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the_dala at 12:40am on 03/05/2013
the_dala at 12:40am on 03/05/2013Quick, disjointed thoughts on "Iron Man 3," which I thoroughly enjoyed. Not quite as good as the first one, much better than the second one. Annnnnnd :
--PEPPER! PepperPepperPepperPepper. Not only was she not fridged, which I figured she wouldn't be by the final battle because a. what a lazy narrative choice and b. we hadn't seen that shot of her looking over her shoulder from the trailers - she actually saved the day. So awesome! I wanted more of her in the suit, but Extremis works too.
--On the one hand, Pepper in her underwear made me roll my eyes. On the other hand, I liked that it was basically a sports bra...and also, Gwyneth Paltrow really does have incredible abs. I did not mind looking at her abs in the least. (Don't tell her though, her ego doesn't need it.) But there were so many other half-naked ladies for absolutely no reason (I mean, more so than usual when Tony Stark is in the vicinity - what was the point of that first girl in the Madarin's crackhouse and the girls in his bed?). In conclusion, I don't find Pepper's bra-and-yoga pants look problematic by itself, but taken with the rest of the gratuitous male gaze, it is skeevy. And yes, Tony's unofficial uniform may be tight t-shirts and tank tops and that's very nice, but that doesn't make it okay.
--So glad I went in unspoiled because I did not see the Mandarin twist coming. At first I was a bit skeptical, thinking they took a racist stereotype and fiddled with it in a totally unsubtle way, so the fact that it was all a big exploitative charade was actually kind of brilliant.
--Oh my god, it was funny. The Iron Man movies always have been, but the giggles just kept coming. Far too many terrific one-liners to remember, but one that particularly stuck with me was "IT'S A HUGE RABBIT, CALM DOWN ABOUT IT." And props to Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley, two enormously talented actors who don't often get a chance to show off their comedic chops. I lost it every time Rhodey deployed that deadpan "Okay." And I flat-out forgot I was watching Ben Kingsley.
--And that kid! That kid kept stealing scenes from Robert Downey Jr., who exists solely to steal all the scenes! Bravo, young master. That subplot might have dragged a bit, but I didn't care because I loved every second of it.
--Speaking of, the obvious action sequence that could've been cut was the Air Force One rescue. But. I happen to love the Ordinary Heroism in Superhero Movies trope (see also the train scene in "Spider-man 2," the crane scene in "The Amazing Spider-man," and the cops who take Steve's orders in "The Avengers"). So yeah, I don't care that it was unnecessary to the plot and questionable physics-wise, I dug the barrel of monkeys.
--I really appreciated that they explicitly referenced "The Avengers" so many times; I was afraid it was going to be vague because of course they can't go wandering through each other's movies (maybe they should, in an in-universe sense, but I think that's one of those filmmaking suspensions of disbelief you just have to accept). And also that it really fucked Tony up, because that makes total sense. Yay character continuity.
--DUMMY IS OKAY. I REPEAT, DUMMY IS OKAY. I may or may not have let out a little shriek of "Dummy!" when the Malibu house was attacked, so that was a huge relief.
--I feel like there was some stuff with Pepper and Maya that got cut while Tony was making tiny friends in Tennessee. I would've liked to see more of Maya, actually, though I feel like they did okay with her character in the time they had.
--So I know Guy Pearce went all "I'm the Mandarin! I'm responsible for everything!" in his archvillain monologue, but didn't they have a couple of Easter egg-type hints at the Mandarin in the previous two films? And then didn't explicitly call back to them here? Again, it felt like something was missing.
--My biggest plot gripe would be that the coup plot with the vice president came out of left field. I want to see it again to see if I missed hints in the first half, though.
--The end tag was a thing of beauty. I was sure the camera would pan over to Nick Fury's not-here-for-this-shit face, but instead we got Bruce and his sexy, sexy graying temples, mmm (although I miss the curls). That one's for you, Science Bro shippers.
--I could watch the end credit sequence every day.
--And now you'll excuse me, I have to go change all my passwords to WARMACHINEROX
And now, we wait for May 15th. SO CLOSE.
--PEPPER! PepperPepperPepperPepper. Not only was she not fridged, which I figured she wouldn't be by the final battle because a. what a lazy narrative choice and b. we hadn't seen that shot of her looking over her shoulder from the trailers - she actually saved the day. So awesome! I wanted more of her in the suit, but Extremis works too.
--On the one hand, Pepper in her underwear made me roll my eyes. On the other hand, I liked that it was basically a sports bra...and also, Gwyneth Paltrow really does have incredible abs. I did not mind looking at her abs in the least. (Don't tell her though, her ego doesn't need it.) But there were so many other half-naked ladies for absolutely no reason (I mean, more so than usual when Tony Stark is in the vicinity - what was the point of that first girl in the Madarin's crackhouse and the girls in his bed?). In conclusion, I don't find Pepper's bra-and-yoga pants look problematic by itself, but taken with the rest of the gratuitous male gaze, it is skeevy. And yes, Tony's unofficial uniform may be tight t-shirts and tank tops and that's very nice, but that doesn't make it okay.
--So glad I went in unspoiled because I did not see the Mandarin twist coming. At first I was a bit skeptical, thinking they took a racist stereotype and fiddled with it in a totally unsubtle way, so the fact that it was all a big exploitative charade was actually kind of brilliant.
--Oh my god, it was funny. The Iron Man movies always have been, but the giggles just kept coming. Far too many terrific one-liners to remember, but one that particularly stuck with me was "IT'S A HUGE RABBIT, CALM DOWN ABOUT IT." And props to Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley, two enormously talented actors who don't often get a chance to show off their comedic chops. I lost it every time Rhodey deployed that deadpan "Okay." And I flat-out forgot I was watching Ben Kingsley.
--And that kid! That kid kept stealing scenes from Robert Downey Jr., who exists solely to steal all the scenes! Bravo, young master. That subplot might have dragged a bit, but I didn't care because I loved every second of it.
--Speaking of, the obvious action sequence that could've been cut was the Air Force One rescue. But. I happen to love the Ordinary Heroism in Superhero Movies trope (see also the train scene in "Spider-man 2," the crane scene in "The Amazing Spider-man," and the cops who take Steve's orders in "The Avengers"). So yeah, I don't care that it was unnecessary to the plot and questionable physics-wise, I dug the barrel of monkeys.
--I really appreciated that they explicitly referenced "The Avengers" so many times; I was afraid it was going to be vague because of course they can't go wandering through each other's movies (maybe they should, in an in-universe sense, but I think that's one of those filmmaking suspensions of disbelief you just have to accept). And also that it really fucked Tony up, because that makes total sense. Yay character continuity.
--DUMMY IS OKAY. I REPEAT, DUMMY IS OKAY. I may or may not have let out a little shriek of "Dummy!" when the Malibu house was attacked, so that was a huge relief.
--I feel like there was some stuff with Pepper and Maya that got cut while Tony was making tiny friends in Tennessee. I would've liked to see more of Maya, actually, though I feel like they did okay with her character in the time they had.
--So I know Guy Pearce went all "I'm the Mandarin! I'm responsible for everything!" in his archvillain monologue, but didn't they have a couple of Easter egg-type hints at the Mandarin in the previous two films? And then didn't explicitly call back to them here? Again, it felt like something was missing.
--My biggest plot gripe would be that the coup plot with the vice president came out of left field. I want to see it again to see if I missed hints in the first half, though.
--The end tag was a thing of beauty. I was sure the camera would pan over to Nick Fury's not-here-for-this-shit face, but instead we got Bruce and his sexy, sexy graying temples, mmm (although I miss the curls). That one's for you, Science Bro shippers.
--I could watch the end credit sequence every day.
--And now you'll excuse me, I have to go change all my passwords to WARMACHINEROX
And now, we wait for May 15th. SO CLOSE.
(no subject)
(no subject)
(no subject)
I would have given a pretty penny to have been a fly on the wall when he called RDJ. What would you bet that RDJ already knew alllll about it? *g*
(no subject)
I love that everyone got a chance to shine, especially my baby Rhodes. Showing that you necessarily don't need the suit to be kickass and save the POTUS.
The point you made about the Avengers is an interesting one. I loved the callbacks to The Avengers. Now, did you feel like the widespread attacks should have at least warranted an visit from Nick Fury? I guess you could argue that the Avengers are for global threats, not national ones. What do you think?
I know S.H.I.E.L.D was mentioned as having intel on The Mandarin but I was surprised by no Nick Fury.
(no subject)
they did such a good job with the tone of this movie. the snark and humor were perfectly balanced imo. the kid was fantastic and Pepper was badass and committed to Tony but not willing to take any of his shit and TONY. I love how they focused on his humanity and ingenuity and all the things that make him great without the suits.
and yeah, everything else you said. XD such an awesome movie, I can't wait to see it again.
SO CLOSE. SO SO CLOSE.