FILM: Iron Man III

Recap

In Iron Man we see Tony Stark kidnapped and turned into a man depending on a car battery to keep him alive. Eventually he put his amazing knowledge to work and finds a way to get rid of the car battery and remodel Stark Enterprises beyond weaponry.

Following that, Iron Man 2 in essentially about leaving legacies. We see a maniac attempt to kill Tony, who is already dying from the thing that’s ironically keeping him alive. We also see the initial formations of The Avengers in this film. 

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Have you ever looked back at your past to only have it catch-up with you? Well this is what Iron Man 3 is about. With the events of The Avengers still fresh in his mind, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is finding it hard to catch a breath. Aliens blowing up the earth; Demi-gods trying to take over or save the earth; psycho experiments gone wrong, but in the right way; and then his own creation: the Iron Man are all rolled into one catastrophic memory causing his insomnia. If that isn’t bad enough, there’s another psycho on the loose blowing everything up for the sake of teaching the US President a lesson. For some reason, everywhere Tony turns something is blowing up and it’s adding to his own anxiety episodes.

The Story

So practically, Tony Stark is trying to settle back into his life of being a billionaire philanthropist, but since The Avengers Initiative, he is finding it hard to wrap his head around the fact that there are more worlds to be safe from (or to save) than one. Spending his sleeping time in his cave, Stark decides to make and remake multiple models of his Iron Man suit. And then comes the issue of unexplained airtime discrepancies from a terrorist named, The Mandarin, and suddenly Iron Man has something better to do with his suits, but as luck would have it, he’s stuck with a prototype.

Overall, I thought the story was well crafted to suit the internal workings of Stark’s mind. Watching it, you wouldn’t realise that it’s jaded and fragmented, you just think there’s a lot of things blowing up and going wrong. It’s definitely one of those movies with bits and pieces that are predictable, but the nooks and crannies that twist in this film as typically hilarious and surprising. I’ve always found that Marvel has a lot of room for quirky one liners, and after seeing all three Iron Man movies in a row, I have to say that the Iron Man franchise has the most quirky lines (obviously due to the nature of Tony Stark). My only issue I had was that there was no clear opponent in this movie – if I spell it out it would be a spoiler so I’m not going to go through the details. At the same time though, I liked the fact that there wasn’t. I also love that Stark really gets back to basics in this film and you realise that he really is Iron Man regardless of the suit – think about that as you watch the film.

The Cast

Robert Downey Jr. – Who doesn’t love Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man? He was hilarious (as always) in delivering his one-liners, as well as his sharp comebacks. But he has this incredible way of bringing you to a point where you also care for Stark during his down times. Overall, there are no negatives from me on his performance.

Gwyneth Paltrow – I love Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper. She has this incredible way of matching Downey Jr. during their dialogue acrobatics as well as creating a strong character of her own. I love that she’s more than a damsel in distress in this movie. She’s been the accidental target in the previous films, but this time I love that its intentional and she gets as much say in it as she has in the previous films.

Don Cheadle – Reprising his role as James Rhodes, I like that Cheadle gets to be in the suit as well as out of the suit just as much as Downey Jr. Although his role is to be the patriotic hero in this franchise, I enjoy the fact that he is also Stark’s bestfriend.

Guy Pearce – I’m a little disappointed with the fact that Pearce’s character was a little too obvious. If it weren’t for the pinnacle combat scenes, then I really would have discarded Aldrich Killian as a Marvel villain. I just felt like they could’ve have done more with his character, but at the same time, I understand that if they did then it would’ve been more obvious – I’m really in two minds with Killian.

Ty Simpkins – Stole the show, easily. Harley ideally is Stark’s unexpected sidekick in this film. A random kid in Tennessee who comes across Iron Man in his shed. Simpkins is almost as feisty as Paltrow when it comes to the dialogue banters. My favourite character in the film.

Special Effects

Things blow up like every five minutes. Seriously. I have never seen so many shards of whatever being spayed across the screen in my life. But besides that firepower in this film, I have to say the incredible amount of times that Stark shifts from being in and out of suit was incredible work. With the armour occasionally flying everywhere, it was great to see that everything came together (somewhat) nicely to save the day. Kudos to the special effects team – seriously, I have no words to describe the amount of work they put into this film.

Overall

Out of the three films in this franchise, I definitely like this film the best. I thought the story mirrored Stark’s psychological framework perfectly (whether or not I was supposed to pick that up or I just read it in that way – who knows? – it was well crafted); the characters were well rounded and supported the storyline soundly; you got a kick out of the humour embedded into the film; and you thoroughly enjoyed the progression of how Stark saves the day. I think everyone will enjoy seeing this film so go see it today!

Star Rating: 3.5 Stars

Next on sL: TBA

FILM: Warm Bodies

It’s the apocalypse and the dead are roaming around thestreets trying to find someone alive to pick their brains on what it means tofeel alive. While that’s happening, the living are trying to either re-kill thedead or find a cure for…being dead – either way, if things don’t end well,someone ends up dead – bullet to the head or guts spread across the road, it’sa no-brainer. Then there are the “Bonies” who seem to take everything seriouslyand fully accept that their living-dead situation is much better than beingrecognisable, so they shed their skin and go on feeding their bare bones. Yetin this world, they all want one thing: connection.

The Story

One of the best amalgamations of comedy, romance and action,there’s enough for everyone to love. It’s scary enough to believe, yet thecomic relief is just so freaking hilarious that you completely forget yourfear. There are moments when you want to say, “awww,” but end up saying,“ewwww,” instead because, well it isa Zombie movie.

I seriously was amazed by how well the literature referencein this film was prolonged before we understood the gist of the storyline theywere going for – I don’t want to spoil it for you guys so I’ll let you figureit out (but it’s one of those, “Oh, I get it!” moments). I also loved themetaphors of “you’re dead in life if you have no connection” and “you’re reallyonly dead without love in your life” – it really makes you think about what wedo live for in life.

I think the story was simple, yet jam-packed with referencesand philosophies that are well embedded in the events of trying to find a curefor being dead.

The Cast

Nicholas Hoult – I’veonly every seen Hoult in X-Men: FirstClass, but I have to say, for a guy who had more lines off-screen than onscreen, he was phenomenal. His deliberately awkward chemistry with Teresa Palmerwas hilarious to watch, yet was the most endearing quality of his character,“R”. I thought Hoult played the role well and delivered a performance that willbe remembered for a long time.

Teresa Palmer – Ihave to say, I’m so glad she’s badass in this movie just like I Am Number Four. I mean badass enoughto be a damsel in distress, but badass to the core to handle a gun andfire-at-will. Palmer delivered a great performance as the daughter trying tofind the father she lost in the war between the living and the dead, and thegirl trying to understand the dead.

Rob Corddry –Comic relief came from Corddry with his fantastic one-liners (between grunts)and zombie movements. I think he was more alive than he was dead from themoment we met him – there was a real element of attachment to his characterthat makes you trust him from the of-set.

Analeigh Tipton –Another brilliant role for Tipton. She was an added source of comic relief likeCorddry, but at the same time, she was able to deliver some heartfelt memoriesin explaining the loss that the world had suffered because of the disease.

Makeup

Ok, you cannot talk about a Zombie movie and not talk aboutmakeup. One word: believable. They were freaky enough to be dead, yet appealingenough to be likeable. Does that make sense? Like they were obviously thewalking dead, but it’s not like ZombieLand where you want to hit the rough and run. It’s more like, you yell, butonly long enough to just get over the initial fear and then you can shoot themor run. Think Goth on a really attractive person – like they somehow can pullthis look off no matter how much mascara or black lipstick they’ve packed on.

Overall

I loved it. I laughed so hard and if there was a point thatwas long enough to be sad, I think I would have cried…well depends really. Butpoint is: IT IS WORTH SEEING. I will warn young kids that there’s a bit of gorein there, so it’s not your typical family movie – it’ll be one for the teensthough. Boys, you’ll love it just as much as the girls – don’t worry, there’smore guns than kissing. Seriously though, go see it.

sL Star Rating 5 Stars

Next on sL: Iron Man 3