Iron Man 3

 

 

 

After a tough, tough week of finals, it's so great to get back to writing on here. Sorry to keep you all waiting, but I will be playing catch up over the next couple of weeks, so check in regularly for new posts!

Expectations:
After the disaster that was Iron Man 2 and the amazingness that was The Avengers, I didn't really know what the heck to expect with Iron Man 3. The first Iron Man film was great, and Robert Downey Jr. is the perfect Tony Stark. However, once you have a bad sequel, you tend to follow that bad sequel with another bad sequel, and I thought Iron Man 3 may just be another bad sequel. From the trailers, I was not at all convinced that The Mandarin, played by Ben Kingsley, was going to be intimidating at all, and I cannot stand Guy Pearce, so the villains did not intrigue me whatsoever. My only confidence was found in Robert Downey Jr., who isn't a bad person to have confidence in.

Plot:
Iron Man 3 brought with it a lot of twists and turns, and that excitement is what keeps people returning to the theater for these type of action shows (along with the millions in marketing and such). Amazingly, the twists in this film were actually pretty well done, particularly the utilization of the previously under-utilized Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). With a much calmer, less cocky Tony Stark, the door was opened for his relationship with Potts to become more than just an excuse for Iron Man to have a girl. Also, the scene of him going into space ("never to return") in The Avengers really made me care about their relationship, in a dorky "I like comic book films" kind of way. The conflict with the villains did seem a bit insignificant, particularly now that we know Iron Man just has to call his Avengers friends if he really needs help. Nevertheless, the focus of this film was not the conflict with the villains but rather the relationship between Tony Stark and Pepper Potts. A much simpler Iron Man made for a much simpler story, which aided in the twistiness of the twists.

Characters:
For the most part, I either really loved or really disliked the characters in Iron Man 3, so I didn't have a very hard time figuring the positives and negatives...

Negatives:
As I said before, I cannot stand Guy Pearce. I don't really understand why I don't like him, but I don't. Unfortunately for him, my opinion of him did not change after his performance as scientist-turned-baddy, Aldrich Killian. He just wasn't very frightening nor was he cool or clever. The villainous roles were just a big miss for me, with Iron Man 3... and that rhymes. Also, while some people may be fans of Don Cheadle's Rhodes character, but I just don't care for him in that role. Terrence Howard was much better in that role, but, really, War Machine is a boring sidekick, in my opinion. Lastly, I thought the focus that was given to Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan was unnecessary and did nothing but ad to the length of the film.

Positives:
Of course, as expected, Robert Downey Jr. was his amazingly hilarious self, and, if anyone else ever plays Iron Man, they will not do the role justice. He has, single-handedly, taken Iron Man from an average super hero to Marvel's go-to guy, and overcoming Spiderman is not an easy task. Additionally, the huge increase in screen time for Paltrow's Potts really helped both characters become more than they could ever be alone. Even with the greatness that is Iron Man and Robert Downey Jr., my absolute favorite part of this film was Ty Simpkin's Harley Keener, who became Iron Man's little minion and had the same sarcastic attitude as Tony Stark. As a sucker for child actors, I thought he did a really great job in the role, and I can't wait to see him in future films.

Conclusion:
Few things make me happier than to see the theater filled to the brim with butts and excitement. Iron Man 3 will probably have the biggest opening weekend of the summer, if I had to guess, and, as a result the theater was a happening place last Friday night! Actiony, super hero films would not be nearly as good without the enthusiasm of a large crowd, so that definitely improved my Iron Man 3 experience. Also, it did not hurt that the movie was really great. Downey Jr. fit the mold perfectly, yet again, and I hope that he chooses to play Iron Man again in the future. Usually, by the time of the third film of a franchise, I am ready for the towel to be thrown in, but Iron Man is unique. Not only is Downey Jr.'s super hero portrayal great, but, unlike most super heroes, Iron Man brings so many laughs, much of which is attributed to his wit. With the scientific background and the charm of a multi-billionaire, Iron Man is more able to ground himself in reality than most (non-Batman) super heroes. He is able to accomplish this without the "dark"ness of Batman, and that is something that should be recognized. I give Iron Man 3 3.54 out of 5 stars.

The Avengers

Expectations:
Let's be honest with one another for just a minute. How many people have ever seen a movie with a ton of really famous stars in it that just really, really sucked? Answer: Everyone. How many people have a seen a movie with so much CGI and so much unrealistic crap that it just really, really sucked? Answer: Everyone. Now my expectations were that, when you combine those two elements of suckiness, you get The Avengers. There is just no way that you could possibly set your expectations too high for this film. We all know how awful Thor and Iron Man 2 were. We all know that nobody can make a good Hulk movie. We all know that Loki looks retarded with that antler helmet on. Sure, the action scenes would rock, and every comic book guru would pee in their pants while waiting in the theater at midnight. The question was could they overcome all of the aforementioned problems and make a good, solid movie?

Plot:
While the plot of the movie certainly wasn't deep or real, I will hand it to Joss Whedon and crew for coming up with a way to make every character share an almost equal-sized role. This film had so many big characters, which is not an easy aspect to deal with, but they dealt with it almost perfectly. The only real big problem I had with the plot structure was the fact that it took so long for us to actually see them all together. There was too much jumping around from place to place at the beginning of the film. The other small problem that I had was not really a problem with the movie but, instead, a problem with film critics and watchers. No one can tell me that the final battle scene didn't mimic the final scene in Transformers: Dark of the Moon (a film that everyone hated for no reason at all). While I loved the scenes in both films, can someone please explain to me how you can love the one film and hate the other? Regardless, I was completely surprised at how sound the plot was. While it certainly isn't Oscar-worthy, people can still love more than the just the characters in the film, and that is a strong statement for a superhero movie.

Characters:
While there were a few low points character-wise, most every character was dealt with fantastically well. There was very little randomness to the interaction and appearance of these characters. Robert Downey Jr. was fantastic, as usual, in his role as Iron Man. While I expected her to fade into the background, Scarlett Johannson really surprised me at how interesting her character was. Samuel L. Jackson was just as so so as he ever is. Chris Evans certainly carried his momentum from Captain America into this film. Tom Hiddleston's performance as Loki turned out to be much more real and raw than I ever could have imagined. While the antler helmet did take away from your ability to accept him as real, I was very impressed with his performance. On a negative side of things, there were a few characters that I didn't quite like in the film. Looking back, Chris Hemsworth's Thor really had no major role in the movie at all. I think Hulk's presence really took away from Thor's ability shine as the big strong dude that does big strong dude stuff. Also, I was not a big fan of Hawkeye, played by Jeremy Renner. I don't really know why, but I just wasn't impressed.

Best Character: Although I never saw the newest Hulk film, I have heard nothing positive about it, which is what lead everyone to think that Hulk would be a low point in The Avengers. Boy were we wrong! Everyone who has seen the movie knows exactly how great Hulk was portrayed, but I'm not completely sold that it was because of Mark Ruffalo's performance. I give the credit, yet again, to Joss Whedon.

Worst Character: Agent Maria Hill, played by Cobie Smulders, was absolutely the stupidest character in the whole film. I do not understand why she had anywhere close to that big of a role. She wasn't basically just a person that gave Nick Fury a reason to have lines.

Conclusion:
The Avengers shattered mine and everyone else's expectations, while taking the box office numbers for quite a spin as well. Was it the most solid movie ever? No. However, it was extremely well put together, which means that comic freaks and movie freaks all need to invite Joss Whedon to their birthday party this year! The comedy in the film was a bit over-bearing at times, but it was certainly fun to watch with everyone cracking up at 1 o'clock in the morning. The plot wasn't realistic, but it wasn't supposed to be. Almost everything that went wrong in The Avengers had an excuse, which is rare. With all the positive things that have been said, I must say one thing that everyone may not agree on. Contrary to what everyone was putting on Facebook and what not, The Avengers is NOT the best superhero movie ever made. That title is held and will likely always be held by The Dark Knight, and don't you ever forget that. I give The Avengers 4.11 out of 5 stars.

Captain America: The First Avenger

Expectations:
While I have enjoyed watching the pre-Avengers movies, the only one that has impressed me so far is Iron Man, which would have sucked without Robert Downey Jr. Thor was ok but should have been much better. Iron Man 2 just purely sucked. I have not seen the Hulk movie yet, but it just can't be that good. With that being said, I didn't expect much with Captain America. I knew it wouldn't be aweful, but Chris Evans is no Robert Downey Jr. and World War II is no 2011. Once again I must admit to knowing nothing about comic books, making it impossible for me to have accuracy expectations heading in. I also didn't understand why the first Avenger was the last one made. The timing kind of made me think that Captain America was going to suck more than the other pre-Avengers movies, but everyone was going to be forced to watch in anticipation.

Plot:
As most know, the movie is set during World War II, which gives the movie a bit of a classic film feel (except for the CGI). The beginning of the movie was a bit rocky. I personally think they should have waited a bit to bring Red Skull in, but the back story on Steve Rogers (Captain America) was fantastic. Rogers was small in stature but had a huge heart and of course was transformed into Captain America. Somethings went wrong in the process, and Rogers ends up with a role in the war that isn't that of a soldier. I really thought Rogers reacted strangely to this role, considering he is supposed to be a man with such a great heart. But he got back to normal rather quickly. Something that really impressed me with this movie was the final battle and eventually the final scenes. So many super hero movies have a final battle scene that lasts all of two seconds (cough cough THOR!). The film makers really embraced the end of the movie, rather than just focusing on the character build up. I thought the movie was very well arranged and had great balance between story, character, and action.

Characters:
Chris Evans was great in his role as Captain America. His likability really transferred over to the character, which made Captain America what I believe he is supposed to be--a figure that people can look up to. His nemesis, Red Skull, was played by Hugo Weaving who, with the help of a computer generated face, really freaked the crap out of me. I didn't really feel like Red Skull was the enemy of Captain America, but, instead, I felt like he was the enemy of the entire world. Maybe this was reinforced by Captain America's politically correct team, including a black guy, an Asian guy, and even a French guy. It was a bit unusual but good. The inclusion of Howard Stark (Iron Man's dad) was fantastic. From the previews it looked as if he would just make a quick, helpful appearance, but he really had a pretty big role in the movie and fit in quite well. It was not as awkward as the cameos that we are used to seeing.

Best Character: Peggy Carter, played by Hayley Atwell, was fantastic as Captain America's love interest. She had a very big connection to the storyline, which is the one thing that Marvel usually does well. She was very tough and really showed up the guys often.

Worst Character: Bucky Barnes, played by Sebastian Stan, was very useless as Rogers's best friend. It was easy to tell that we were supposed to be connected to him, but I just didn't feel it. He was one of the few unnecessary pieces of the movie.

Conclusion:
Captain America was a great surprise. I can't decide whether I like it better than Iron Man, but it is definitely a close race. The ending was fantastic, as I sat there wondering "How will they get him to 2011?" Will I rush out to buy it, well... no, but I am more excited about The Avengers now. If you haven't heard, the first preview for The Avengers plays after the credits of Captain America, and the movie promises to be amazing. I am extremely hopeful that there will be more Captain America films in the future and cannot wait to see if Marvel can learn from past mistakes and make great movies. I give Captain America 3.001 out of 5 stars and am OFFICIALLY pumped about The Avengers!