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Iron Man III / Rated PG-13 for violence, destruction of personal property and a really evil villain.
Before Stan Lee and Marvel Comics, the title Iron Man designated a guy who worked in a laundry. Now it means a movie series earning a Billion bucks a film and a chance for Stan Lee to continue his cameo appearances in the biggest movies ever. After the opening weekend bonanza, I have no doubt that Iron Man IV will be in production Monday morning at 8AM.
Iron Man I was terrific. Iron Man II was kind of watchable. Iron Man III apparently learned the right lessons and is like Iron Man I. Robert Downey, Jr. returns as the genius turned super hero with the help of technology. Gwyneth Paltrow is back as his girlfriend, girl Friday and girl business executive. She also fights when the need arises. Don Cheadle returns as Colonel Rhodes with his own patriotic Iron Man suit and is in the Iron Man Scout program.
Also in the cast is Ben Kingsley. BK was born Krishna Pandit Bhanji in England in 1943 and turns 70 this New Years Eve. He is not slowing down. He is the villain, plus or minus a little bit more. When on screen, as the minus or the plus side, he is a scene stealer. How good is BK? Don’t be surprised if he gets a best supporting actor nomination at the Oscars. Also on screen in very important non scene stealing parts are Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall. RH has been in lots of films but the only one I have good memories of was the Woody Allen film, Vicky Cristina Barcelona in 2008. She was Vicky. She was also in the Ben Affleck film, The Town in 2010, but I think she got beat up a lot and had on a large amount of make up.
This film is one terrific piece of work. Big set pieces are never so enormous that there is not room for lots of good humor. There are surprises in store including a super surprise from BK. Stan Lee (who will be 91 this December) has his cameo as a beauty contest judge. He holds up the sign with the number 10 on it. Be sure to stay till after the credits, as there is one more scene with another of the Marvel super hero characters. It’s worth the 8 minute wait while 7 thousand names go by. Watch for Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan. JF directed the first 2 Iron Man films but declined this film so he could direct two other films. He plays the Stark Industries
Security Chief and personal pal of Tony aka Iron Man. While there were a few establishing shots in various locales most of the film was shot in North Carolina. Since Stan Lee sold Marvel Comics to Disney he now has enough money to buy North Carolina and not have to depend on his cameos to make a living. At 90 and counting he is starting to look like an Iron Man.
Rated 3.9 out of 4.0 guarantees that Iron Man 4.0 featuring a cameo by Stan Lee is on the way.
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