Reel Facts & Opinions: IRON MAN 3 Points of Interest

Next week, the summer movie season officially (and mercifully) begins with the arrival of Marvel’s IRON MAN 3. There are many points of interest in this film, starting with…

 

The Director: In 1987, Shane Black played the doomed character Hawkins in the 1987 Arnold Schwarzenegger-led PREDATOR. After getting his guts ripped out in that film, Black turned his attention to screenwriting. In that new world, he is credited with writing the screenplays for MONSTER SQUAD (1987), LAST ACTION HERO (1993), and LETHAL WEAPON (1987), and his work in the LETHAL WEAPON series is credited with bringing the buddy-buddy cop flick back to the front. Black also directed KISS KISS BANG BANG (2005), in which he got a fantastic performance out of Iron Man himself, Robert Downey, Jr. As the director and co-writer of IRON MAN 3 , it is the biggest film of Black’s career in both size and importance, and how he reacts to the enormous pressure will either sink or swim this film.

The Storyline: Any true fan of the movies should not give a rat’s ass if a film follows the comic book from which it is adapted from, but it is worth noting which storyline IRON MAN 3 loosely follows. Demon in a Bottle was a nine-issue story arc from the comic series The Invincible Iron Man which was published in 1979. That storyline was concerned with Tony Stark’s (Downey Jr.) alcoholism. The IRON MAN films thus far have danced around Tony’s love for booze, and IRON MAN 3 just may (or may not), pull the curtain back completely. A battle with the bottle could take Tony Stark to many dark places; places that we have not seen yet in a Marvel film.

Phase Two: In 2008, Marvel Films began their unprecedented series of connected movies with the first IRON MAN film, so it is only appropriate that IRON MAN 3 kicks off what they refer to as Phase Two; the films which will follow last year’s monstrous superhero team-up flick THE AVENGERS. IRON MAN 3 and its filmmakers have the pressure of beginning Phase Two strongly, and of making a good follow-up to AVENGERS. However, considering the pieces and parts involved, there is a lot of hope for IRON MAN 3. The best way to follow-up a huge film isn’t to try and go bigger, but to go deeper, and the stage is set for IRON MAN 3 to do just that.

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IRON MAN 3 opens May 3^rd. It is written and directed by Shane Black, and stars Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley, and Guy Pearce.