Ironman 3 Review

Dear bloggie,

Watched Ironman 3 and have to say have mixed reaction towards it.

First, I would like to say what I liked about it:

1. Less Ironman, more Tony Stark. Taking a book outta Nolan's Batman series, Sometimes less is more. I have to admit, it does add more drama towards the movie seeing the more vulnerable Tony running around and docking normal grunts and also gives more "zing" whenever Ironman makes an appearance.

2. Breaking expected background of villains. I sorta like the twist they added to the baddies, especially the Mandarin.

3. Wear and tear. I really liked how the Ironman Mark 42 got introduced at the start at the movie and punishment it endured till the end of the movie. Sort portray the hardship and challenges Tony went thru towards the film. Reminds me of Batman: Arkham City where Batman suited up with a brand new Batman suit which piece by piece got broken down through the game.

4. "House Party" protocol. In case your wondering wtf is house party protocol, if u seen the trailer it's the scene where Tony summons his armada of Ironman suits as backup. We get to see alot of suits at that scene, and frankly speaking which comic fan wouldn't like this scene?

Next, what I dislike about the movie:

1. The boss fight was disappointing. Ironman AGAIN get owned by the villain. I was perhaps hoping a more balance boss fight, where both hero and villain would REALLY duke it out in a ding dong battle before the hero emerging victorious. Something like the Amazing Spiderman 2012, where Spiderman and The Lizard were almost equal.

2. Ironman Mark 42. I'm not too fond of the idea of having a prototype Ironman suit dictate most of the action scene. The prototype suit seems underpowered compared to his "other" suits with the only advantage it have is it can deattach into smaller components and fly to Tony. This downgrade sorta mirrors The Dark Knight Rises, where Bruce is no longer at his peak. Acceptable, but problem is while Batman was way past his peak, he could still kick a normal grunt butt and only got pawn by Bane. Here, this suit even struggles to deal with a few helicopter armed with some rocket and machine guns... Common, didn't he blew up thousand of aliens in the Avengers? With his "armada" of suits, I had to ponder why can't he switch suits through the movie instead, giving his other suits more airtime... Would diminish the ending scene "Wow", but less sometimes is more...

3. Main villain. While I liked the twist they added to Mandarin, I am disappointed with the final pussy villain. His ability which enable him to pawn Ironman is also VERY anticlimax. I was expecting perhaps a calculating and brutal Mandarin that would lay the smackdown on Ironman by sheer number, force and strategy, pushing the Ironman armor durability to the limit. Instead, the Ironman armor becomes like our country aluminum car...  Swiss Cheese

4. Supporting cast. War Machine after getting a paint job became a useless cast, hardly had any action scene. Pepper Pots pulled a Catwoman.... while I ponder why the director decided go down this direction, since she was supposed to be Tony's pillar of strength, spiritually and mentally rather than physically. Hogan gets KOed pretty early in the movie while Tony ex got gunned down after a few scenes.

While I liked the fresh direction of the movie, I feel lack better thought in implementation. Overall, I feel Ironman 3 is better than Ironman 2 but not as good as Ironman 1.