My inner conversation after watching Iron Man 3
Well, that wasn’t your best pick of a movie, was it?”
“What do you mean? I thought Iron Man 3 was quite alright. Not something I’ll brood on for the rest of my life, but you know… A couple of hours of entertainment. Stuff that blows up. Flying metal suits all over the place. How often do you see that? Loosen up a bit!”
“But you don’t even like superhero movies! Too much cheese and clichés, too little brains. Just the same old exercise, flying around in the air showing off different powers. Boooring. And there’s never any real danger. You always know that in the end you’ll be back at where you started.”
“I loved The Avengers. I loved The Dark Knight Rises. You’re fooling yourself with that talk about not liking superhero movies.”
“Ok, let’s not argue more about that. But admit it: this one is far from any of those movies you mention. Robert Downey JR is doing his thing with snark and attitude, but without Whedon’s wittiness, it’s nowhere near as sparkling fun as The Avengers. And it’s not dark, gripping or scary either. The suit that Iron Man wears is probably heavier, but as a drama, it’s very lightweight compared to The Dark Knight Rises. It’s somewhere in between, and I don’t think that’s a good place to be in.”
“You are in a whiny mood, aren’t you? There were things you liked about it! Remember Ben Kingsley? Wasn’t that a great little twist? I never saw him like that kind of actor.”
“He was the best. Totally stole the show.”
“And the boy that helped Iron Man out when he was weak? You can never resist those cute little side stories”.
“Yeah, but why is it that it always have to be boys?”
“You know the answer to that already. At least that girl had the suit for a while and seemed to be doing well in it. That’s a bit of progression, isn’t it?”
“Anyway, I think there are a lot of movies in the theatres right now that are a great deal better.”
“And many that are much worse.”
“Yeah. I guess I picked it partly because I wanted to go to the movies and at was late in the night and I figured I stood a better chance to last through this one than I would have watching The Turin Horse.”
“Well you succeeded, didn’t you?”
“Just barely, to be honest. It dragged on for a bit, didn’t it? I had to pinch my arms a lot. You’d expect more from this type of film”.
“Pfft. If you go to a screening that starts at 9.30 PM, you’ve got yourself to blame. Don’t put that on the movie”.
“Is there anything more you’d like to say before we finish this discussion?”
“One more thing. It’s annoying that the theatre does everything in their power to make the audience miss out the extra scene after the text credits. They lightened up the entire room so almost everyone left. I’m not completely opposed to those extra scenes, but if you have them I think you owe it to the audience to try to keep them seated. Even if you know about the scene, it takes away a bit of the experience to see it with the lights on and people on their way to leave standing in your way”.
“On that we agree. Let’s see if we can agree about the rating as well”.
“I have an idea.”
Iron Man 3 (Shane Black, US 2013) My rating: 3/5
Completely agree that it falls somewhere between the darkness of the Dark Knight and the lightness of The Avengers. But I think that it belongs there, for the most part. I sometimes wish it had a little more heft to it though.
Chris
May 7, 2013 at 1:06 am
Yeah, I think it could have benefited from that. Or a funnier script. Either way. But I reckon you only want to move away from the franchise so far. I’ve never read those comics, so I can’t tell. Maybe it’s average in the original.
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 7:57 am
Haha, great post. Loved it. Captured a lot of my thoughts as well, except for the almost falling asleep part but I also didn’t watch it at 9:30 at night.
Bubbawheat
May 7, 2013 at 2:32 am
Thanks Bubba! I consider you the expert in the genre, so a nod from you means a lot!
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 7:50 am
I found it a bit draggy in what was supposed to be the pay-off action sequence. As I waited outside the theater for the rest of my party two young men about my son’s age walked passed me. I asked them if they liked it. Their yes was hesitant. Then I said, “I still like the first one best.” They both agreed. Then one of the other patrons listening to us said, “Let’s hope the Star Trek film is much better.” So, I agree Jessica, Joss Whedon is a much better writer (and should get more gigs) and the kid should have been a girl. Otherwise, yep, summer action films have arrived. Great review.
Vicki Love
May 7, 2013 at 3:34 am
Thanks Vicki! I love how you exercise your grown-up privileges taking up a conversation with strangers at the theatre! Or maybe it’s a cultural thing. Swedes are more stiff. Anyway we should do more of that (after the movie is finished, of course, not during the screening.) I too have higher hopes for Star Trek. I really liked the reboot of the franchise and the trailers have looked good so far. It’s opening this upcomng weekend in Sweden!
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 7:53 am
Great post, Jessica. Glad you liked, even if you didn’t fall in love with it. I had a fantastic time.
fernandorafael
May 7, 2013 at 6:37 am
Thanks Fernando! Looking from the bright side I liked it a lot more than for instance Thor. But I think there are other summer blockbusters incoming that will be more of my liking.
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 7:49 am
Yes, I liked it 10x more than Thor. Hopefully 2013 keeps delivering great, fun movies like IM3.
fernandorafael
May 7, 2013 at 7:51 am
I dozed off in Iron Man 3 also, but I don’t THINK anyone noticed 😉
spinks
May 7, 2013 at 9:15 am
Hehe, I’m glad to know I’m not the only one. My lips are sealed.
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 10:51 am
I enjoyed IM3 to a point. It was loud and flashy and pretty much everything you expect from a film like that. I just thought it was a little shallow in terms of the main villain and what his intentions were.
Terry Malloy's Pigeon Coop
May 7, 2013 at 1:51 pm
Yeah, that was a bit unclear to me. Maybe it’s as you say: shallow (rather than complicated, as some reviewers claim.)
Jessica
May 7, 2013 at 1:54 pm
[…] Jessica of The Velvet Cafe had an inner conversation while watching Iron Man 3. She thankfully published that conversation here. […]
Links to Movie Writing. | Movie Mezzanine
May 7, 2013 at 5:00 pm
An excellent summation of the inner conversation I think a lot of us when it comes not just to Iron Man or superhero movies in general but all the summer blockbusters. I know it’s one I have with these sorts of films a lot.
Nick
May 8, 2013 at 1:43 am
Thanks! Yeah it’s the reoccurring on-one-hand-on-the-other-hand debate that sometimes makes it hard for me to come down with a review about them. So this time I made it easy for myself and let both sides speak.
Jessica
May 8, 2013 at 7:38 am
I’m really not that interested in this one Jessica. I too, have similar conversations with myself. I tend to enjoy superhero movies whenever I get to them but I’m not that enthusiastic about them to begin with. I don’t really like this time of the year for film’s. The only positive is that is gives me a chance to catch up on older film’s that I’ve missed.
Mark Walker
May 9, 2013 at 9:58 am
I think you easily can pass over this one. While I did find it somewhat entertaining, it’s definitely not something you need to watch. As about the time of the year, I’ve actually had a lot of interesting movies to watch recently. But Sweden is usually a bit behind on things, we’re mostly catching up on stuff that came out elsewhere months ago.
Jessica
May 9, 2013 at 10:12 pm
I think i liked this one more than you
dirtywithclass
May 9, 2013 at 5:57 pm
That’s wonderful! I love when people are enthusiastic about stuff they see. Some of their positivity may leak over and infect you!
Jessica
May 9, 2013 at 10:16 pm
Watched it last week. It’s an enjoyable movie. I’ve seen better super hero movies, I’ve seen much worse.
Ideal to watch if you don’t want to think too much 🙂
carrandas
September 9, 2013 at 7:27 pm
It was OK. But I preferred the new Superman! (Not to mention Avengers and Dark Knight Rises from last year, but that’s a different legue).
Jessica
September 9, 2013 at 11:38 pm