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I’m watching IRON MAN THREE and I’m freshly struck by the reality that these can be actual, real movies and most of the time they just... aren’t?
This movie is interested in character. Not just Tony; it’s interested in Pepper, Aldrich, Maya, Happy... this is a movie about these people navigating a very particular point they find themselves at in their lives and all the humor and action stems from that foundation.
I’m not struggle to parse out something worth connecting to here. I’m connected, I’m interested. It’s witty and lively without feeling desperate to be liked. The direction is confident, it doesn’t feel like it’s rushing through beats or worried the audience won’t grasp something.
These are just basic measures of good filmmaking but watching these characters in this world with an actual all-around good filmmaker behind the wheel is making it starkly apparent that we simply do not get base-level good filmmaking in this franchise anymore.
I guess the root of this is actually deeper than technically “good” filmmaking. This movie knows why it exists. It has a statement to make, a set of ideas to explore. It’s not a cog in a larger machine, it’s a specific story that happens to build on and connect to other stories.
It also engages with the hero’s relationship with his heroism via the suit! It’s not just a passive piece of iconography that tells you “THIS IS IRON MAN”, it serves a specific thematic function. The story interrogates that iconography, wrestles with Tony’s relationship to it.
Looks like I’m gonna have to put this on hold as the SO is making me watch ACROSS THE UNIVERSE...
Anyway, back to IRON MAN THREE...
Another interesting thing about this movie: it is not, in the typical, Film Twitter sense of the word, "pretty." I have not been wowed by any of these images, nor have I felt the need to pull still frames and tweet about how gorgeous they look.
Another interesting thing about this movie: it is not, in the typical, Film Twitter sense of the word, "pretty." I have not been wowed by any of these images, nor have I felt the need to pull still frames and tweet about how gorgeous they look.
It is, however, very well shot.
The cinematography communicates story clearly, succinctly, effectively. And that's its job. Not to be "stunning" but to communicate. It's frank in a way that suits Black's writing and directing style.
The cinematography communicates story clearly, succinctly, effectively. And that's its job. Not to be "stunning" but to communicate. It's frank in a way that suits Black's writing and directing style.
The whole Trevor Slattery reveal is quite possibly the wittiest thing that has happened across all twenty-three movies. Kingsley’s performance is perfect. Brilliant reveal. Hilarious.
The free-falling Air Force One rescue sequence is an all-timer.
This movie has got everything.
This movie has got everything.
Brian Tyler's score is doing God's work here. This theme is so much fun and it's an absolute shame that we only ever got here and in AGE OF ULTRON. The way the MCU just casually wastes its composer's work like this is depressing.
