Movie Review: Iron Man 3 (2013)

This review contains minor spoilers. Readers who wish to avoid any kind of plot related details/information are recommended to skip this review.

The planet saving heroics of Avengers has left Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) a broken man. Tortured and paranoid, Tony is hell bent on building the best possible weapons and suit. Jarvis (voiced by Paul Bettany) advises Tony to allocate more time for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian 

Pepper finds herself the object of attention of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce). Aldrich has been working on Extremis technology and is trying to strike a deal with Stark Industries, now that Pepper is the CEO. Previously, Tony had rejected his proposal.

The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is issuing terrorist threats to the US President Ellis (William Sadler) and masterminding some deadly explosions. Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau) is left seriously injured in one such incident. This makes things personal for Tony and he issues a direct challenge to the Mandarin.

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin

Tony's Malibu residence comes under heavy attack by Mandarin's henchmen. Jarvis pilots Tony out of the scene of action to Tennessee. Colonel James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) becomes Iron Patriot and is on the Mandarin's trail.

Tony befriends a youngster, Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) and starts his campaign against the Mandarin. The enemy is not slagging off either. Couple of Mandarin's agents, Savin (James Badge Dale) and Brandt (Stephanie Szostak) attack Tony. Separated from his Iron Man armor, Tony turns to his brains and outsmarts his pursuers.

Tony tracks down the Mandarin and is in for a major surprise. Revealing any more details will be spoiling the fun.

Don Cheadle as Colonel James Rhodes/Iron Patriot

Pepper gets kidnapped and the Mandarin is gunning for the President's life. Tony has to save his girl and the President and teams up with his buddy, Rhodes for an all-out climactic confrontation.

Robert Downey Jr. returns in the role that turned around his acting career and made him a bonafide movie star. RDJ spends a considerable amount of time in the movie outside the Iron Man suit. Interestingly, RDJ looked bored and his zingers lacked the usual verve. Doing the same role in 4 movies in 5 years (5 movies, if his cameo in The Incredible Hulk is also considered) seems to have sapped his passion. I am curious to see his performance in the Avengers sequel slated to be released in 2015.

Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce walk away with the acting honors. Both of them have a blast playing the baddies.

Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen

Rebecca Hall is criminally underused as Maya Hansen, Tony's old flame and presently working for Aldrich. With minor changes to the script, her character could have been totally written out and the movie would not have been impacted in the least.

Don Cheadle, Stephanie Szostak and James Badge Dale make good use of their screentime. I have never taken to Gwyneth's performance as Pepper and this movie does not help her case either.

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There are a number of action sequences in the movie and almost all of them deliver the goods. I especially enjoyed the helicopter attack on Tony Stark's residence and an indoor action sequence with Tony acquiring the Iron Man armor in bits and pieces as the fight goes along. 

Iron Man confronts Mandarin's henchmen

Shane Black has done a solid job with the writing. There are a number of twists and turns that will delight the audience. Dialogues are his forte and Iron Man 3 is no exception.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts

Recommended to Marvel and RDJ fans, who will undoubtedly enjoy this movie.

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Image Sources: Marvel Studios, Paramount Pictures, Screencrush

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TV Review: Elementary Episode # 21 - A Landmark Story

The episode starts with a brief flasback to episode # 12 "M" as a kind of quick refresher to Moran's character for new viewers.

Cut to the present. Two people related to the same establishment die in seemingly normal circumstances. The first death is due to a heart attack (a severe one though by any criteria) and second victim is killed by a falling air conditioner.

Sebastian Moran (Vinnie Jones) is out of his solitary confinement in Newgate. He requests a meeting with Sherlock and infroms his that the aforementioned first victim was on his hit list.

Sherlock and Joan quickly zero in on a probable third victim and are able to stop the killer. Holmes apprehends the killer, Daniel Gottlieb (F. Murray Abraham) and interrogates him in his brownstone apartment. Holmes send a message to Moriarty from Gottlieb's phone. This leads Holmes to track down yet another of Moriarty's agents, John Douglas (Roger Aaron Brown). But John is killed by an unseen assassin, before Holmes can elicit any information.

Moriarty sends a new message to Gottlieb on his phone. Gottlieb informs Holmes that this is not the usual code. To save time, Holmes tries to get Moran to decipher the information. Moran however refuses to help and it is up to Holmes to crack the code. 

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Canonical References

1. When Joan asks Sherlock if he has broken into a mortuary before, Sherlock refers to "a certain problem of Thor Bridge" - In the Canon, Holmes and Watson enter a crypt in The Adventure of Shoscombe Old Place. In The Problem of Thor Bridge, there is no mention of mortuary or a crypt.
2. The second victim is killed by a falling air conditioner - In The Final Problem, a similar attempt is made on Holmes' life by one of Professor Moriarty's agents: "I kept to the pavement after that, Watson, but as I walked down Vere Street a brick came down from the roof of one of the houses and was shattered to fragments at my feet. I called the police and had the place examined. There were slates and bricks piled up on the roof preparatory to some repairs, and they would have me believe that the wind had toppled over one of these. Of course I knew better, but I could prove nothing."
3. One of Moriarty's agents is named John Douglas - In The Valley of Fear, Sherock Holmes sets out to solve the murder of John Douglas.
4. Both John Douglas and Sebastian Moran refer to Moriarty as "him" - In The Valley of Fear, Holmes states about Moriarty: "When any of that party talk about "He" you know whom they mean. There is one predominant "He" for all of them."
5. Moran refers to Moriarty: "He's got ears and eyes everywhere in here" - In The Final Problem, Sherlock Holmes mentions about Professor Moriarty: "But his agents are numerous and splendidly organized."
6. Miller's Holmes refers to Daniel Gottlieb  as "a man after my own heart" - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sherlock Holmes remarks about Dr Mortimer: "This is a colleague, Watson, after our own heart."
7. Miller's Holmes works on the case without a  sleep - The Canonical Holmes is known for skipping food and sleep when working hard on a case.
8. Miller's Holmes deciphers the system of coded messages sent by Moriarty - In The Adventure of the Dancing Men, Sherlock Holmes solves the case by decrypting similarly coded messages
9. Miller's Holmes is too late to prevent the outcome of the coded messages, that he deciphers. - In The Adventure of the Dancing Men, Holmes is unable to prevent tragedy and redeems himself by capturing the murderer.
10. Miller's Holmes compliments Joan by stating that "some people without possessing genius have a remarkable knack for stimulating it" - In The Hound of the Baskervilles, Holmes remarks about Watson: "It may be that you are not yourself luminous, but you are a conductor of light. Some people without possessing genius have a remarkable power of stimulating it."
11. Joan Watson is delighted by Holmes' comments about the improvement in his life due to their connection - This is not a direct reference, but still reminded me of Watson's reaction (to Holmes' praise of his deductions from Dr Mortimer's walking stick) in The Hound of the Baskervilles: "He had never said as much before, and I must admit that his words gave me keen pleasure, for I had often been piqued by his indifference to my admiration and to the attempts which I had made to give publicity to his methods."

The best part of this episode was the Oscar Winner F. Murray Abraham's scenes as Gottlieb. He is the "scalpel" to Moran's "sledgehammer", as Holmes put it. Murray has superb acting chops and would easily make a remarkable "Napolean of Crime".  Coincidentally, I have been enjoying his work as a narrator on many PBS Nature videos. I am going to check out Amadeus for which he won the Academy award for best actor in a leading role.

He is easily the best casting choice so far and easily surpasses that of Miller and Liu as Holmes and Watson. Here's hoping he indeed turns out to be Moriarty.

Speaking of Holmes and Joan, there are some aspects of "character development" that I will be discussing in a separate post. Suffice to say, it was a big letdown.

Still, there were some enjoyable aspects - Miller's Holmes using Joan's legos to stuff his bag for his meeting with John Douglas. We also see Miller's Holmes trying out his skills as an escape artist. 

Joan's reply to Holmes thanking her for helping him decrypt the coded message was hilarious: "Oh, an insult and a boast".

Vinnie Jones continues his good work as Sebastian Moran. He has an intense screen presence. We also learn that this version of Moran has a sister.

The episode was more of a setup for the season finale. To give an analogy, this episode is like the individual Marvel movies (Iron Man movies, Thor and Captain America) that built the audience expectations for Avengers, the box office phenomenon. Let's hope the season finale does indeed live up to the hype!

Trivia

• Miller's Holmes is listening to the song "Singin' the Blues" by Bix Beiderbecke
• The song "My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean" by Countdown Kids is sung by Sebastian Moran

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Image Sources: CBS, ONTD

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