A BLACK day for Marvel - Shane stamps his signature on Stark's swansong for a pulp thriller that's less spectacular but more comical

Rating: 9/10 (25 April 2013)

Awash with excitement, we went to the special Midnight premiere last night at our local Cineworld multiplex in the company of all the other geeks and comic book freaks, not knowing quite what we were going to get. What we did get was unusual and surprising.
"Iron Man", despite his fame within the Marvel comics' universe, was almost unknown in the mainstream before 2008, yet now he is among the most famous superheroes in the world, and associated with the resurgent Robert Downey Jr in the same way 007 WAS Sean Connery. Though he shined in "The Avengers", his own standalone films have been more about Tony Stark than Iron Man in the same way the Nolan Batmans and Raimi Spidermans were about Bruce Wayne and Peter Parker, and this, the final part of the trilogy, is if anything even MORE so.
The defining factor of this episode is its director, king of cool violent thrillers Shane Black, the man who gave us "Lethal Weapon" "Die Hard" "Long Kiss Goodnight" "The Last Boy Scout" as well as Downey Jr's own "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang". Not since Ang Lee's ill-fated "Hulk" in 2003 has a director so stamped his personal seal on a Marvel project. This is a Shane Black adventure starring Tony Stark who occasionally becomes Iron Man and sometimes fights some people with the power of lava but mainly cracks wise and solves highly convoluted multi-party conspiracies and plots during Christmas. It is a very well made Shane Black adventure (better than KKBB anyway) and has all the requisite factors – Cool dialogue, complex plot, clever villains pulling all the strings, crooks masquerading as political terrorists to hide their real motives, torture, buddy comedy, more torture, Christmas, background roles for the women and a massive shootout in a container port at night. Downey Jr plays it beautifully and owns the film, which means everyone else just gets crumbs. This includes returning Don Cheadle as Rhodes, now flying the USAs own "Iron Patriot", who unlike "IM2" is largely side-lined in both role and action. Even Pepper Potts, Gwyneth Paltrow's own ticket to box office reinvention, is not so central now that their on-off love affair has become official. Her role is to get kidnapped and held hostage (how original!) but she is occasionally given moments to shine, such as operating the Iron Man suit a couple of times in battle and becoming a sort of super-powered heroine herself by the end (Flame girl?) Yet compared to 1-2, she is marginal, rather as she was in "The Avengers". Former director Jon Favreau returns as Happy Hogan, now head of security, and steals every scene until a bomb blast puts him in a convenient coma for 2/3 of the film.
The villains are a murky bunch, classic Marvel adversaries reinvented in Black-ian terms, none more so than "The Mandarin" (Ben Kingsley) IMs number 1 enemy and the one all fans have been waiting for. He is definitely NOT the same character in the comics, recreated as a literal Bin-Laden terrorist mastermind punishing America's sins and issuing chilling taunting videos to the Great Satan. His famous 10 rings (not magical here) were already used as the basis for the Al-Qaeda stand-ins of the first film, and here he seems to be their actual leader. To say too much would be to spoil it, but he turns out to be based on a lot of conspiracy theories about the late Bin Laden, and will likely antagonise some Marvel fans. His co-villain is another IM favourite, Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) alongside Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), both brilliant and originally well-meaning scientists who get the cold shoulder from a pre-redemption Stark at a funny 1999 New Year's eve party intro in Berne (Yinsen was indeed there as he said in part 1) and become both bitter and successful enough in the intervening years to make life hard for him now. As in the comics, they have formulated "Exxis", a regenerative healing property that can also turn their subjects into fiery mutants or worse kill them. The "regenerative miracle drug becomes accidental super weapon" idea is used so much better here than it was in the lame Lizard of last years "Amazing Spiderman", and also creates the private army of super powered war veterans that make like tough for Tony, especially head henchman Savin (James Badge Dale) They are the only other sci-fi fantasy element in this film, and seem oddly out of tune with this otherwise straight thriller.
Action scenes are sparse but interesting, none more so than the helicopter attack that destroys Starks plush cliff-side palace (more massacre than battle) and the rescue of falling passengers from Air Force 1, both featured heavily in the trailers, as is the final container port battle featuring a fleet of radio-controlled suits based on previous versions taking on the Exxis army, but it is an oddly uninspiring affair. There are also some shoot-outs and alley fights in more traditional Black tradition.
Running themes include Tony's existential angst over the supernatural events of "The Avengers" that blew his comfortable preconceptions away and a sense that HE is becoming the suit rather than vice versa, with the fully formed IM often seeming alive, a friend he sits down and talks to. The ending suggests closure for the current Iron Man series, though in Bond-ian style the credits promise "Tony Stark WILL return". Also look out of the obligatory after credits scene featuring Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner that puts the whole movie into an interesting new perspective.
It is not the most fantastic superhero film ever, but it is a bold and left-field end to a trilogy, stronger than IM2 and an enjoyable experience, especially for Downey Jr and Shane Black fans.