Iron Man 3 is Deeper than the First Two, the Action Sores, but the Comic Book fan in me Feels Partially Betrayed

Iron Man 3 (3 out 5 Stars)

Directed by: Shane Black (Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

Written by: Drew Pierce, and Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheedle, Guy Pierce, and Ben Kingsley

I always walk into comic book films attempting never to be a fan boy.  I even walked out of X-Men: The Last Stand with mild optimism.  I have read X-Men comics since I was five years old (23 years), and was excited to see the Phoenix on screen.  Of course looking back this is one of the worst comic book films, of course nothing is worse than Wolverine: Origins.  The character of Iron Man never crossed my path until later, but Tony Stark soon became one of my favorite Marvel characters, and I devoured almost all of his stories from alcoholism to the Civil War.

Iron Man 3 is set in post Avengers world, the battle in New York City is over, and Tony (Downey Jr.) is having a bit of PTSD with regard to all of the events from that day.  The film opens on Tony back in 1999 where he was a playboy bedding Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall), and meeting an admire Aldrich Killian (Pierce) who runs AIM and wants Tony of board to help advance his plans.  Tony flashes to the present insomnia filled and thinking about the way the past and mistakes define his future.  There is a new villain out to get Tony, named the Mandarin who is this dangerous terrorist plotting to blow up places and people on American soil.

Enter Shane Black the new director, and screenwriter for the film series.  The original Iron Man was directed by the film's star Jon Favreau who plays Stark/Potts bodyguard Happy.  The original film had four different writers namely because the the film had numerous re-writes one script, which actually included the Mandarin, but his character was axed.  The sequel was also directed by Favreau, and written surprisingly by Justin Theroux (the future hubby for Jennifer Aniston).  Black obviously had his work cut out for him after the Avengers film, and a quality first film in the series (2 was not good).

Black has only directed one other feature film, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a pretty good film, but different from the Marvel popcorn fair.  Yet the direction is one his greater strengths; he knows the characters well, and sets up some great action sequences which succeed.  Black's direction is more emotional than the first two films, namely because his screenplay, which he wrote with first time screenwriter Drew Pierce explores this character on a much deeper level.

When I was watching Tony Stark grapple with his anxiety it was as though they were tackling a version of his alcoholism story within the comic books.  The concept of Stark as an alcoholic will never be a part of the film series (that I can see).  Downey Jr. excels in this role as a narcissist, but there is also something more humbling within the character he has grown, and matured something which this script gets spot on!  I think the deeper, and more emotional level helps make a comic book film feel real, and allows you to become attached to the characters on different levels.

Now changing an entire character around and playing with a villains history, that's where script takes a turn and shows weakness.  I tried not be a fan boy (sorry Shane and Drew) but your big twist almost ruined the entire film.  Spoilers after this part so stop reading if you do not want to know anything.  While it was clear from the beginning that Aldrich Killian was working with the Mandarin (Kingsley) making Killian the big bad, and Mandarin laughable actor who was playing a part is a slap in the face to Marvel history.

For a brief history on the actual representation of both Aldrich Killian and the Mandarin here you go.  Mandarin is character created long ago by Stan Lee way back in 1964.  Mandarin is a pathological egotist who is a genius in science, and marital arts.  Mandarin wields 10 rings which he adapted from alien technology.  These rings could have been tied to the incident in New York City and the future story which centers around Thanos who also wields rings.  Yet you did not go there?  Instead Black and pierce along with producer Favreau took a little known character who was scientist and created a disease, Aldrich Killian, and made him into something he was not, all for the sake of realism.  Fan boy rant over.

Even outside of being a fan, this plot twist felt forced and proved that the battle with the big bad showed that there was little at stake with the actual villain.  Sure Killian took things away from Tony, but the action sequences which were out of this world almost seem pointless because of the way the villain within this film.  A hero is only as interesting as the villain he or she battles.  In this film I think the greatest battle was Stark's inner demons, which was fascinating, and well done.  The actual villain, and the way it was constructed was a total misfire, and lowered the bar for this film.

Iron Man 3 was better than 2 (not hard to be(, had more emotional depth than the first but is still quite flawed.  I can see why some people hate this film, and can understand why other praise the film.  This doesn't even seem like a build up to the Avengers 2, which is good that this is more than that but they could have made it fit into place naturally rather jam the pieces into the puzzle.  Even the closing scene while funny just fell flat.

On a film level Iron Man  explores a much deeper subject matter, but as a fan of the characters and for the sake of the journey this is middle of the road.  

The Many Faces of Sherlock Holmes

Yesterday I finally sat down and started watching the first series of Sherlock, the BBC television series, which is an adaptation of the works by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle.  Scottish author and physician Doyle created the character of Sherlock Holmes in 1887, in a series of short stories.  Holmes is seen as a "consulting" detective for Scotland Yard; he uses an acute sense of logical reasoning, has a knack for disguises, and forensic science to help solve crimes.  Doyle's characterization of this man, has left an indelible mark of literature that has moved into being an important part of film and television.

In more recent years Sherlock Holmes has captivated audiences in many different methods.  One of the most interesting adaptations, or interpretations is the television series House (or House M.D.).  Gregory House (played by Hugh Laurie) is a cantankerous doctor who uses that insane acute logical reasoning, along with medical knowledge to help his team solve medical mysteries at Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital.  House's confident and closest friend is Dr. James Wilson, the more kind hearted, and level headed of the pair.  Most loyal fans of the show have seen this connection, but to everyday viewer probably misses out on how Doyle's massively famous detective influenced television creator David Shore.  Shore brilliantly deduced that Holmes popularity could be translated in a not so obvious way to Laurie's sarcastic doc.  The show was a massive success and recently just ended its series run this past May.

In 2009 Sherlock Holmes received a more literal adaptation with film distributed by Warner Brothers entitled, go figure, Sherlock Holmes.  This film centered on 1891 London and the the relationship between Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) and his trusty side-kick Watson (Jude Law) as they investigated the supposed death of Lord Blackwood.  The film, directed by Guy Ritchie,  was released on Christmas Day, opened to decent reviews, and made a large sum at the box office proving that the legend of this famous detective had a lot of bite.  Two years later in 2011 Ritchie returned to the directors chair, and brought back Downey Jr. and Law in the sequel entitled Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows.  The sequels reviews were not as strong, and audiences did not show up right away but in the slow holiday season, audiences returned to 221 B Baker to watch Holmes take on his arch nemesis Professor James Moriarty (Jarred Harris).

The real crowning achievement (quality wise) in the world of adaptations is the recent BBC adaptation of the classic story.  The television series entitled Sherlock, stars Benedict Cumberbatch as a modern day Sherlock Holmes and Martin Freeman as Dr. John Watson his faithful sidekick.  This modern birthed by Mark Gattis, and Steven Moffat puts Holmes and Watson in similar mysterious situations, but uses modern day touches to help carefully create beautiful stories.  Steven Moffat's writing is brilliantly paced, and within what the Brits call the first series (or season) the three episodes explore mysteries with a commercial free 90 minutes that allows the mystery, and character development to unfold nicely.  Gattis and Moffat use classic Holmes stories to help construct their modern day adaptation of this story.  One of my favorite aspects of the show is that Watson is a blogger instead of a physician turned author, that minor detail never feels trite or pandering merely the sign these men know how to construct a modern adaptation of classic literature.

In the fall Sherlock Holmes is getting an American adaptation with the television series Elementary.  The differences are that Holmes is moving the New York, and his sidekick is Joan Watson a female played by Lucy Lui.  Obviously one of the differences here is that the homoerotic undertones to Holmes will be missing in this series, which are beautifully woven in the BBC version.  This show could be a massive success because of the lore of the character, and it's on CBS, which will pull in a wide demographic.  The major question is why does this character translate so well?

These television shows, and films are just a hand full of the most recent adaptations within 2000s.  Before the 2000s there were films dating as far back as 1939, and television series adaptations as recent as the 1980s.  This character's intense ways for crime solving are indelible.  Doyle left a lasting mark in literature that has evolved into more recent mediums of popular culture, much like the way Shakespeare influences popular culture today.  The character of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. John Watson are the perfect dynamic duo, they complete each other signifying this great push and pull.  There is chemistry on friend level, which allows these two men to work congruently as they fight crime, and solve the most fascinating mysteries.  People love well plotted mysteries (they even love poorly plotted ones), but within this varying adaptations we are left with incredible adaptations of one of the most complicated men, solving mysteries, what more could modern day audiences want?  Nothing.

The Avengers Assemble to Create One of the Most Entertaining Comic Book Films

The Avengers (4 out of 5 Stars)

Directed and Written by Joss Whedon (Serenity, Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

Starring: Robert Downey Jr.,  Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo, Chris Hemsworth, Scarlett Johannson, Jeremy Renner, Tom Hiddleston, Clark Gregg, Colbie Smulders and Samuel L. Jackson

At the end of every Marvel film seeing Samuel L. Jackson show up as Nick Fury to recruit for "Avengers Initiative" made me an incredibly giddy fanboy.  I have read comic  books since as long I can remember.  I primarily used to read the X-Men titles, but ever since Avengers Disassembled  (2004), I have been hooked on this super team.   As a little kid I used to play with the action figures, and played the video games, so for me there was a lot of pressure for this film to live up to my childhood hopes.  It did.

Without giving too much of the film away, the film starts with the evacuation of a SHIELD base.  Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson) is racing to the base with his second in command Agent Maria Hill (Colbie Smulders) tells him the Tesseract, an energy source of unknown potential, has activated and opened a portal through space.  Loki steps out of the portal takes the Tesseract and escapes.  Fury has a bunch of hologram screens with government officials telling him he should not go forward with the Avengers Initiative it was disbanded, but of course they need "Earth's Mightiest Heroes" to save the planet, and the story takes off.

Director/Writer Joss Whedon who is best known for his TV series Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel was the perfect choice to direct this film.  Whedon is the eternal fanboy in the director's chair, and perfect person to pen this screenplay.  Whedon knows the comic book world well; he has continued to write the Buff, and Angel comics, he has also created a series entitled "Fray"which takes place in the future of the Buffy world.  Whedon has done writing for Marvel comics as well.  In 2006 Whedon helped relaunch the title series "The Astonishing X-Men" and under his writing it received numerous honors and was one of the best written 24 issue arc of the decade.  I had walked away from comics for a few years, but I credit Whedon's writing on this X-Men series to be the reason I returned to comic books.

Fans have been clamoring for Whedon to step behind the camera for years, with a variety of different comic book films, but he waited for the perfect moment.  Whedon's only other film credit is Serenity, but boy does he know what he is doing.  Whedon makes you feel as though he is one of the fans; he knows the comic book crowd and how to make them happy with both his direction and writing.  As a comic book fan he made the film speak to me, and put into full realization everything I had always imagined this experience to be, and he is especially good at bringing the different cast members together.

From Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr's) one-liners, to the Hulk smash the cast meshed well together.  The core four Avengers (Thor, Captain America, Iron Man, and Hulk) were the best part.  I read Whedon wants to shrink his cast down in the next film and I have a feeling it will involve these four and maybe one more new cast member.  I enjoyed Hawkeye; he was cool, but without his own film you lose the characterization.  The Black Widow kicks ass and Johansson was better in this than in Iron Man 2, but I still  did not care about her character's development because of the lack of depth behind her.  Other than that I may have given a few fan boy shrieks, but this movie was just great.

Avengers Assemble: Iron Man aka Tony Stark

Unlike Captain America Iron Man was one of the original Avengers.  Iron Man was around much earlier than the formation of the Avengers.  Iron Man was created by the master Stan Lee along with Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby Tales of Suspense #39 back in March 1963.

Iron Man/Tony Stark's story is similar to the one in the 2008 film except for the time period.  Tony Stark was a billionaire playboy/genius who suffered a chest industry during which the people who captured him tried to force him to build a "weapon of mass destruction" for them.  Iron Man instead created a suit made of iron nonetheless that fought helped him to fight off his captors.  The suit was later modified using the technology from his own company Stark Industries in order to help fight crime.  The central source of his power and the device within his chest also keeps him alive.  Iron Man's super powers include his genius intellection, a cyberpathic link with his armored suit, superhuman strength, energy repulsors, missiles, and durability.

Stan Lee created Iron Man as a commentary on the Cold War.  Iron Man represented the advancing technology in fighting.  Lee used Iron Man to represent the advancing technology in the arms race with the Soviet Union during the Cold War.  As time passed and the Cold War evolved Iron Man, Stark, and everything associated it used the changing times to help create an evolutionary path with the character.  Like within the film some of the trends associated with the character were corporate crime and terrorism.

Throughout the years Iron Man has represented one of the most interesting comic book characters because of the symbolic nature of his character.  Iron Man has also had a wide variety of allies/villains grace the pages of his comics.  Iron Man's long standing allies are his assistant/sometimes love interest Pepper Potts.  Tony also has his friend James Rhodes also known as Rhodey who became War Machine.  Rhodes relationship started way back when the two met in Vietnam, and although they have had their ups and downs their friendship remains strong.

In 2008 comic book films took a different path.  2008 marked the release of two landmark films in the genre, The Dark Knight, and Iron Man.  Iron Man took a turn towards the realistic, and used the concepts of corporate crime, and terrorism to help launch Tony Stark to the path as Iron Man.  Tony Stark was played by the amazing Robert Downey Jr.  Downey Jr. is the perfect embodiment of everything Tony Stark.  While the first film is excellent the second film proved to show the quality dipped a little.  I am excited to watch him grace the screen again in The Avengers this week, and I am hoping the third installment proves to turn things around.

Game of Shadows is Entertaining but Lacks the Drive and Wit of the First Film

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2 1/2 out of 5 Stars)

Directed by Guy Ritchie (Sherlock Holmes, Snatch, Rock N Rolla)
Written by Michele and Kieran Mulroney (Paper Man)
Starring Robert Downey Jr., Jude Law, Jared Harris and Noomi Rapace



While watching the first film, I know I asked myself the question, why isn't Sherlock Holmes facing his mortal enemy Professor Moriarty?  Well the team behind this film series including Guy Ritchie planned for this to be successful and did not want to delve into the rivalry right away.  Smart move!  The first film set up the second, and made audiences excited to see the rivalry play out.  The big question is was the pay off worth the wait, I would say somewhat.

The background of Game of Shadows centers around 1893 Europe, and the tension rising between France and Germany.  Holmes (Robert Downey Jr.) believes that Moriarty (Jarred Harris) is at the center of the tension between these two countries and Holmes with his trusty sidekick Dr. Watson (Jude Law) are on the case to prevent Moriarty from sending the World into the first World War.

While Ritchie knows how to pack a punch with slow motion action sequences, they almost become stylistically obnoxious.  The problem with this film is that while yes it was entertaining and funny it loses the center of gravity from the first film.  Holmes going on adventures in other countries was fun, but I missed his bantering with Chief of Scotland Yard, and the way that the cases did not have take him on such a grand scale adventure.  I have not read all of Conan Doyle's books, but in the few that I have I love that Holmes mysteries brought out the great character, while this film just seems to want to bring explosions.

Law and Downey Jr. have great chemistry, and I am glad they kept the homoerotic undertones of their relationship.  This to me is one of the best parts about how the writing explores their characters.  Harris was a solid Moriarty, and I appreciate that they did not go over the top with him.  Rapace was merely window dressing to this entirely male driven story.  The real beauty of this film is the art direction and the way Niall Moroney and her team construct the beautiful scenery. This film provided some laughs and entertainment, but was a letdown from the first film.