Just a man in a can

Rating: 8/10 (28 July 2017)

This was one divisive movie, and pretty much for only one reason: the Mandarin. In the promos, everyone thought that Ben Kingsley was playing the Mandarin. When the twist came along, it made a lot of people angry not only because he wasn't actually the Mandarin but that Aldrich Killian actually made the claim that he himself was. But I am going to defend this movie because I absolutely love it.
First off, RDJ. Him as Iron Man is always going to be great because he has finally found the role that he can perfect, besides Chaplin. A couple things I like about Stark in this movie is that he has PTSD from the Avengers, and he has to rely on his brains, not his suits. I know a lot of people have anger towards the PTSD and anxiety because Tony doesn't seem like the type of person to have it. However, people going off to war, and coming back with PTSD, don't seem like people who will get it before the depart. Think about what Tony went through in the Avengers. He had to accept that gods (Thor and Loki) and aliens (Chitauri) were real. He also had to take a nuclear missile into space to blow up a mother ship knowing full well it might lead to his death. While he did live, being in space and seeing this alien armada can surely traumatize someone who could never have thought of doing this. The PTSD angle in this movie is a smart thing to do and something for RDJ to really flex his acting muscles on. I also loved how he had to make quick, small items like taser gloves, exploding Christmas ornaments and other items in order to stay alive and be ready and dangerous. This movie solidified the fact that it isn't the suit that makes him a superhero, it's his genius.
Onto the biggest thing about this movie, the Mandarin switch. I loved the twist that Black did for this movie. When we see the Mandarin, we know that he is a bad guy. For comic book readers, it's just the fact that you know his backstory, but for the general audience it's because he physically looks like a bad guy. They play on the stereotypes so much that we already have the perception that he is evil. The fact that they turn this on us is brilliant because we never expect it. For Killian boasting that he is the Mandarin at the end of the movie, he is regenerating, has fire powers, and has near-death hubris. It is completely believable that he just claims to be the Mandarin based off of that. Other than that I kind of liked his character, sure he was another bad business guy like the last movie, but he didn't have a metal suit, but superpowers. He also brought a goofy, charm that worked well with the writing and tone in this movie.
The final battle scene with Tony's dozens of suits fighting off Extremis soldiers was thrilling as we get to see all of the designs that Tony thought of fight in different ways. We also got to see versions that have appeared in the comics like the Centurion and Igor (a possible precursor to Hulkbuster).
A few things that did bother me about the movie is Maya Hansen, the Iron Patriot and the fake out of Pepper's end. Maya Hansen didn't really have any development or point to the story other than being Tony's old flame and the discoverer of Extremis. Sure, the latter is important but she is offed unceremoniously. With the Iron Patriot, what was the point of that other than just being a nod to the character (originally Norman Osborn in the comics) and to make jokes about the change from War Machine, which I think is better. With the loss of Pepper in the end would have been good storytelling because it would break Tony and be much more interesting to deal with later in the movies and the entire time during the movie, he said that she was the one thing he couldn't live without. I believe that without Pepper he really would've thrown himself into his suits and be fully focused on the Avengers.
All in all, the writing was very good and what I was expecting from Shane Black. I actually watched other movie of his before watching this movie so that I could get a sense of Black. The humor was well done too as it felt natural. I also have to give major kudos to the kid playing Harley. He had incredible chemistry with Stark and I would love to see more of him
+ RDJ + Mandarin Twist + Final Battle + Writing, directing and humor + Stark and Harley - (Un)importance of Maya - Iron Patriot - Pepper lives
Final Score: 8.6/10