Iron Man 3

It's getting to be summer season, and summer movies have always been fun and roller coaster rides in a way.  I was a fan of the first two, and was interested in the third.  I also hoped that my boys would also be excited, and they were to a point.  But now after seeing it something still bothers me.  Also when I asked my boys if they liked it they said it was okay.  Right there is when I thought my vibe of the film was right.  Something was off with this one.

Was it something to do with the actors?  I can't say that was the problem.  The actors were all good.  It was more the film as a whole.  The pacing in Iron Man is off, and while watching it you do feel how off they are.  Also the story is lame.  I was a comic book fan of Ironman, and I do remember a villain by the name of "The Mandarin", but I believe it was some eastern block enemy.    I won't give any spoilers here, but the enemy here was weak.  The writers write about suicide bombers, and PTSD, and yet it doesen't work.

Tony Stark is Ironman, but he is just a man, and in the comic he was an alcoholic.  He had issues, and that's what made Ironman vulnerable at times.  If the movie tried going that way more I think it would be more interesting.  Instead they sugar coat it, and glance over Tony's problems.  What I am suggesting may be too dark.  After all this is a superhero movie targeted to the young.  That is the films mistake.  It talks down to it's audience.  The actors do a good job in the film, but they are just going through the motions.   It didn't resonate with me, and worse it didn't resonate with my boys, and they don't care about depth, and Ironman's weakness.  They wanted to see battles, and superhero deeds, and there were none.

At the end there is a battle, but it comes too late.  By the end I really didn't care.  Suddenly there are an army of Ironmen.  Cool, but couldn't that happens sooner?   When I said this out loud my dear wife looked over at me and said that there wouldn't be a movie if that would have happened. The movie would have ended just as it started.

I really wanted this movie to work, but by franchising the Marvel brand Marvel has forgotten what made their superheros so human in our eyes.   The movies don't cover that area.  They did in the beginning.  Tony Stark was a party person, and his company sold weapons.  There was a dark side that he was part of, and the duality of that was interesting.  Here it seems that after fighting aliens in the movie "The Avengers" Stark is suffering from anxiety.  Interesting dilemma  but it is never fully worked into the story, and is solved pretty quickly with some advice a boy gives him.

So yeah I have problems with it.  Everyone I talk to tells me it was too long, yet the other films were just as long or longer and I've never heard that.  The pacing is off, and all I had to do is look at my boys.  They enjoyed the battles, but they were far and few in between.

Yes I know it's PG-13 rated, but still if you can't keep an 11 year old's attention then you've lost a lot more then that 11 year old boy.  My wife even said it felt way too long.

So in the end I have to give this film a pass.  Good fodder for a movie night at home, but is the movie worth seeing in the theaters I really don't think so.  

I did not go to the 3D IMAX presentation of the film.  Our family doesn't like the 3D.  To me it's been a gimmick since it's inception, and I can't justify paying more to see a film that is sub-par.  The studios need to invest in good writers instead of bells and whistles like 3D.  Maybe they do more business that way.

I do have more hope for other summer movies, but as for Iron Man 3.  Save your money wait for Video on demand or DVD.  As for the segment after the credits.  It was also very lame, and only appealed to us Marvelites, and even then I have to say it was lame.  Come on boys you can do a lot better.