The logical conclusion of the Tony Stark Transformation

Rating: 8/10 (18 May 2013)

The "Iron Man" trilogy has always been, at its core, a story of redemption: Tony Stark, the billionaire weapons dealer who earns a fortune by exploiting armed conflict, takes up arms himself to end conflict. (It turns out Tony has a heart of gold, or rather, palladium.) "Iron Man 3" completes the story by seeing Stark fully redeemed, while at the same time delving further into the nature and consequences of man's inhumanity to man. Oh, and it's also a rocking ton of popcorn-munching fun.
Robert Downey Jr.'s main character began as a man who made weapons of mass destruction for profit while ignoring the human costs. Now, three films later, with his rocket-powered Iron Man suits honed to perfection, he's a weapon of mass destruction himself – one who experiences the human toll of combat first-hand. The film begins sometime after the events of last year's "The Avengers," which saw Stark teaming up with several other super heroes to fight alien invaders. It turns out the experience has left Tony with a bout of post-traumatic stress disorder.
In this troubled state, he finds himself compelled to take on a sadistic terrorist threat known as The Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley. But The Mandarin is not all that he seems. There's a twist involving the villain that is as audacious as it is entertaining – one that forces us to question what we think we know about terrorist bogeymen. At the same time, people from Tony's past (namely a scientist with dubious motives played by Guy Pearce) emerge to cause him personal trouble – just as his relationship with girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) hits a rocky patch. Inevitably, all these internal and external battles converge to create Stark's biggest challenge to date.
The "Iron Man" movies work because we like and care about Tony Stark -- because a great actor brings him to life. The best scenes in the Iron Man films have always involved Downey out of the suit -- watching a CGI robotic suit fly around can only be entertaining for so long. His witty one-liners and his improvised banter with Paltrow have made for some of the trilogy's best scenes. The filmmakers seem to have picked up on this fact – since the latest installment finds Tony forced to make due without the suit more than ever before. This movie resembles more of a James Bond flick – with a dash of buddy cop camaraderie thrown in for good measure (thanks to Tony's sidekick, Don Cheadle, as Iron Patriot a.k.a War Machine). New director Shane Black keeps the improvisational feel of the first two movies and doesn't allow the Academy honored cast members to get lost among all the explosions and effects. Most viewers won't notice much of a difference in tone. Maybe that's because the former director, Jon Favreau, was still on set, reprising his role as Tony's loyal employee, Happy Hogan. The most notable and unfortunate omission: AC/DC blaring on the soundtrack.
Beneath the top-notch action set pieces and comic dialog, the movie does explore some serious themes. Tony's aforementioned PTSD isn't the only side effect of war that the movie delves into. The epidemic of suicides among war veterans is strongly hinted at in a subplot that sees returning soldiers literally turned into ticking time bombs. Another subplot also seems to examine the slippery slope of drone technology. This time around, Tony uses several remote controlled versions of his suit to defeat his enemies. This is not a movie that challenges us to stop and ponder complex issues, but if you do take the time to do so, the symbolism of unmanned killer flying robots shows what could happen if our advanced modern weaponry fell into the wrong hands. There are also references to the Deep Water Horizon disaster and the downside of our consumption of fossil fuels. However, these thought-provoking topics are merely hidden nutrients that sit below the surface of what is explicitly fun, feel-good summer entertainment.
In the last act, Tony's transformation from war profiteer to war/super hero is brought to its logical conclusion. The ending certainly closes the loop and leaves us wondering if we'll ever see Downey's Iron Man in another stand-alone movie. If we don't, he'll be sorely missed – but we can say he went out on top.