Iron Man 3 (so many spoilers)
May. 3rd, 2013 08:47 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lokifanWent and saw Iron Man 3 again today (70 000 VND for a 9am ticket, fuck yeah) so I thought I would actually post some thoughts. Not that I have that many thoughts; I want the DVD NOW so I can watch 'em in a marathon and rewatch and do some of that meta thing. For now I mostly have FEELS.
PEPPER POTTS I LOVE YOU. She is so so great. I love that she got the big hero moment of killing Killian while Tony was the love interest thrown attractively to the ground and watching with big eyes. I love love love her utterly hardcore NO I AM ENDING THIS face. I love "that was really violent" - one of my favourite bits of IM2 (which I, unlike everyone else in the universe, love to pieces) is Pepper freaking out on the racetrack, barely keeping control. Because she is very brave and very tough, and temperamentally totally unsuited to the bloody, reckless Hero Shenanigans that Tony thrills to. HOWEVER, Pepper can still be pushed too far, and she does have something in common with Buffy Summers, a totally different kind of hero: no one messes with her boyfriend.
Pepper being tortured in a sports bra was less happy-making, but her stoic, angry suffering was unusual and kind of an interesting change in her compared to the Iron Man screaming.
Plus it was lovely to see her rocking the CEO thing and happy there, as opposed to rocking at it but struggling, pained and bewildered because of Tony's inexplicable shittiness.
Also, Happy! Oh Happy. I am glad you're okay.
RHODEY I LOVE HIM. OMG I LOVE HIM. I love his password (*cuddles him to death*) and his biceps and his army skillz and him and Tony teasing each other in the diner. He is so adorable, and I really like how differentiated he and Tony are by the fact of his being a committed career soldier and not a loose canon. It would be easy to go all HE'S A MAVERICK but I love that he's allowed to say there needs to be a choice between Pepper and the President, as opposed to going OMG PEPPER FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE. It's just a lovely contrast between two men who are in some ways very similar - Tony adorably failing at guns, Rhodey the crack shot, Tony shouting "no politics, no Pentagon, just old-fashioned revenge" at the cameras while Rhodey did his job and followed his orders and was focussed and brave in a whole different way.
Also, thank god, because OMG I was so scared when the "Iron Patriot" was being heated that they'd actually kill him off. Phew.
AND TONY. I do love him a lot, even if Pepper and Rhodey tend to give me more feels. Well. Pepper gives me more feels. Rhodey gives me about the same amount of FEELINGS as Tony, but pantsfeelings RDJ's big brown eyes just cannot match Don Cheadle's biceps in that green shirt.
On that same shallow note - I was quickly reconciled to the boyband hair, and amused that it did that Screen Heroine thing of staying perfectly in place whatever happened. The hideous, hideous checks and cap and that made me deeply sad.
I liked the bringing Tony back to being a mechanic - not least because one of the things I enjoy about the MCU is the way it distinguishes between its geniuses: see Tony's talent for mechanics and engineering and, say, Jane's talent for physics and abstract theory. Taking the "Iron Man" suits away for much of it and taking away Tony's money and JARVIS was a v nice way of upping the difficulty for him. And ouch, when Rhodey asks if Tony will freak out on him as they sneak onto the rig?
Tony's anxiety attacks, the nightmares and his disbelief that it could happen to him - they made me giggle a little, just imagining the enormous pile of woobie!Tony fic that is retroactively justified/going to pile onto AO3 now the film's out in America too. But they also worked, not least in justifying why Tony doesn't call the other Avengers for help, and oh poor Tony. :( "Erin help me!"
This film actually did a good job of scaring me. I am a wimp, but still, there were a few OH GOD PEPPER DON'T BE DEAD moments and even some actual fear for Tony, which I wasn't expecting. The action sequences were great and the plot clipped along. Although omg, the house falling apart - very nice use of Smash The Set We're Not Coming Back, but DUM-E AND BUTTERFINGERS NOOOOOO. The kid was a bit annoying - I wanted the girl to show up, dammit, where was she? - but the slight lampshading of "you're going to leave like my dad" helped.
I found the Extremis plot pretty awesome, too. It was cool and it held together enough that I didn't notice holes, and the Mandarin plot was a huge relief. I was so scared it would go in this awful yellowface direction and ruin the film for me, but having a white dude (SHOUT OUT CROYDON YEAHHHHH) play the Mandarin actually ended up improving things thematically! Yay!
Particularly nice since a trailer before the film showed that Johnny Depp is apparently going to be playing a Native American helpmeet to a Lone Ranger. WTF.
I mean, there was still the US imperialism but not nearly as much as in the first movie, which still makes me uncomfortable to watch - not from being offended exactly, but just because the politics and assumptions are SO close to the surface. This one had a very unpleasant disability subtext, which is particularly saddening considering the Avengers' treatment of Tony's reactor as a disability and Bruce's Hulk-ness as a far less socially acceptable one. Disabled people will do anything to be cured, once 'cured' they are unnatural monsters, did we not just do this with Amazing Spiderman? Come on guys. Really.
I am super sad Maya got killed off :( Morally compromised scientist who connects with Pepper and then has this great redemptive moment and they KILLED HER. Booooo! She was cool! She was such a great comment on Tony and Pepper's arcs! BOOOO!
It was a bit weird that it was so Christmassy. I wonder if the years-ahead timetable went a bit off and it was meant to come out last December? Christmas superhero movie, anyway, that's cool.
The voiceover was a bit winceworthy to me, but I do like the "we create our own demons" and the general themes of Tony's identity and whether and how much he has changed. I like IM2 partly for Tony's two shadows in its villains, and it was nice seeing that done again from a different angle with Maya. Plus the VO did set up the after-credits sequence which was the BEST THING. I giggled all the way home, even having seen it once already. LULZ BRUCE.
Plus, I saw it as a strong suggestion that Tony is recovering from his PTSD (?) and happy to be around at least one Avenger. So yay!
This was AWESOME.
PEPPER POTTS I LOVE YOU. She is so so great. I love that she got the big hero moment of killing Killian while Tony was the love interest thrown attractively to the ground and watching with big eyes. I love love love her utterly hardcore NO I AM ENDING THIS face. I love "that was really violent" - one of my favourite bits of IM2 (which I, unlike everyone else in the universe, love to pieces) is Pepper freaking out on the racetrack, barely keeping control. Because she is very brave and very tough, and temperamentally totally unsuited to the bloody, reckless Hero Shenanigans that Tony thrills to. HOWEVER, Pepper can still be pushed too far, and she does have something in common with Buffy Summers, a totally different kind of hero: no one messes with her boyfriend.
Pepper being tortured in a sports bra was less happy-making, but her stoic, angry suffering was unusual and kind of an interesting change in her compared to the Iron Man screaming.
Plus it was lovely to see her rocking the CEO thing and happy there, as opposed to rocking at it but struggling, pained and bewildered because of Tony's inexplicable shittiness.
Also, Happy! Oh Happy. I am glad you're okay.
RHODEY I LOVE HIM. OMG I LOVE HIM. I love his password (*cuddles him to death*) and his biceps and his army skillz and him and Tony teasing each other in the diner. He is so adorable, and I really like how differentiated he and Tony are by the fact of his being a committed career soldier and not a loose canon. It would be easy to go all HE'S A MAVERICK but I love that he's allowed to say there needs to be a choice between Pepper and the President, as opposed to going OMG PEPPER FUCK EVERYTHING ELSE. It's just a lovely contrast between two men who are in some ways very similar - Tony adorably failing at guns, Rhodey the crack shot, Tony shouting "no politics, no Pentagon, just old-fashioned revenge" at the cameras while Rhodey did his job and followed his orders and was focussed and brave in a whole different way.
Also, thank god, because OMG I was so scared when the "Iron Patriot" was being heated that they'd actually kill him off. Phew.
AND TONY. I do love him a lot, even if Pepper and Rhodey tend to give me more feels. Well. Pepper gives me more feels. Rhodey gives me about the same amount of FEELINGS as Tony, but pantsfeelings RDJ's big brown eyes just cannot match Don Cheadle's biceps in that green shirt.
On that same shallow note - I was quickly reconciled to the boyband hair, and amused that it did that Screen Heroine thing of staying perfectly in place whatever happened. The hideous, hideous checks and cap and that made me deeply sad.
I liked the bringing Tony back to being a mechanic - not least because one of the things I enjoy about the MCU is the way it distinguishes between its geniuses: see Tony's talent for mechanics and engineering and, say, Jane's talent for physics and abstract theory. Taking the "Iron Man" suits away for much of it and taking away Tony's money and JARVIS was a v nice way of upping the difficulty for him. And ouch, when Rhodey asks if Tony will freak out on him as they sneak onto the rig?
Tony's anxiety attacks, the nightmares and his disbelief that it could happen to him - they made me giggle a little, just imagining the enormous pile of woobie!Tony fic that is retroactively justified/going to pile onto AO3 now the film's out in America too. But they also worked, not least in justifying why Tony doesn't call the other Avengers for help, and oh poor Tony. :( "Erin help me!"
This film actually did a good job of scaring me. I am a wimp, but still, there were a few OH GOD PEPPER DON'T BE DEAD moments and even some actual fear for Tony, which I wasn't expecting. The action sequences were great and the plot clipped along. Although omg, the house falling apart - very nice use of Smash The Set We're Not Coming Back, but DUM-E AND BUTTERFINGERS NOOOOOO. The kid was a bit annoying - I wanted the girl to show up, dammit, where was she? - but the slight lampshading of "you're going to leave like my dad" helped.
I found the Extremis plot pretty awesome, too. It was cool and it held together enough that I didn't notice holes, and the Mandarin plot was a huge relief. I was so scared it would go in this awful yellowface direction and ruin the film for me, but having a white dude (SHOUT OUT CROYDON YEAHHHHH) play the Mandarin actually ended up improving things thematically! Yay!
Particularly nice since a trailer before the film showed that Johnny Depp is apparently going to be playing a Native American helpmeet to a Lone Ranger. WTF.
I mean, there was still the US imperialism but not nearly as much as in the first movie, which still makes me uncomfortable to watch - not from being offended exactly, but just because the politics and assumptions are SO close to the surface. This one had a very unpleasant disability subtext, which is particularly saddening considering the Avengers' treatment of Tony's reactor as a disability and Bruce's Hulk-ness as a far less socially acceptable one. Disabled people will do anything to be cured, once 'cured' they are unnatural monsters, did we not just do this with Amazing Spiderman? Come on guys. Really.
I am super sad Maya got killed off :( Morally compromised scientist who connects with Pepper and then has this great redemptive moment and they KILLED HER. Booooo! She was cool! She was such a great comment on Tony and Pepper's arcs! BOOOO!
It was a bit weird that it was so Christmassy. I wonder if the years-ahead timetable went a bit off and it was meant to come out last December? Christmas superhero movie, anyway, that's cool.
The voiceover was a bit winceworthy to me, but I do like the "we create our own demons" and the general themes of Tony's identity and whether and how much he has changed. I like IM2 partly for Tony's two shadows in its villains, and it was nice seeing that done again from a different angle with Maya. Plus the VO did set up the after-credits sequence which was the BEST THING. I giggled all the way home, even having seen it once already. LULZ BRUCE.
Plus, I saw it as a strong suggestion that Tony is recovering from his PTSD (?) and happy to be around at least one Avenger. So yay!
This was AWESOME.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-03 03:37 pm (UTC)But the second time around I could enjoy the ride (not that I didn't the first time!), see the story clearly, appreciate the pacing more. Especially since the first time it threw me because the opening so closely resembled a mash-up of "Extremis" and "Five Nightmares" - two stories-lines I really like in comics - so I kept thinking I knew where it would go, and obviously I didn't, so I was waiting for stuff that never happened. Second time I loved it for what it was :)
I loved how much Pepper and Rhodey rocked, though! SO MUCH! Heck, aside from who gives us feels, I am pretty much all with you in this post :) Wasn't Ben Kingsley's accents the best though? *G* I keep giggling when I think of the name "Vanessa" *does it now*
I want it out on DVD too. Now. So I can watch it in chronology with the others. And just… watch it all the time, like I have with 1, 2, and Avengers.
no subject
Date: 2013-08-05 08:30 pm (UTC)This seemed to happen to quite a lot of people, which isn't surprising. I was like "oh hai Extremis" but I don't know much about it so it didn't throw me.
WHERE IS MY DVD