Dumb Michael Bay Moments Undermine Gravitas

Rating: 6/10 (9 October 2013)

One thing the original Ironman established before anything was gravitas, putting our characters in a real world situation. With the attack on a convoy in Afghanistan, Tony Stark was fallible and susceptible to the lethal weapons like everyone else. Proving resourceful, he creates machines from odd parts while imprisoned. For the 3rd outing, there is some of this return to gravitas as Stark is stranded without his suit in the 2nd act. However, now with every other superhero franchise jumping in on the act, it feels like a lot of repetition. You get the the same back-to-basics like "Skyfall". You get the same setup of "you can only save your girlfriend or the Mayor/President not both" like "The Dark Knight".
What won the audience over was Robert Downey Jr.'s smart aleck approach to Tony Stark, which is befitting of him. I guess it made sense on paper to bring in the king of wisecracks Shane Black, but there were moments of serious peril or sadness that were undermined by an inappropriate joke. This movie suffers from a Jekyll/Hyde almost as if directed by two different people. Particularly the story as a whole, matched with well choreographed action scenes, deliver a larger than life spectacle we've come to expect from summer blockbusters. But then there are those dumb moments where anybody who has sat through a Michael Bay film will recognise. The characters will stop the momentum of the movie to stand around and do very bad banter. Particularly grating are scenes between Stark and a Kid who can't stop nagging him. Happy the driver (now security guard) suffers from the same rubbery mouth. Nothing is accomplished while he repeats something stupid, because, you know, repeating something stupid makes it funny.
"Show your badge" "Where's my Tuna Sandwich" "Iron Patriot sounds cool". Black does a great job setting up a situation where you feel Stark's vulnerability without his suit, but then destroys it with a bad one-liner that takes you out of the moment. Worse, the attempt at throwing as many yuck yuck lines out there as possible diminishes the moments when a good zinger can have a stronger effect. Ultimately, you would rather have those zingers in there, and celebrate the gems while trying to ignore the groaners. But then comes a serious mistake:
Spoilers Ahead
The sobering and violent setup of the Mandarin villain, killing and maiming people with terrorist acts, is then played for yucks as a plot twist. I think it is in poor taste. Reflecting on the serious tone of the deaths and suffering by hamming it up as a drunken English bloke channeling "Arthur" is almost an insult to the audience. We've invested our emotions into these scenes, and now are asked to lighten the mood as we confront the bad guy - it doesn't work.
Spoilers Finished
Downey made Stark witty but also smart. It certainly takes a talented hand to keep that balance, and I frankly had little trust in Shane Black in handling it correctly. I mean, the guy wrote "The Last Boy Scout". He even became a parody of himself with "Last Action Hero". In the end, I applaud the character arcs that carried our main characters through the trilogy, so ultimately I forgive the pettiness of the humour. It's hard to keep things new and interesting in this day and age, and the clever variations on the GPS guided flying suit parts are utilised to great entertainment value. I enjoyed Gwyeneth Paltrow's growth as a character, and Guy Pearce was capable of being creepy. I feel the success of this sequel relies mostly with Downey Jr., he is allowed to deliver too many wisecracks, but can get away with it after carefully honing his character's personality throughout the years.