The first Iron Man movie uses Tony Stark as a metaphor for American power, with Tony's near-lethal chest wound signifying his remorse at spreading weapons around Afghanistan. The brilliant Iron Man 3 makes this connection even more explicit, giving us an elaborate fable of post-9/11 America and a paranoid-but-cocky Tony.
Spoilers ahead... And as usual, by "spoilers," we don't mean anything major. If you've watched the trailers and stuff, you ought to be fine.
The first two Iron Man movies gave Tony Stark physical damage as his hubris came back to bite him: a gruesome chest wound in the first film, and dark veiny lines of radiation poisoning in the second. In Iron Man 3, though, Tony does get his face torn up, but his malaise is mostly psychological: he's freaked out after he helped fight off an alien invasion and flew into a wormhole with a nuclear bomb in The Avengers.
And then Tony's house, and apparently all his Iron Man suits, are destroyed by the Mandarin, a psychotic terrorist who's already committed tons of attacks around the world. Tony is first nearly drowned in the ocean, and then winds up flung in the middle of nowhere, in snowy Tennessee, with no friends and no help.
One of the great miracles of Iron Man 3 is that despite going pretty dark — both with Tony's damage and with his downfall — it's one of the most feel-good movies in ages. Part of this is because of the spot-on humor in the film, with director Shane Black and star Robert Downey Jr. showing amazing comic timing. But also, this film takes the trope of a hero (apparently) losing everything and rediscovering his mojo as a result — and manages to make it feel new and shiny. Plus, for reasons that remain unclear, it's a Christmas movie.
If the first Iron Man was about the guilt that Tony Stark (and America) feel for blowing up large parts of the world, then this new movie is more about feeling powerless. America can't track down the Mandarin, that intractable super-terrorist. And meanwhile, ever since Iron Man helped save the world, he's become something more than a celebrity: he's become a symbol and someone that everybody counts on. (Even though the United States government tries to create a more patriotic version by painting War Machine's armor red, white and blue, Iron Man is still clearly the most American armored hero because he's a rich, individualistic genius.)
Iron Man's trauma is clearly related to feeling out of his depth in a world of thunder-gods and aliens — and a massive alien army would be way easier to locate than the elusive, taunting Mandarin. How do you defeat an enemy you can't even find?
In all the best action movies, the battle is as much for personal redemption (or self-improvement) as to knock some hench-person down. In this movie, though, Tony Stark's character flaws turn out to be part and parcel of how he grapples with the Mandarin. The fact that Tony has been an insomniac wreck lately turns out to be key to his victory, but so does the fact that he's overreached and needs to be taken down a peg or twelve.
But also, in keeping with the theme of the first two Iron Man films, we learn at the start of Iron Man 3 that everything we're about to see is all Tony Stark's fault — but this time, it's just because he was partying too hard and wasn't paying enough attention back in 1999.
And that's really what makes this film such a satisfying action movie, as well as such a great superhero sequel — it finds a new way to talk about the age old themes of superheroes and the burden of fame and responsibility — and it finds a brand new off-kilter take on terrorism, at the same time.
Most of all, the story of Tony Stark's fall, and his climb back up again, is an interesting take on how America's malaise, and how we might regain our footing. Just like the first Iron Man movie, it's hyper-political and yet shrewd enough that it can be read multiple ways, by multiple different audiences. And for those reasons, it's also a great superhero sequel, that's worth using as inspiration, rather than imitation.
Spoilers ahead... And as usual, by "spoilers," we don't mean anything major. If you've watched the trailers and stuff, you ought to be fine.
The first two Iron Man movies gave Tony Stark physical damage as his hubris came back to bite him: a gruesome chest wound in the first film, and dark veiny lines of radiation poisoning in the second. In Iron Man 3, though, Tony does get his face torn up, but his malaise is mostly psychological: he's freaked out after he helped fight off an alien invasion and flew into a wormhole with a nuclear bomb in The Avengers.
And then Tony's house, and apparently all his Iron Man suits, are destroyed by the Mandarin, a psychotic terrorist who's already committed tons of attacks around the world. Tony is first nearly drowned in the ocean, and then winds up flung in the middle of nowhere, in snowy Tennessee, with no friends and no help.
One of the great miracles of Iron Man 3 is that despite going pretty dark — both with Tony's damage and with his downfall — it's one of the most feel-good movies in ages. Part of this is because of the spot-on humor in the film, with director Shane Black and star Robert Downey Jr. showing amazing comic timing. But also, this film takes the trope of a hero (apparently) losing everything and rediscovering his mojo as a result — and manages to make it feel new and shiny. Plus, for reasons that remain unclear, it's a Christmas movie.
If the first Iron Man was about the guilt that Tony Stark (and America) feel for blowing up large parts of the world, then this new movie is more about feeling powerless. America can't track down the Mandarin, that intractable super-terrorist. And meanwhile, ever since Iron Man helped save the world, he's become something more than a celebrity: he's become a symbol and someone that everybody counts on. (Even though the United States government tries to create a more patriotic version by painting War Machine's armor red, white and blue, Iron Man is still clearly the most American armored hero because he's a rich, individualistic genius.)
Iron Man's trauma is clearly related to feeling out of his depth in a world of thunder-gods and aliens — and a massive alien army would be way easier to locate than the elusive, taunting Mandarin. How do you defeat an enemy you can't even find?
In all the best action movies, the battle is as much for personal redemption (or self-improvement) as to knock some hench-person down. In this movie, though, Tony Stark's character flaws turn out to be part and parcel of how he grapples with the Mandarin. The fact that Tony has been an insomniac wreck lately turns out to be key to his victory, but so does the fact that he's overreached and needs to be taken down a peg or twelve.
But also, in keeping with the theme of the first two Iron Man films, we learn at the start of Iron Man 3 that everything we're about to see is all Tony Stark's fault — but this time, it's just because he was partying too hard and wasn't paying enough attention back in 1999.
And that's really what makes this film such a satisfying action movie, as well as such a great superhero sequel — it finds a new way to talk about the age old themes of superheroes and the burden of fame and responsibility — and it finds a brand new off-kilter take on terrorism, at the same time.
Most of all, the story of Tony Stark's fall, and his climb back up again, is an interesting take on how America's malaise, and how we might regain our footing. Just like the first Iron Man movie, it's hyper-political and yet shrewd enough that it can be read multiple ways, by multiple different audiences. And for those reasons, it's also a great superhero sequel, that's worth using as inspiration, rather than imitation.
