Iron Man 3 Review: Nonspoilers.

Iron Man 3 picks up after Avengers, and focuses on the character of Tony Stark and how he needs to differentiate himself from Iron Man.

Iron Man 3′s strength lies in this arc of exploring who Tony is outside the suit. There are various situations where Tony has to accomplish his goals, including combat situations, without the suit or with part of it, or with it only partly working. We get scenes with his friend James Rhodes/War Machine also outside the suit, but he’s obviously trained for combat anyway. We get a moment where both he and Tony are fighting outside of their suits, and James advises Tony in combat. Unfortunately this doesn’t last long. But I thought this also should have happened in Iron Man 2, so at least it happened here a little.

Early in the movie, a terrorist calling himself the Mandarin launches terrorist attacks against the United States, (His videos add a lot to the film) setting the tone for a more serious movie. However the tone gradually shifts into out-right goofiness. There’s great leaps of internal logic and moments that seem too over the top, even for a film based of the Marvel Universe.

You could tell it was going bad early on as just after the attack, Tony and James are sitting at a crowded sports bar, and in this bar full of people James tells Tony classified information.

Also, one thing about the previous movies, through all the disasters it seems there are no real casualties. This movie does at least acknowledge that people died in the attacks. However, there is one actual character that really should have died. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is facing the same critique that mainstream superhero comics often get, which is that things always go back to the status quo. I’d mentioned this in my Iron Man 2 review as well.

There’s quick references to SHIELD, and the Avengers, but no real Marvel Easter Eggs revealing anything new. I wonder why Mandarin was used the way he was given the ten rings group was in the first Iron Man.  

Unfortunately I have to report that in fact this is a very bad movie. Another victim of the curse of the three, and the first entry in the MCU that is generally not good. It will probably still makes tons of money, but I wonder if there will be any fallout.

There is a post credit scene but it’s purely for laughs.

Here’s to hoping Thor 2 is good.

My Rankings of Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

I was going to do before, but changed my mind for some reason, but then decided to just go ahead. This is my personal ranking of the films from Phase One of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Let me say upfront that I did enjoy all of the movies; there aren’t any of them that I disliked. Here goes.

6 Iron Man 2.

The least critically acclaimed of the 6, but amusingly enough the second most successful behind Avengers. While some complained it was just an advertisement for the Avengers, I thought Black Widow fit in just fine, and the meeting about the Avengers Initiative was the last scene/happened after the main narrative anyway.

To me the weakness of this movie was its climax. Iron Man and War Machine spend a lot of film time fighting mindless drones, but the main villain Whiplash is defeated quickly (after almost beating them for a few seconds at least). Also I didn’t like Pepper Potts stepping down as the CEO of Stark Industries. Putting her there was a gutsy move and would have fit for the narrative of Avengers, but instead things went back to the status quo, which is itself a common criticism of the comic book world.

Still Mickey Rourke made a fantastic villain and it was still a fun movie overall.

5 Hulk

Not much to say about Hulk. Good chase scene movie. Gutsy move to not really focus on origin, although that could be partly because this was sort of a reboot. Nice cameo from Tony Stark to cement that this is a shared universe, along with the vague Captain America references. Can’t quite put my finger on why this doesn’t rank higher, it should.

4 Avengers

“OH MY GOD AVENGERS WAS THE GREATEST MOVIE EVER!!!!” Well…no. Avengers was an incredible achievement in filmmaking, and it did have a lot on its plate. All the other movies did a great job of explaining who everyone was and things seemed to make sense. During the first 20 minutes of this I actually thought “Uh oh this might not be a good movie,” but it was. Still I wondered at one point how Thor knew what he did. No one wondered why Loki didn’t run away while Iron Man fought Thor. The helicarrier scene had a lot going on and I felt at first they kind of forgot about the bad soldiers that were, you know, invading the helicarrier. Plus during that sequence it was really hard to believe that Iron Man didn’t die or at least pass out from what he did.

Still this movie was spot on with character beats. It definitely captured that sense of overwhelming odds in the third act, and the falling action/denouement is one of the best on film.

3 Captain America

Great period piece action and great introduction to Steve Rogers in the first act before he becomes the Super Solider. It also captures the tragedy of the man lost out of time. However I must confess I was one of those people that didn’t like the downplaying of the Nazis. I don’t object to the presence of Hydra, that was a nice touch actually. It was just too much for me to believe that Hitler would have allowed the Red Skull to do his own thing. Dictatorships don’t work like that. You either fall in with the party line or you’re dead. They tried in one scene to justify/explain this but I still didn’t buy it. Otherwise this was a great movie that I might have put at #2.

2 Thor

Although much more predictable than Captain America, it’s done well enough that you don’t mind. Out of all the movies, it is Thor that goes though the strongest transformation during the course of his arc. Plus Asgard and the Destroyer look amazing, it has good action and humor beats. (Thor in the pet store is classic) You can pretty much guess everything that’s going to happen but with all these elements it works.

1 Iron Man

Phase One peaks out at its first movie with a perfect introduction to the new film universe and the man that is Tony Stark. Second only to Thor in the strength of its character arc, (Though in Tony’s defense his arc continues through IM2 and Avengers) we get the rotten scoundrel that is Tony Stark transformed during a near fatal incident, and alone tries to right his past wrongs. The humor, action, and character beats are pitch perfect. That and “Just call us SHIELD made me giddy.

Not to mention it has the best Phase One post title sequence, admittedly partly because it had the luxury of being first/you didn’t know to expect it. Think back to early 2008. There were rumors/hopes that an Avengers movie would come someday, but nothing definite.

Then all of a sudden, if you happen to stay after the credits for some reason, there’s this extra scene. Tony comes home, and Samuel L. Jackson is in his house! Who the hell is he, Nick Fury! “I’m here to talk to you about the Avenger Initiative” is one of the most shocking moments in nerd history. It’s this generations “I am your Father.”

So there we have it. Now on to Phase Two!

Avengers Review (Non-spoiler)

Well it’s been a long time coming and now it is finally here. 4 years ago there was no real news about an Avengers movie, only the occasional rumor and skepticism that it could even be done. Than Iron Man premiered, and in a post credit scene Samuel L. Jackson walks out of the shadows and says the words “Avengers Initiative.” Since then everything has been leading up to this.

In short this is the tale of several people that would never otherwise be together banding together for the greater good, basically the theme of the comic. The first act revolves around recruiting the various heroes, during which we get exposition as to who they are (in case you missed their solo movies). One interesting tidbit is that Banner is recruited for Banner is recruited for Banner/his scientific skills and not so much the Hulk. They are called together because Loki from the Thor film has the Tesseract/Cosmic Cube (From Cap’s movie) and wants to use it to rule Earth.

Like all previous films that lead to this, there are great character bits for everyone. It is a true achievement in screenwriting that every single Avenger gets quality screen time where we get to see what makes them tick. Everyone has a role to play, even non–powered heroes like Black Widow and Hawkeye.  (We get some nice background on them by the way)

Naturally they don’t get a long at first, some fight each other. The straight and narrow Cap clashes with the flashy Iron Man, who gets along well with Hulk, who naturally has some rivalry with Thor. It all feels very natural, none of it is forced.

One of the things I thought all previous movies did well was explaining everything to the non-fan audience. Avengers explains who all the heroes are in case you missed one of the movies, but Loki’s introduction was a bit forced. (If I recall he actually says “I am Loki from Asgard!” or something like that). Also the way they figured out Loki’s plot seemed a bit clunky. In one particular case Thor tells the group who Loki is working with and I completely missed how he knew that. After watching Thor I was wondering how he would get back to Earth in this movie. The way he gets back is literally Deus Ex Macina, but I guess that had to happen somehow.

There’s more action in this than all previous entries. It’s pretty much wall to wall action mixed with great character moments. There is a sequence in the second act where three different things are going on, which is fine, but somehow some tension was lost maybe via the editing or the pacing. In the beginning of this sequence for instance the bad guys show up and then you don’t see them for a bit because of the other two situations. That seemed a bit odd. Plus there’s a part where it’s really hard to believe Iron Man didn’t die or at least pass out.

The third act makes up for this however. We’ve all seen these kinds of movies that have the big fight with the bad guy at the end. Avengers does it’s third act better than most anybody. (One could bemoan the fact that the big battle takes place in NYC, we do get a reason why it’s there though) We all watch these movies knowing the outcome, but in the moment this one delivers that feeling of desperation, that the heroes really are up against impossible odds, and that no hero alone could save the day.

Along with a great climax the denouement is also excellent. Now there’s nothing wrong with darker themed superhero films where the characters are feared, but this film, unlike so many, shows the public truly embracing and loving it’s heroes. Maybe it was because so few films did this, but it was a great feeling to see the outpouring of love the general public showed. Again the falling action sequence in Avengers is one of the best.

While there’s subtle references to past films, aside from SHIELDS Maria Hill and Loki’s army, I don’t think anything new has been added to the Marvel Cinematic Universe in this entry. I didn’t catch any Easter eggs that the other films had. That is not a complaint, this movie had plenty on it’s plate to deliver.

When I really think about it, previous entrants like Thor and Iron Man were probably better than Avengers, but that is not to say Avengers was disappointing. It pretty much delivers the fanboy dream we all hoped for. It’s been a long journey, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.

AVENGERS ASSEMBLE!!!

P.S. There is a scene at the very end of the credits, but it’s purely for laughs. There is however, a mid credit scene that is a hint of things to come, and it’s a doozy.

Captain America: The First Avenger Review

Captain America: The First Avenger, amusingly only called First Avenger in South Korea, is in some ways the beginning of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It almost could have been the first film, telling the titular heroes story while setting up the later Iron Man and Thor installments, and of course leading into next years Avengers.

It opens with a strange ship found in the arctic, inside of which is the frozen Captain America. Hence, any non-comic fans immediately know that this hero’s story ends in tragedy.

Flashback t0 1941, where Johann Schmidt A.K.A. the Red Skull (Hugo Weaving) is introduced. Schmidt is the head of Hydra, the Nazi deep science division. Hydra raids a town in Norway in search of a Tesseract, a cube (in the comics called the cosmic cube) of immense power, apparently tied to Viking mythology. This item allows for fantastic weapons and vehicles later seen in the film. This scene is reminiscent of Raiders of the Lost Ark, and even has a backhanded reference to it as Schmidt mocks Hitler for looking for “trinkets in the desert.” His final fate is also reminiscent of Indy films.

Cut to New York, where through some interesting special effects, actor Chris Evans plays 90 pound weakling Steve Rogers. Due to his size and a score of health problems he is rejected by 5 different recruiting stations. Steve has strong moral convictions and desperately wants to join the war effort. He sees the Nazis as nothing more than bullies that need to be stopped. He’s also upset that his friend James Buchanan “Bucky” Barnes not only has joined the Army, but is in the 107, which Roger’s father was in when he died during World War One.

His moral courage gets the attention of escaped German scientist Dr. Abraham Erskine, who gets him into a secret super soldier project. There he meets later love interest agent Peggy Carter, who is British for some reason, and Colonel Phillips played by Tommy Lee Jones. Phillips is naturally skeptical of Rogers and doesn’t respect him, but Erskine realizes that Rogers is the correct choice because he is “a good man.”

Rogers is selected and, with the help of Howard Stark, Tony Stark’s/Iron Man’s father, goes through an experiment that transforms him into a muscular semi-superhuman specimen. He’s not invulnerable and not as strong and fast as ,say Superman, but he’s more athletic than any human, able to throw people good distances, is fast, can jump fairly high etc.

Rogers is intended to be the first of many super soldiers, but a Nazi spy blows up the lab and kills Erskine, leading to Rogers first action scene. It’s not really explained why the formula can’t be replicated, but in the comics Erksine memorized much of it, hence didn’t leave notes. The film drops the ball on that though.

Much to his humiliation Rogers is turned into a propaganda tool to sell war bonds across the country, accompanied by songs and USO showgirls. Here he gets the name Captain America, with a goofy looking outfit reminiscent of the actual serial film made of Captain America in 1944,  and the triangular shaped shield he had in that era. Ironically he also films a few movies. We also actually see first issue of the Captain America comic book, which also appeared in Iron Man 2. Interestingly the comic was first published in 1941, 7 months before Pearl Harbor. In this world it was apparently published afterwards.

After a show in Italy before an uninterested audience of battle weary G. I.s, Rogers learns is friend Barnes is behind enemy lines. He goes out on his own to rescue him and other soldiers, and has a great first encounter with the Red Skull.

From here he leads Barnes and other soldiers in a special unit specifically made to fight Hydra. One of the interesting features of this movie is we don’t see all of his adventures. It’s understood that he went on many missions but we don’t see them all. This leaves room for more sequels and other tie in items set in this period, like the video game Captain America: Super Soldier for instance.

The crux of this film is Rogers morality and determination. This plays into his recruitment, his conviction to go through the painful experiment, and his desire to lead men in battle. Even his final fate in the war is not so much an accident as in the comics, but another example of his moral courage.

Naturally there’s plenty of action, probably more than the Iron Man’s, Hulk and Thor actually. It does capture it’s period very well. Some of the CGI background effects looked obvious, but I think it led to a certain feel that they were purposely trying for.

One point of contention among fans is the lack of Nazi symbols. The swastika appears real big in a scene in a movie theater, but aside from that it’s hidden. A few Nazi officers have tiny Swastika pins, and they have the armband, but the swastika on their arm band is never in view. It makes sense story wise that Schmidt uses Hydra to strike out on his own, even one upping the Nazi salute with a “Hail Hydra” accompanied by two fists in the air (as opposed to the Nazis salute of one open hand raised). Hydra has it’s own symbol and the uniform for their troops is reminiscent of Star Wars storm troopers, who in turn were designed after Nazi soldiers. Still, to go so far out of the way to hide Nazi symbols is a testament to the strange sensibilities of our day. The Indiana Jones series, which this film sought to emulate, took no qualms about showing the swastika in all it’s evil glory.

Howard Stark is fun to watch, clearly the predecessor of his son, and also Roger’s weapons man A.K.A. the Q to Evans’ Bond. I would have liked to have seen more of the soldiers, but there simply wasn’t enough time. Rogers relationship with Carter is even more light than the romance in Thor, and based around the fact that she’s the first girl that bothered to talk with Rogers, who has no idea how to talk to women.

Captain America covers a lot of ground in it’s two hours, maybe more so than it’s predecessors, but it’s a fun ride.  8/10.

Minor Marvel Movie-verse Spoilers.

The tesseract is hidden in a carving of the world tree from Viking mythology, and is said to be the jewel of Odin’s treasure room. In the comics, I always thought it was awkward that Thor, a Viking God, had such prominence in the Marvel Universe, especially given the amount of mythological heroes available. In the Cinematic Universe it actually makes more sense. Captain America connects us to the Nazis, who in real life were into Viking mythology. A whole sub genre of science fiction is based around Nazi super science/Nazi occultism (Like Indy). So in a superhero world it would make sense to have Viking mythology be real/the superheroes/villains of their time. So I really liked that.

Rogers and Barnes have a double date to the Worlds Fair, which is similar in design to the Stark Expo in Iron Man 2, and has similar music too. At one exhibit Professor Horton’s synthetic man is in full display. This was the original Human Torch from the comics. (Not the later Fantastic 4 Human Torch, ironically played by Evans)

Cap’s circular shield is made of the fictional metal Vibranium, but it’s not said where it came from.

We don’t hear the name but the men Rogers leads are the Howling Commandos, led by Nick Fury in the comics. One addition they have is James Falsworth, who in the comics becomes British hero Union Jack.

Howard Stark tries and fails to find Rogers in the arctic. He does find the cube, which presumably will be the basis for Arc Reactor technology.

Barnes dies and that scene comes really fast.

At the very end Captain America is told that he was asleep for nearly 70 years. I wish they just said “a long time” or something like that. As the movies continue, they will always be presumed to be set in the present, that will get dated fast.

There’s not really an extra scene after the credits but instead an actual trailer for next years Avengers, which is filming right now.

Thor Review, non-spoiler.

The Marvel Cinematic Universe expands with the new addition of Thor. Here we are introduced to Asgard, the mythical realm of the Viking gods (we get an explanation as how they were seen as gods). The basic story is the fall and redemption of a hero. Thor, son of Odin (Anthony Hopkins), out of arrogance and brashness reignites and ancient war with the Frost Giants. As punishment, his father banishes him to earth, specifically New Mexico. Odin also sends Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, to the same area, where no one can lift it. Thor cannot lift it until he proves himself worthy.

On Earth Thor meets Jane Foster, who is studying atmospheric phenomenon that relates to Asgard. Helping her are another woman named Darcy, and Erik Selvig. Here we get some humorous moments, seeing Thor as a fish out of water, not understanding the world around him. My favorite moment being when he walks into a pet store and asks for a horse. Thor attempts to get the hammer back while learning the true meaning of sacrifice, and must stop dark forces from threatening Asgard and, to some degree, Earth.

The strongest point of this movie is the Asgardian characters and their relationships, mainly the family of Odin, and his two sons Thor and Loki. In brief moments we forget we’re watching a summer blockbuster/comic book/fx movie, and think we are watching Shakespeare. This was done on purpose by having Shakespearean director Kenneth Branagh. Among comic fans Thor was often thought of as Shakespeare with superheroes. There aren’t many surprises plot wise, but the acting amongst the supporting cast, Hopkins, Portman, etc, is really solid. The lead villain is a great character to watch. One scene where he’s beginning to manipulate Thor is framed excellently. Thor’s redemption scene is just a tad weak, but not by much. There isn’t much to work with on the Foster/Thor relationship, but it works for what it is. It’s not full on romance, but they both look at the other as someone completely unique/unlike anyone the other has ever seen.

Many action movies have useless enemy henchmen that have no chance of beating the hero. In Thor the heroes actually have a chance to be hurt. On earth, someone with the right training can get a few shots in on Thor when he’s without his hammer.

The special effects mostly were pretty good. The giant robot at the end looked great. Also cool is a shot of how the galaxies are actually shaped like the Norse mythological tree of life that holds the 9 realms. A few shots of Asgard looked really CGI-ish, but that’s really hard to avoid. As usual the 3d effects added nothing, and in fact may have hurt the overall look of the FX.

Before commenting on Marvel Easter eggs I’ll say over all it a higher quality movie than you might expect from a summer blockbuster. 9/10

Regarding the wider Marvel Cinematic Universe that’s being built, there’s actually very few Easter eggs to catch, and none of them really affect the plot. MINOR SPOILERS.

There’s an offhanded remark about Stark.

Erik Selvig knew Bruce Banner, but not of his true fate.

Hawkeye is seen briefly at the SHIELD base.

There is a post credit scene but it’s not something you can guess.

Iron Man 2 Review (Tiny Spoilers)

The opening scene of Iron Man 2 shows the press conference at the end of Iron Man 1, with Stark’s impromptu reveal that he is indeed Iron Man. Cut to a run down apartment in Russia, where a dying old man is watching this on TV. His last words to his son Ivan Vanko, (Mickey Rourke) is that he (Tony) should have been you, and that he can at least pass his knowledge onto his son.

Six months later, Stark is enjoying his super powered celebrity status, and is as narcissistic as ever. Of course it’s a front as he secretly faces complications from his Iron Man suit, which was a real nice touch.

Meanwhile the US government wants the Iron Man suit, which Tony refuses to give, and during a Senate hearing he makes a mockery out of the government. This scene introduces Justin Hammer, a rival businessman to Stark. Hammer is a small thin, unlikeable, dorky rich dude, a perfect contrast to a hip cool Tony.

During the last six months, Ivan has been building his own super-powered suit. He becomes Whiplash from the comics, but I don’t think he’s ever called that on film. (We are also introduced to Natalia Romanova/Black Widow, but I don’t think she’s ever called Black Widow either) He comes for his revenge, and the history between his family and the Stark family is revealed. Tony’s relationship with his father is also explored.

The strong point of this movie, like the first one, is the characters. All the acting is great, and the interactions between everyone are fun to watch. Stark’s secretary Pepper Pots is loyal to him even though he drives her insane. Rhodes/War Machine points out to Tony that he obviously has military experience so Stark should listen to his suggestions in combat. Hammer and Ivan are good to watch in their devious relationship. Super spy Nick Fury is only in a few scenes, and he comes across more as just Samuel L. Jackson. Some fans might nitpick Black Widow’s straight hair and lack of Russian accent, but in the context of the movie it makes sense.

For a summer popcorn movie the action comes secondary. There’s really only three action scenes, Whiplash’s first encounter with Tony, a drunken brawl between War Machine and Iron Man, (Seeing a drunk Iron Man was great) and the big finale. Like the first one, the final showdown between Iron Man and the main villain was lacking. Iron Man and War Machine spent a lot of time fighting henchmen, and not enough time fighting the big bad.

Also the end has a lot of buildings blowing up and such, but it seems to no consequence as we don’t know of anyone getting hurt or killed. I know they don’t want to make an R rated movie, but the violence needed to have some consequence to have suspense.

Finally Pepper Pots becomes CEO of Stark Enterprises at the beginning of the movie. At the end, after all the mayhem, she doesn’t want it anymore and Tony regains the CEO position. I didn’t like that at all. You could look at it from a feminist interpretation that they’re saying women can’t handle the pressure etc. However as a comic nerd I think it’s more the comic book world problem of it’s status-qua never changing. Pepper being the CEO was a real change, and a great change. It’d make sense for future movies as Tony is busy being Iron Man.

To it’s credit, it didn’t get bogged down with fanboy Easter eggs, despite it being a series of steps to an Avengers movie. It’s it’s own story that stands on it’s own legs. The other Marvel universe info is just three things, and it’s nothing major,

Howard Stark helped start SHIELD, a half made Captain America Shield is in Tony’s house, and an agent asks “Do you know what that is.” This is more of a joke than exposition. The last scene has Tony meeting with Fury. Tony is about to look in a file called “Avengers Initiative” but Fury stops him. Stark’s relationship to this initiative  is, at present, not what you’d expect.

And yes there is a post credit scene that is cool, but maybe not as “Oh my god!’ as the first one. It does sort of explain what you think might be a minor plot hole in the movie.

Other franchises must take note of Marvel Studios in how their brand building with real characters, with effects and action supplementing them, instead of the other way around.

9.3 out of 10