LogFAQs > #903233543

Iron Man 3

Ranking this one is going to be tough.

So first of all, miles and miles better than Iron Man 2, but I think that goes without saying. From what I'm told, then only thing that will threaten to unseat Iron Man 2's seat at the bottom is the... next movie. Woo.

The format of the movie, being told as a story from Tony's point of view, is pretty solid, although a little weird because we haven't seen something like it before. The movies are all told from a 3rd person omniscient point of view, but this one is a 1st person omniscient... which makes it a little weird when scenes without Tony happen. But I digress. This leads to two amazing moments... one is ending the movie with the same line that the first one ends with "I am Iron Man", but with so much more meaning and completion to it. Tony's arc throughout the entire 4 movies ends really solidly here - he has his place in the world, he understands who he is, what his self and Pepper mean to him. His conclusion is really good. So of course I expect them to ruin it with Avengers 2.

The other great thing is it leads to the post-credits scene, which is absolutely amazing. It hits the "Marvel humor" button better than anything else in the movie, with Tony talking to MARK RUFFALO as if he's a psychiatrist. Who slept through the entire movie.

Tony's relations with other characters are really highlighted well throughout this. It shows 99 Tony, which of course is an unforgivable asshole. It shows his friendship with Rhodey, and how he has him on speed-dial and how the guys are still bros... man, this is the movie we're missing. A proper Iron Man 2.5 with Tony and Rhodes just going to town on people. Guy better get more screentime in the future.

We get Tony's love for Happy which is just heartwrenching </3 :'( Tony really cares and notices every little thing for Happy and that's just beautiful. We get his relationship with Pepper, which as usual is Tony cares, but does stupid things, and if she wasn't so strong, this would totally be an abusive relationship (still is, but she holds her ground well enough). Like, she's too good for him, really.

And of course, Tony's relationship with casual people. Continues to be a jokester and absolute asshole, but... maybe others don't like this, but his chemistry with the kid was awesome. I also didn't feel like it was "WE GOTTA PUT A KID INTO THIS" to cheaply play on kids being cute like IM2 did or "LET'S HAVE A GOOFY ASS STORY ARC", I really felt that the whole Tennessee thing was well done. Mostly because Tony didn't act particularly different to the kid, which let us see that he's still become a really good dude who is insufferable to be around.

The villain was strong. The Mandarin was set up really well from the beginning, and they didn't really even try to hide that Killian was involved with the shit. I can't remember how I felt the first time I watched it, but I feel like they hid Mandarin being a figurehead pretty well. That said, at the end of the movie, Killian yells "I'M THE MANDARIN" which is unnecessary, like, we've figured it out dude. Trevor Slattery A+ though.

Stan Lee's cameo was the best of the Iron Man movies. One half-second of him giving a 10 to a beauty contest contestant. Good and brief.

How this felt as an Iron Man movie - it gave us personal challenges and development without killing the character/movie a la Iron Man 2. Like, so soon after Iron Man 2, it feels a little cheap, but remembering that movie as awful makes this one do it better. It humanized the hero, but also solidfied him. I come out of this movie saying "Iron Man has his place in the MCU". It's a shame he went and blew up all his suits though.

Pepper totally killed a guy.

Movies
The Avengers
Iron Man 3
Iron Man
Captain America: The First Avenger
Thor
The Incredible Hulk (2008)
Iron Man 2
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