Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you’ve probably heard that Iron Man 3 comes to theaters this week (May 3, 2013)! Much to the rest of my family’s disappointment, I headed to an early Iron Man 3 screening last night…alone.
I was anticipating enjoying the movie last night, having seen Iron Man 1 and 2 and the Avengers (and all the other related marvel movies for that matter), but I was not anticipating laughing so much. Iron Man 3 is smart, hilarious and is packed with action.
Note: I tried to keep my review spoiler-free!
About Iron Man 3
Official movie synopsis: When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man? The filmmakers decided on a “back-to-basics” tone where they could explore what Tony Stark would do if all of his money and toys were stripped away from him and he was forced to find a way back to being a superhero.
“The exciting thing about Iron Man 3 is that it’s not only the culmination of the first two films, but it’s also a follow-up to Marvel’s The Avengers,” says Producer Kevin Feige. “It’s one of the first situations where you have a movie that is the sequel to two different films and in a way that liberates it to be more unique than anything that has come before it, which is what we’re most excited about.”
Feige continues, “Tony Stark is a man who is all about the journey and character arc. When we first met him in ‘Iron Man,’ he was a pompous fellow, building weapons, and almost immediately he suffers a life-changing accident when he is blown up by one of his own missiles in Afghanistan. It galvanizes him into building the Iron Man suit and to get out of the weapons game. ‘Iron Man 2’ tests that resolve as he has some health problems and then in ‘Marvel’s The Avengers’ he faces a world-changing event that not only includes seeing the powers of other superheroes, but also having a portal to another world opened above his head.”
Iron Man 3 brings back your favorite Iron Man characters (I particularly loved Gwyneth Paltrow’s role in this movie!) and adds several new characters that really shine, including Ben Kingsley’s fantastic portrayal of The Mandarin.
Harley: My favorite new Iron Man character
Never before has a Marvel movie had such a strong young character. In Iron Man 3 we are introduced to Harley, an 8-year-old boy, who meets Tony Stark in his home town of Rose Hill, Tennessee. As mentioned above, while writing the script for Iron Man 3, the filmmakers wanted to go “back to basics” with Tony Stark. The question becomes, “how can you make a man who has access to everything (money, resources, intelligence, etc) get back to the basics?
Producer Kevin Feige said, “We haven’t done a lot of films with kids and we were a little nervous about casting a kid that was too Hollywood who you could tell was acting cute or was pretending to be emotional. The whole storyline fails if we had a young actor that you didn’t believe. Robert was very generous with his time and attended a lot of the auditions with the kids. So you had kids that came in and tried to be as cool as Robert and that didn’t work. Then you had kids that were just in awe of Robert and that didn’t work and then finally, after a very long process, we found Ty Simpkins, who was able to just be a kid around Robert, but was also able to improvise with Robert in a very honest and organic way.”
“Ty did an amazing job in his audition and had us tearing up a little bit,” said executive producer Stephen Broussard. “There are not a lot of sad scenes in the film, but everyone was tearing up a little bit as he was relating the story about his own father to Tony Stark. While Ty didn’t have the biggest resume as some of the kids we were auditioning, he was clearly the best. He’s real and honest, which is what we want Tony Stark to encounter in the middle of the country.”
This is my favorite part of the casting story: when the filmmakers decided to offer the role of Harley to Ty, Robert Downey Jr. asked if he could make the call to tell Ty himself. Apparently, they really bonded from that point on, and it is very apparent in the movie.
Should I bring my kids to see Iron Man 3?
Iron Man 3 is rated PG-13 for action, intensity, and sci-fi violence. While the language is very mild and there are no sex scenes, there were a few scenes with scantily clad women (bikinis). I would recommend Iron Man 3 for older children/teens and not for little kids, and if you have any reservations, then definitely see it first for yourself in the theater and perhaps wait until the DVD comes out for kids to see it at home. In my generally conservative movie view, though, this was a very mild PG-13.
My final recommendation: Go see Iron Man 3 in the theaters as soon as you can. While I watched it in 3D (and came home with cool Iron Man 3-themed 3D glasses!), I think it would be just fine to skip the 3D this time around. Do, however, stick around past the credits for an extra treat (I promised I wouldn’t give any spoilers here, but the extra may feature another Avenger…).
- Like IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: facebook.com/ironman
- Follow IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man
- Visit the website: marvel.com/ironman3
Disclosure: I attended an Iron Man 3 screening and received a free press pass for the event. I paid for my own popcorn and Coke Zero, thank you very much.
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