Iron Man 3: Discussion Regarding SPOILERS

Last week I reviewed Iron Man 3, and my review was strictly non-spoiler. Now that some time has passed I’d like to talk about a few points of the movie, but even here I’ll try to avoid spoliers.

Around April of 2012 it was in the news that the government of China would be co-producing the film via DMG entertainment out of Beijing. We knew the villain was going to the the Mandarin, a Chinese villain from the comics. Not only that, just prior to the film’s release it was announced that China would in fact be getting it’s own cut of the movie. The China cut has extra footage including the appearance of Fang Bingbing, a popular actress in China.

However, once I saw the movie, I wondered why China had anything to do with it. I’d presumed, both because of the co-production by the Chinese Government, and because the lead villain being the Mandarin, that some of the movie would take place in China. However, absolutely none of the movie takes place in China. The character Iron Man himself spends the entire movie in America, with War Machine/Iron Patriot spending a few minutes on screen somewhere in Asia (but not China). This leaves me to wonder what could possibly have been in this China cut? What role could Fang possibly have had? Was she in those exclusive scenes? I can imagine her being in the film’s climax, but again who knows?

This leads me to what may be the most controversial plot twist in recent memory. I’ll still try not to spoil it here, but the actual use of the Mandarin is a hot topic amongst fandom. The Mandarin is a Chinese villain created in the late 1960s, who, especially in his earliest appearances, appeared to be a literary descendent of Fu Manchu and other stereotypical Asian “Yellow Peril” villains.

In Iron Man 3 Mandarin is played by white actor Ben Kingsley. I understand the concern over a Yellow Peril stereotype, but couldn’t you argue that it’s just as racist to have a Chinese character called the Mandarin played by a white man? This is an example of white-washing, having white people play characters that were originally not white. It’s also been called race-bending, in reference to the white cast of The Last Airbender. This website has it’s own take on the Iron Man 3′s Mandarin.

Not only that, but I feel the way the Mandarin was used also did not make sense due to the content of the first Iron Man film. In the first movie Tony Stark is captured by a terrorist group called the Ten Rings. That name was in reference to the ten rings Mandarin has, which in the comics are alien in origin. Said rings are present in Iron Man 3, but are just plain rings. Marvel also made a few comic books taking place in the Marvel Cinematic Universe that also made use of the Ten Rings group. During one of which agent Coulsen said the Ten Rings have never made an attack on American soil. Given the prescence of the Ten Rings terrorist group in the first Iron Man, as well as their use in in-continuity comics, I presumed that Mandarin would be ramping up his group to launch and all out attack against America in Iron Man 3. Story wise it made perfect sense.

In my actual review I said Iron Man 3 is the first truly bad movie from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. My reason for saying that isn’t because of the Mandarin plot twist per say, but because of what I feel it does to the movie. The beginning of the movie has a very serious, dark tone. Terror attacks are launced against the United States, people actually die, (but not actual cast members which I’ve previously objected to) and this looks to be a movie with super-heroes dealing with real world problems. Sounds great, but once the twist comes the tone of the movie shifts to being outright goofy.

Early on the Mandarin videos are chillingly awesome. He seeks to teach us “lessons” regarding the genocide of Native Americans, how fortune cookies are an American invention, and how the Mann’s Chinese theater in L.A. is a cheap American knock off of Chinese culture (he blows it up). It seems that, in the world of this movie, the Mandarin is the same thing. What does that say for the “lessons” he attempts to teach, which deal with the very real ugly past of the United States?

If you wanted to, you could read a lot into Iron Man 3 about Hollywood not taking terrorism seriously, and promoting leftist conspiracies that the War on Terror is actually a ruse by big companies for profit. Some people belief that anyway. Just throwing it out there.

According to the article regarding the Chinese co-production of the movie, in the first quarter of 2012, China overtook Japan as the second biggest film market behind the United States. 2011 was the tenth straight year for double digit growth of China’s box office. That year it’s box office was 2.08 billion, up 31% from the previous year. The same article notes that China has a cap on foreign films, but films co-produced by China do not fall under the cap and are also cleared by censors more easily.

What I am about to say is pure speculation, I have no way to confirm this. I would hate to think that the character Mandarin was used the way he was to appease China so the movie could be shown in the now number two box office market in the world.

In two less serious notes; the Marvel Comics Universe has always operated on what is known as a sliding time scale. Meaning the characters, some of which have been around for 50 years now, don’t age much and the newest stories are always presumed to take place in the present. This means that now and then character origins are updated to keep with the times. Iron Man Three has a prologue set in 1999, and specifically states later that 13 years have passed since then. The first Iron Man gives us the dates of the death of Stark’s parents, and in  Captain America Nick Fury tells Cap he’s been asleep for almost 70 years. It appears thus far that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is not on a sliding time scale, but in fact is moving in real time. If this is so it is curious to see how things play out in ten + years. Iron Man 3 ends in such a way that it could be the last Iron Man film if Marvel decided it to be so. They have so many characters, that I wonder if they in fact to plan to just phase some heroes out over time in favor of new ones that haven’t been filmed yet.

Relating to that, in the comics whoever is President in the real world is always presumed to be President in the Marvel Universe. Iron Man 3 shows us the President and gives his name. (It’s not Obama obviously). This, along with the timeline, is a subtle but stark departure from the comic book universe it’s adapting. (Also the Vice President was in on the villain’s scheme? Really?)

Well that’s my 27 cents. What do you think?

2012 in review

The WordPress.com stats helper monkeys prepared a 2012 annual report for this blog.

Here’s an excerpt:

600 people reached the top of Mt. Everest in 2012. This blog got about 3,700 views in 2012. If every person who reached the top of Mt. Everest viewed this blog, it would have taken 6 years to get that many views.

Click here to see the complete report.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 Review

I’m only a casual video game player nowadays, so I’m excited to write a game review. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 2 adapts the Secret Wars and Civil War story arc, from writers Brian Michael Bendis and Mark Miller.

The action starts immediately and in the first level you’re on a secret mission in Latveria with Nick Fury, who fights along side you. Dr. Doom, Latveria’s usual leader, died at the events of last game, but you run afoul of it’s new leader. The next level features the repercussions of that, followed by the Civil War story.

The Civil War comic story is that a team of young superheroes is fighting some villains, and massive human casualties, including children, result. The government passes a law saying all heroes must register with the government or be arrested. Tony Stark leads the charge for registration, and Captain America leads a force against it. Basically a superhero civil war occurs, with some villains getting into the mix as well.

At this part of the game you choose which side to be on, the pro or anti-registration sides. Each side has a few exclusive heroes and has it’s own story. However both sides have the same final levels, The ending in a way is better, or at least makes more sense, that the actual comic.

Once you beat one side you can play on the other, but you have to start from the very beginning. I played the pro-reg side first, thinking it would be easier. I was disappointed to see the anti-side was almost the same story anyway. The levels we’re about the same, in both sides for example, you fight against a giant character. (Goliath for pro, Yellowjacket for anti) Plus upon beating it you can play as any character the second time around. Meaning Iron Man can fight on the anti-reg side against Iron Man. This made for some interesting screen shots. I was also disappointed that only two villains, (not counting Deadpool) Green Goblin and Venom, were playable. I would have liked Bullseye or Taskmaster or several others. The Punisher is sadly absent, though he is mentioned. As in MAU1, Nick Fury is playable once you beat it. There’s more about him but I’d have to ruin the story.

While I’ve been out of touch with video games I’ve heard through the grape vine that, while games are much more expansive these days, they just aren’t as hard as they used to be. This is for a number of reasons. I have to say MAU2 is harder than its predecessor. First time through I played on the hardest level, during which most of the henchmen we’re easy, (Except the last two levels) but some of the bosses were tough. Upon beating the hardest mode a legendary mode is unlocked, which is pretty difficult all around. The Fusion powers are really cool and you really need them. MAU1 was pretty easy, but it did have a few bosses where you really had to figure out what to do, as opposed to just straight combat. While MAU2 was harder I did miss this component. Also the final boss wasn’t really that hard.

The game play is about the same as the first. You can save and switch characters from any point so that’s cool. I think the use of characters is balanced out better. In MAU1 I unlocked Daredevil while in Asgard. Cool, but what good is Daredevil against Frost Giants and Loki? In this game you mostly fight soldiers and robots, so all characters are useful. Like the first one Thor, Iron Man, and Wolverine are really good. Cap seems a little worse. Deadpool is fantastic to use, and is so funny. Stan Lee’s cameo is fantastic. Unique conversations are back and each conversation has an Aggressive, Diplomatic, and Defensive response. They don’t change the game but give little tidbits of info and bonuses are given for each attitude. Team bonuses are present but there didn’t seem to be as many named teams this time.

Most of what I didn’t like, besides what I’d mentioned, are little things. MAU1 had tons of extra costumes, that’s good. But using each costume was almost like a new character, as it had its own stats to build. That’s bad. MAU2 was not like this, that’s good. But each character only had one extra costume, that’s bad. (You got Spidey’s Armor costume too.) Nick Fury however did not seem to have a second costume……. that’s bad. Simulator discs were present but were more training exercises than actual missions fighting other villains like the first game. They did seem easier too, but I’d say that’s bad. (MAU1 discs were REALLY hard though) There was also hidden art which I didn’t care for. Adding to the story were audio discs where you’d hear conversations or news-reports advancing the story. These were at such random places though, video game logic aside it didn’t make sense. They should have been at the bases or something like that. The trivia game returned. MAU1 had lots of expository dialogue to help you. This game had hidden files that you had to read. Forget I’m a teacher for a moment and let me say who wants to read files in a video game!?!

 Many years ago I thought how cool would it be to have a Marvel comics video game, with tons of playable characters and levels all over the Marvel Universe. That was MAU1. The sequel’s goal was to adapt a specific story, which it did well. Most of the game you play in America, esp NYC. Other places you go are Latveria, the Negative Zone, and the fictitious African nation of Wakanda. MAU2 is fun to play and harder, but has small disappointments and I didn’t like how it played out the second time around. Due to that I’d give it somewhere in the 70s on a scale of 1-100.

I do hope they keep the two sides formula for future installments. Marvels Secret Invasion and Dark Reign storylines would fit well into that, but you should definitely be able to play as more villains. Until then. Make Mine Marvel!

Genius and wierdness.

With the death of Michael Jackson in the news an old idea of mine popped in my head. Michael Jackson was simply the greatest pop star of our day.  His name of course was tarnished by various accusations. I’m not here to comment on the validity of those, but what we can agree on was that Jackson was a pretty weird guy. I’m sure he couldn’t help it, having all that fame and money at such a young age. (For the purposes of this blog, I won’t get into what is considered “weird” or “normal” because we all have a general idea.)

Thinking of other top talent in other fields I see the same thing. Alan Moore, Tim Burton,  H.P. Lovecraft, Prince, all considered the greats of their field, and all, for one reason or another, considered weird.

So my question is, to be considered one of the greats of an artistic field, do you have to lose your mind? This is something I’ve pondered, having artistic aspirations myself, but also having a desire to raise a family. I don’t want to go off the deep end if I’m raising a family, but do I need to go there to achieve the higher heights?

I’ve nothing scientific to back this up with. I’m just wondering aloud, so tell me, what do you think?

R.I.P. Bea Arthur

       Actress Bea Arthur died this past Saturday morning from cancer. She starred in the Golden Girls, which was one of my favorite shows as a kid.  That was one hilarious show. In 2001 I saw her do her one woman show at the State Theatre in Easton Pennsylvania.  I think it was just called Bea. In that she did some show tunes and told stories and jokes about her older TV shows like Maude, but talked a little bit about the Golden Girls too. Great show, great memory. She’ll be missed. I’m enclosing a video of her Sex and the City Parody. Good stuff.

Hello out there!

Greetings, this is my first blog on wordpress. On this blog I’ll be talking about my creative projects, as well as comics, movies, and lots of nerdy stuff. I write as a hobby and have done poetry for years. I don’t draw but like comics and just got into film making. I used to keep a myspace blog, and will be re-using some old entries from there.  I also have another blog at www.andnowforsomethingserious.wordpress.com where I’ll be talking about world events and more sober matters, but this blog here is where the fun will be! Enjoy!!!!