Iron man 3

I’m going through a phase where no movie seems to impress me. Being a hard-core comics lover I’ve read all kinds of stories and seen all kinds of twists. The last movie I loved was Avengers exactly a year back. Honestly I didn’t even like Dark Knight Rises; it’s exactly like a comic series I read a while back (with the same name). I don’t know if it happens to everybody but I just lose interest halfway through the movie. It’s like I can tell what’s going to happen next. Just when I had decided that there’s no cure for me, I saw Iron man 3.

Let’s just be honest. The first movie was Okay. The second was a CG packed disaster. Then Tony Stark carried the nuclear warhead into the wormhole destroying the alien mother ship and saving the world (or maybe just New York) in Avengers. We also witnessed him transforming into a selfless hero. Before that he was just a selfish, attention-seeking, wannabe role-model. Even Batman never comes out of his mask and says “I’m Batman” (and by God he says “I’m Batman” a lot). That’s when we learned this Iron man really is something. This story happens after the alien invasion.

Yes, our lovable genius-slash-billionaire-slash-philanthropist is back. Did I miss something? Oh yes, he’s not a playboy anymore. He’s in a committed relationship with, who else, Miss Pepper Potts who was just a personal assistant and then became CEO and finally his lover (workplace affairs I say). Tony’s only concern now is her safety and spends sleepless nights designing better armours trying to keep the only thing he loves safe.

Now we all know what happens when a protagonist is concerned about his love and he just happens to be stupid enough to reveal his secret identity to the world. There’s a reason superheroes wear masks buddy!

Now let’s see who we’ve got here. There’s a troubled genius who once sought Tony for partnership but was let down because our charmer was charming a… better partner. Obviously that’s not gonna go well right? We’ve seen thousands of movies to know that. Tony confesses in the very beginning that he had created demons. I thought that’s just a metaphor. Now that I think of it, that’s a brilliant analogy. Don’t worry, I’m not spoiling the story, people won’t even consider this correlation when they watch the movie. Now you can.

Then we have a terrorist played by Ben Kingsley. Absolutely brilliant performance I must say. When was the last time you saw a bad guy in the movies and thanked god that this character does not exist in real life. He’s that good. He sends out videos like our regular terrorist, looks like a regular terrorist, kills like a regular terrorist, but when you hear his voice you just shrink in your seat. Such a mixture of terror and confidence he exudes that even the president starts sweating in his oval office. But what really impressed (or dazzled, call it whatever) me performance-wise was his other personality. Here’s where I stop and let you find it out on your own.

As if these weren’t problem enough for the poor Tony we have bloody mutants now, err, super-hot mutants exactly. Who are they, what they can do? Well, watch the movie.

Remember when Captain America mocked Iron man saying “Take off the armour and what are you?” I think our Tony took that a little personally (regardless of the perfect comeback in that movie) because he proved what he is even without the armour. You just need brain you see. And brain is another important subject in the movie, because well, that’s our operating system and like any other software it can be upgraded. We do it every day, learning new skills and stuffs. A prodigy takes it further and upgrades the basic kernel, the DNA. Ok now I’ll stop.

Pepper is another amazing character. I like it when the ladies in the movie aren’t just eye candy and actually have a role to play. Pepper is such a great character. No matter how brilliant the guy (Tony in our case) may be, he needs a woman to take care of him. That is our Pepper. She even gives up her CEO position in the second movie because she wanted to look after Tony and not the company. How many women would do that? She is everything a guy could ever want. Gwyneth Paltrow plays it so good (that it was worth looking up her name). No wonder the playboy stopped playing the field and retired.

Now I have to sing praises for another character. Guess who it is! I can safely say that whatever you thought was wrong. No, it’s not Robert Downey Jr (who is such an awesome actor I simply cannot do justice with my writing, he’s the show). The character I’m talking about is not even alive. It’s Jarvis, the Artificial Intelligence system that controls the entire Stark mansion and also is available to Tony in the armour and does his work for him from telephoning people to blowing people up. What I loved about Jarvis is its genuine concern for its master’s welfare often jibing at his recklessness with sarcastic comments. It helps him investigate, it helps him navigate, it gives him company when Pepper has gone to bed and he can’t sleep. It affectionately calls Tony “Sir” and Tony reciprocates by calling it “Buddy”. If computers are this faithful to their creators then there won’t be a threat of computers taking over mankind like in Terminator or Matrix. Is it wrong that I fell in love with a computer and is it even more awkward that the A.I happens to speak in… uh… a male voice?

Whatever, I just loved the scene when Tony is a hundred feet underwater weighed down by his own armour and Jarvis says

“Take a deep breath sir”

Stan Lee makes cameo appearance as usual. In case you’re wondering who in the shell that is, he’s not a martial arts champion and in no way related to Jet Lee or Bruce Lee. True Marvel fan would know Stan. He created many (hundreds in fact) superhit characters like Spiderman, X-men, Fantastic Four, all of Avengers including Iron man. He can be seen in all of marvel movies based on his characters, for a few seconds only though. Why am I saying this? So the next time you see a marvel movie you can look out for a really old guy with bushy white moustache and square glasses. That’s him, the god of Marvel universe. In this movie though, he’s seen judging a bunch of models in bikini. You lucky old *censored*.

There is no lack of humour in the movie. Even during intense moments Tony comes out of the screen and tickles you (3D movie ya’know). Then you’ll laugh and be like “Oh come on! It’s a serious scene” and then you’ll giggle some more.

In overall the movie is okay (in a universe where okay is synonymous to awesome). An evil genius, a terrorist and bunch of mutants may sound cliché but there’s nothing cliché in this movie. You have to see it to see. Seems like the hero is trapped between a pool of bad guys doesn’t it? I guess I made it seem a lot complex. How he deals with all this mess makes a fantastic story.

If you are a Marvel fan like me then you won’t be disappointed. Another marvellous creation from Marvel.

Moral of the story: We all create Demons!