Originally published April 11, 2019

Here’s a hot take. Iron Man 3 is the best Iron Man movie. It’s the first appearance since the original where Downey gets to flex his dramatic muscles while also exploring new territory with the character. It certainly has flaws, but it makes up for them with excellent action sequences, touching character work, and an effective continuation of the themes of the original film.

Narrative with Style AND Substance

From the first scene, Iron Man 3 has a style that sets it apart from everything else. The influence of director Shane Black is immediately apparent. He brings the same humor and energy to this film that made Lethal Weapon a classic.

We open on multiple Iron Man suits being destroyed, as Tony narrates with a rambling but concerning monologue. The story then rewinds to the final minutes of the 20th century. In the space of a single night, Tony sets into motion every conflict explored in the film, though neither he nor the audience will fully understand that until later. He blows off a young male scientist seeking his help, he sleeps with but ultimately ignores a young female scientist who has brought him paradigm-changing research, and he even embarrasses himself in front of eventual friend and life-saver Ho Yinsen.

Character-Driven Plot

Returning to the present, we catch up with Tony and friends in a post-Avengers world. Tony is clearly suffering from anxiety due to the events of that film. He’s behaving erratically and obsessively, while also having panic attacks and night terrors. It’s only a matter of time before he does something dumb.

His chance comes when long-time Stark security consultant is injured in a bombing supposedly perpetrated by the elusive Mandarin (who ties back to the Ten Rings organization from the first film). Tony throws down a gauntlet to the Mandarin, and gets his house blown up for the trouble.

Fast-forward a bit, and Tony Stark is wandering a Tennessee winter alone and cut off from his support system. Fast forward a bit more and he’s teaming up with James Rhodes to save the President and Pepper in an all-out brawl between dozens of super-powered mercenaries and dozens of Iron Man suits.

Honestly, the plot isn’t the important part of the movie, at least as far as it relates to the greater MCU. No franchise level characters are introduced, and no Infinity Stones appear. In fact, this film makes barely any mention of the larger Marvel universe, excepting the events in New York during the Avengers. However, there’s a lot of important thematic development and character development to discuss. As such, I’m going to focus on that stuff instead of giving you a breakdown.

The Mandarin

Before addressing anything else, I have to talk about the Mandarin of it all. I’m going to take a semi-controversial stance on the topic. Personally, I think the decision to make the Mandarin a propaganda tool for AIM is one of the best ways to handle the character. Yes, whitewashing is a very real issue in Hollywood, and I’m going to talk about it in a second. But the character of the Mandarin is NOT good representation. It’s a Fu Manchu archetype villain. It is deeply, perhaps irrevocably, tied up in the idea of the Yellow Peril.

What Marvel does in Iron Man 3 is turn all the negative stereotypes surrounding the Mandarin on their head. Yes, there’s a dangerous terrorist threat, but the Mandarin is just a facade for it. The real threat is Aldrich Killian, the young scientist from the opening who has been stewing in resentment for over a decade. He believes he is entitled to power and influence, and even to Pepper Potts. He exploits the racist sentiments to shift blame away from himself. That’s a very real, very topical commentary to make, even more so today.

By doing what it does, the film re-centers the focus on the dangers of the American military-industrial complex, tying everything back to themes of the first film. In the age of modern warfare, the danger is not the guy over there, in another nation. It’s the guys right here in suits who are waging endless proxy wars. They go up to the highest levels of government. Xenophobia is merely a convenient fiction to justify their works. That is the message of Iron Man 3.

Whitewashing and the Lack of Asian Representation

All that being said, there IS a distinct issue with whitewashing in the MCU. I imagine I’ll be discussing it more at length further down the line (Doctor Strange, I’m looking at you). Asian representation is in many cases the hardest hit, as the struggles of Asian folks to achieve representation are often seen as unimportant compared to the struggles of other marginalized groups. That’s nonsense, representation is important, and it’s not a zero-sum game in the first place.

There was nothing stopping Marvel from casting an actual Asian actor in this film for Trevor Slattery, or a different role, and it’s deeply problematic that after 21 movies I’m only aware of two semi-prominent Asian characters in the franchise (Randall Park as Jimmy Woo, and Benedict Wong as Wong). There are a handful of other Asian actors in the films, but they’re playing aliens. Take some notes from the tv division, guys. Scarlett Johansson doesn’t count.

So let’s discuss the rest of the film.

Performances

This may be Robert Downey Jr.’s best performance as Tony Stark. This is the bridge between the Tony Stark of Phase 1 and the Tony Stark of Age of Ultron, Civil War, Homecoming, and Infinity War. He’s raw, vulnerable in a way he wasn’t before. At the beginning of the film, he’s seen the shape of things to come but has not yet begun to accept and plan for them effectively. By the end of the film, he’s learned to look beyond the armor for more radical solutions. This is the Tony Stark that creates Ultron and goes to war with Captain America.

Pepper does not get a whole lot to do for most of the film’s run time. That said, she gets to demonstrate a level of agency she has not been afforded before. While the film sets her up as the object of affection for both the hero and the villain, she ultimately gets the last word in that conflict in a very physical sense. Also, Gwyneth Paltrow is RIPPED. Good for her.

James Rhodes gets a decent amount of focus this time around. Some of my favorite parts of the film are his interactions with Tony. Downey and Cheadle have good chemistry together. My only criticism is that there isn’t more Rhodey. Cheadle more than has the chops to carry his own film. When are we getting a dedicated movie for War Machine, or better yet The Crew?

Visual Elements

This is around the time that CGI tech functionally peaked. Further advancements have seen diminishing returns in visual quality. This film looks as good as any of the more recent entries into the MCU. There are still a few scenes I want to point out, however. There is an absolutely stunning shot that takes place when Tony’s Malibu home is attacked. When the first missile hits, Tony and Pepper are both sent flying. While still in midair from the explosion, Tony directs the Iron Man Mk. 42 to cover and protect Pepper. It’s pure CGI, but it still looks gorgeous over five years later. And the big finale with dozens of combatants, all of them utilizing some level of CGI, looks amazing. You can almost taste the post-Avengers budget bump.

Superb Stunts

The attack on the Malibu house also has one of the best action sequences in the movie. It’s incredibly tense, as Tony works to get everybody else clear of the building before engaging three enemy helicopters with a prototype suit that has not enabled flight power yet. Tony is forced to get inventive, and it makes for a more engaging fight. In fact, that describes a substantial portion of the action in this film. It works because it’s not about how well it’s executing it, although it’s executed well across the board. The action sequences are just doing more interesting things than is the norm for these movies.

Tony is routinely having to fight with either no suit or a limited portion of his suit, meaning that we get a much more diverse array of fight sequences. He uses a microwave and a gas tank to escape a super-powered pursuer, storms a compound with weaponry rigged together from a hardware store, and takes down a group of guards with just a single gauntlet and boot from the suit. And after all that, we get a massive super-powered brawl at the very end that still looks great today.

(I promised I wouldn’t talk about the music if it wasn’t special. This is me not talking about the music.)

Conclusion

This movie is a lot of fun. Like, a LOT of fun. It deserves to be remembered as the best Iron Man film, and one of the strongest standalone films to come out of the MCU. It has some of the best action in the franchise, but built on a core of strong character development. Despite not being super plot relevant for the overall MCU, it’s a must-watch if you’re catching up.

I am therefore going to make the (probably) controversial decision to rank Iron Man 3 as the new #1 on my MCU Rankings.

PS- If you read this piece and you liked what you saw, consider donating to my Patreon! Donations from readers like you make this site possible.

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Reddit

Tumblr

Pinterest

LinkedIn

