
Some Criticism
What? We can’t love everything about this film. The one criticism we have is the development of the Extremis Project and its functions. At some points we were scratching our heads thinking: “oh, they can do that?!” and “wait, what the heck is that?” But, we didn’t agonize over these details for too long, since the movie was so fast paced.
Credits and the Future of Iron Man
Everything about the timing of this film was spot on. We weren’t bored for a moment, and had a hard time remember to eat our popcorn. As expected, the credits included some extra scenes (what would a Marvel film be without those extras?). But, we weren’t sure if those scenes were actually leading to something else, of if they were just created for fan amusement. Either way, we were amused.
The more important question is: will Tony Stark return? We’re sure of it. Will RDJ step into the suit once more? That’s debatable.
There is something fishy that we picked up on, though, and you won’t see this in any other review because we are great sleuths!
JOAT Exclusive Predictions!
What character scent did we pick up on? Leading up to this film, there was a lot of speculation that IM3 would provide some clues and hints relating to a possible 2014 release of a ‘Guardians of the Galaxy’ film. How many references did we see to a possible Guardians flick? Zero, zip, nada.
What we did see was a character by the name of Harley. Harley is a 10-year old boy that helps Stark out a great deal when Stark is investigating an explosion in Middle America. Stark and Harley (played by Ty Simpkins) have amazing on-screen chemistry, and we get the feeling that Harley’s story is far from being over. We’re predicting it right now: this is not the last time that you’ll see Harley, and he will be appearing in future Marvel films.
Remember: you read it on the Jack of All Trades site first!
Box Office Numbers
We’re glad we got to see IM3 in advance! Box office predictions are that IM3 will gross $600 million worldwide before Sunday! Grab your Iron Man tee and get some tickets – we recommend picking up those tickets as early as possible, it’s going to be a madhouse out there!
