Its fitting that Iron Man 3s preview follows the first outing of the TV show Splash!, an assault on the visual senses which combines annoying flamboyance with dislikable are you sure they are famous? celebrities making a farce of themselves and the disappointment of each crash in to water not being a swift end to this misery. Or what I like to call a perfect metaphor for Iron Man 2. Yes day three sees us embrace the world of comic book heroes, AKA the least saturated market in Hollywood, in the form of Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr takes to the skies and, more importantly, takes to my critical eye in a desperate rescue attempt of a franchise that was given a second life by Iron Man being the most entertaining character in The Avengers (apparently) and now has to stand on its own two booster engines in a post Assemble world. For those interested in reading the other previews, look here for Gangster Squad and here for Oblivion.
WHAT COULD BE AWESOME ABOUT IT:
After the first Iron Man gave other heroes a metallic slap across the face in the shape of intriguing/entertaining anti-hero Tony Stark the franchise has somewhat limped on in this explosive wake. Iron Man 2 was a confusion of Marvels distorted agendas when a quite shallow film about Iron Man and an overacting Mickey Rourke became a dull prelude to The Avengers, another film which did little for our opinions of Iron Man. Three times hes been a focal point to a Marvel movie and three times hes been reduced to a narcissistic vessel of increasing difficulty to like. Where he began as an interesting take on heroism and superpowers he has now become very one note and in increasing need of emotional development: hence why Im so excited about Iron Man 3. The first trailer for Iron Man 3 is stunning, really giving emotional credence to a character who so far has the same emotional dynamism as a particularly apathetic dish cloth. The destruction of the Iron Man suits is a stunning image as well as a brilliant visual metaphor for this films attempts to destroy the ego of Tony Stark and replace him with someone more jaded and battle weary: a hero everyone will have a lot more time for.
WHAT COULD SUCK ABOUT IT:
I hate to be that guy (I dont really, I quite enjoy it. But if I open with that it makes me even more dislikeable) but the concept of a hero needing to have everything stripped from him in flurry of destruction to help give him the emotional push to discover what he really wants whilst continuing his self proclaimed duty of protection was kind of done last summer... Unless the unofficial sequel to Batman is The Iron Knight Rises? Whilst I like the concept and the significantly less fanfare about Iron Man may make it easier for fans to JUST BE HAPPY WITH THE FILM, the similarities to The Dark Knight Rises are quite out there and, if it doesnt come across as tired and old, the two films will be compared and it could reflect negatively on Iron Man. Assuming it wont be better than The Dark Knight Rises would be stupid, it could well be, however if the film lacks its failings will only be exacerbated by these comparisons. This is merely a nit to pick over as I try to avoid the mistakes I made in last years preview by listing a grand total of 0 potentially wrong things with Prometheus. I do believe Iron Man 3 will be brilliant. See the trailer for it here:
PREDICTED STAR RATING: 5/5
Finally giving emotional range to a character who has become tired, I believe this will be the standout addition in Marvels repertoire and get their second phase of movies off to an amazing start.