Iron Man 3 Review

Iron Man 3 is the first major disappointment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It's not a bad movie, but it's not exactly as high tier as the first one and barely (maybe not even) beats the second. It got hype for four primary reasons. One, it was going to be the third Robert Downy Jr. starred Iron Man film. Two, it was going to be the first MCU film after The Avengers. Three, it was going to feature the Extremis storyline. And finally four...it was finally going to feature Iron Man's greatest enemy from the comics, the Mandarin. Well it's fair to say the trailer gave a false presentation. Remember the scene with the armor grabbing Pepper? Thought the story was going to feature sentient armor? That's not a plot point at all. That aside, the film falls apart primarily thanks to the plot twist.

The prologue is admittedly very good. I love how it ties back to the first movie. It keeps a concurrent continuity and adds a rich backstory. It was something else seeing Yinsen again, definitely a great way to start out. Soon we head back to modern day where Tony has developed a way to 'summon' the armor to him. A fine invention, but can he handle the Mandarin's terror? Tony Stark spends most of his time out of armor, in fact, there's hardly any big action with him inside. Surprisingly Iron Man 2 had more satisfying action. But that's not the movie's main problem, it's the 'antagonist.' The big plot twist of movie is the realization that the man whom calls himself the Mandarin is actually not.

It's fair to say that the early scenes of the TV showing the ten rings symbol was pretty intense and well done. The Mandarin was portrayed perfectly as a terrorist threat. With lines such as "Some people call me a terrorist. I consider myself a teacher," he was turning out to be the greatest Iron Man film villain and one of the most memorable comic book movie antagonists. The scenes on the TV with his followers wiping out people felt real and gave you a bad feeling inside.

Then everything went out the window.

Let me ask you a question. Is it possible for a plot twist to be unexpected but not good? Or perhaps satisfying is the correct word. Nobody was expecting the Mandarin was actually just an actor named Trevor. This fake Mandarin is portrayed by Ben Kingsly, whom was doing a fantastic job as the antagonist in the beginning. But after the plot twist he becomes nothing but the biggest joke of the whole MCU. The acting is so over-the-top and not funny. Sure, one could argue this plot twist wouldn't matter to non-comic readers. But the fact remains that the screwed up Iron Man's greatest adversary. And I thought the worst enemy relationship between Red Skull and Cap in The First Avenger wasn't established that well. Here it's virtually nothing. We've waited three films for this, so that was a very disappointing factor.

Robert Downy Jr. once again plays the quirky Tony Stark. One might question him not knowing about the pistols Rhodey gave him, but other than that he steals the show once again. It was also nice to see a more 'human' side to him when it came to Pepper. Guy Pearce portrays Aldrich Killian, the true antagonist. He couldn't be more generic or dull. Sadly he is definitely the least memorable villain of the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The Extremis part of the story worked for the most part. It was rather disappointing that the trailer made everyone think the armor would gain sentience, false advertising at his finest. We also have returning star Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. She has a pretty good role throughout, not to mention the awesome moment where she completely beat up Killian. Jon Favreau (director of the previous two films!) as Happy Hogan was definitely a highlight, despite only a few appearances. Don Cheadle returns as James Rhodes, aka War Machine. Definitely a fun character to have around, especially next to Stark. Then there's this kid called Harley. There really wasn't much point to him, not to mention the acting was pretty sub-par.

There were some pretty intense action-themed special effect sequences. The destruction of Tony's mansion was powerful. The finale isn't bad. I can't say it was as satisfying as any of the other MCU films. The soundtrack is pretty good, nothing special but alright. Something I do like is how the movie references The Avengers but doesn't go overboard like with the second entry. It has just a nice sprinkle of them with the best being when Happy called them the 'Super Friends.'

Overall, Iron Man 3 is what I call a true 'disappointment.' It's by no means a bad movie,  it is enjoyable, but it's no where near the level of the first film. The true antagonist is unmemorable, and for longtime comic fans the Mandarin will be forever ruined. There's surprisingly little Iron Man action and the climax, while not bad, wasn't the greatest. I can only hope now that Marvel doesn't strike out with Thor and Cap.

3/5

Avengers: New Villain

The Avengers is coming.

Now, we all know this movie is going more toward the Ultimate route, with a little 616 thrown in. At the end of Thor, we see Loki getting ready to execute his master plan. We also know that he has an "army." Speculation and rumors point toward the goblin-like Skrulls, which is the most likely. Some say it's going to be the Chitauri, the Ultimate version of the Skrulls. That would make better sense for the live action world, for the Chitauri look less 60's and more of a threat. However, all of this goes out the window from the latest leak. While we still want to know what the "army" and mysterious "Leviathan" is, our minds our now pre-occuupied with this. Alright, here we go.

Yes, THANOS is coming.

Talk about the leak of the century, heck, maybe even the biggest leak ever. Thanos is a character that is just too hard to imagine on the big screen. Sure, we can picture it, but his presence in a film would just be too unbelievable to do. Well, it's going to happen May 4th, 2012.

Thanos is one of Marvel's biggest threats. He alone could probably take out all of the Avengers teaming up. What makes him even more dangerous is his worship of Death. (Hey, maybe we'll get to see her, or at least a cameo.) This guy destroys whole worlds!

However, I could not help but feel a little worried.

Now, Thanos being in it has the Marvel fan in me yelling for joy, but I have a feeling that he's going to be down-played. Destroyer from Thor was hugely down-graded. In the comics, Thor could never beat it alone, let alone in under two minutes. Two minutes. Thor got his hammer back, and he beat the "invincible" Destroyer in under two minutes. Why did Marvel have the need to down-play its power? Thanos is even above Destroyer, I doubt Marvel will show his true strength.

Now, it was leaked that Thanos makes a deal with Loki for the Infinity Gauntlet. Just knowing that thing will be a factor is astounding. But do you know the magnitude of it? Look at these two images.

That's right, equipped with it, Thanos has the power to destroy whole universes. With one snap, half of the universe's life was wiped out. Alright, I doubt first of all that he will get a hold of it in the film. If he does, then that's it. The Avengers are dead. On the other hand, if he does get it, I don't think the film will show the extent of its power. For some reason, weapons/villains are severely down-graded to "general audience appeal." For some strange reason, the general public can't handle universes being destroyed, or except the fact that things such as the Gauntlet can do it.

Now here is Marvel's chance to break that barrier. They can show what a comic book adaption is. Who says we can't have planets or universes being destroyed in a single snap? I want to see Thanos destroy whole cities at least, this should be the comic book movie, or heck, just movie that will feature the most destruction ever.

I speculate, however, that Thanos will not fight in the film. I believe in the after-credits scene, Loki, after being defeated by the Avengers, is located and destroyed by Thanos. What follows is Thanos saying his new plan, which sets up for Avengers number two.

I think that's pretty feasible, though I hope I'm wrong. I want to see Thanos and the Avengers square off for the battle that will shake the live-action world to the core. Thanos, with the Infinity Gauntlet, took on the whole Marvel universe. Let's see what Marvel Studios plan to do with that.

Thanks for reading.

My Most Anticipated Movie of the Decade

Ah, the Avengers. A movie I, and the rest of the comic community have always dreamed of. Let's face it, the Avengers has always been the thing that we thought would never hit the cinema.

Then Marvel Studios launched their universe with Iron Man in 2008.

Thus began what is known as the "Marvel Cinematic Universe." I would always play with my old Marvel Legends action figures, pretending it was a movie, never thinking that for one moment something big as the Avengers could hit the theater. I was wrong, and glad. Watching the events unfold in Iron Man was truly something else, but the after-credits scene was what got me and the rest of fan base shouting for joy. Hearing the words "Avenger Initiative" was something else. Sadly, I saw the leaked version a few weeks before I saw it in the theater, wish I could go back in time and switch that for more of a surprise. After the credits, some of the theater staff even walked in and said we'll have to wait four more years for Avengers. Talk about hype.

Doesn't seeing that picture make you die from anticipation? Seeing Cap there in the front, with Iron Man and Thor doing their thing, Here we have all of them together, not from a comic book, but from the film. Iron Man 2 came out two years after the first, and the after-credits scene there with Thor's hammer was truly awesome. Marvel was truly hyping this up. Then the following year both Thor AND Captain America released. (Sorry DC, you were destroyed this summer.) In Thor, we have Loki who is set up for Avengers as the villain. Then in Cap, it truly begins. We even got a trailer.

I, a longtime Marvel Comics fan, still to this day cannot believe it is happening. Currently, the rumors persist on what the other threat is. Skrulls, a monster.....or something else. We'll know soon enough. Seeing all of the characters come together under one shared universe is going to be something I'll never forget.

But it is not my most anticipated movie of the decade.

You're thinking "What?!" Avengers is something I've always wanted to see, but my favorite character has always been Spider-Man. So my most anticipated movie is the Amazing Spi-

No, this is my most anticipated film of the decade.

Yes, GODZILLA. Allow me to explain.

Godzilla is the longest running film series in cinema history, with 28 films starting back in 1954. Giant monsters, outrageous plots and designs, the franchise has evolved from the crazy Showa era, to the serious Heisei, to the modern Millennium. The three main things I grew up with were Marvel, Godzilla, and Mario. Over the past years I've grown a great fondness and complete loyalty to the Godzilla franchise. Revisiting films, analyzing everything.....I am the definition of a hardcore Godzilla fan. When it was announced that he will be getting a new theatrical film, I didn't know what to think. The first thing that hit me was "Awesome!" Then I saw that Legendary Studios would be doing it. America failed to bring the big G to American audiences last time, back in 98. Over the past couple of months, I have gained faith in this film. They specifically said that they will not be doing something like the 98 film. AND the real kicker is that the big G will fight another monster. That's what set the news for me. With today's effects, a giant monster brawl would be the most epic thing to grace the big screen.

One thing that I'm still unsure about is the director. Gareth Edwards, the directer of low-budget film MONSTERS. Now, I saw that thing last year, and I didn't like it all that much. It was a good film, but the title is misleading in that the actual movie is a drama masquerading as a monster movie. Based on interviews, the director seems to know what he's doing, I want to see a lot of monster destruction, it's why we're all here. He seems to get that so far from what I'm hearing.

And finally, this will be my first Godzilla film in the theater. Watching Thor in the IMAX really got me thinking how awesome a Godzilla film would look.

Overall, the Avengers is by far a film I'm dying to see, but it's Godzilla's return to the movie world I'm most looking forward to. Well, thanks for reading this little post of mine.

Fear Itself: The Most Powerful Moment in All of Comics

Ah, Fear Itself. Any average comic fan should know that this is the current status quo of the Marvel universe. The big changer, they even dare say it to be "Almost as big as Civil War, maybe even bigger." While it does not live up to that event, it has been a fun ride. However, I'm not here to give a review on it.

I'm here to say what I think is the most powerful moment in all of comics.

For the people that have no clue what's it about: The Red Skull's daughter Sin unleashes the God of Fear: the Serpent, who Odin banished many years ago. Now the Serpent wants to take over the world and create a new Asgard. Can the heroes combat this threat, or will they succumb to their greatest fears?

It goes deeper than that, but you get the point.

Battling gods is nothing new for the Avengers, or really any of the Marvel heroes. But.....this was different. Bucky Barnes was eliminated, (no, that is not the moment I'm talking about) but really, we all saw that coming. How else was Steve going to become Cap again? The point is, though it doesn't do the best job of showing it, the Serpent and his army of heroes/villains turned evil Asgardians "the Worthy" are the strongest threat the Marvel universe has faced. Why? Well, I can finally get on to my point.

That scene was from the latest issue. After that, Spidey told Cap that he was leaving the battlefield. That was something else, but the scene right after that is the one I'm talking about.

The dialogue as follows,

Hawkeye: "Cap? Where's Spider-Man going?"

Cap: "I told him he could stand down."

Hawkeye: "Stand down?! Cap, how could--why?"

Cap: "Look around you, Hawkeye...we're going to lose."

Wow, I literally froze at that moment. Here was the great Captain America, the one ALL heroes look up to, the one who would face Thanos head-to-head, but for the first time ever, he says "We're going to lose." That's the biggest morale dropper right there. If Captain America says we're going to lose, then really, no other threat has come to earth such as the Serpent.

Though a lot of you may not agree with me on this, I think that exact moment, that panel, packs such a punch no other comic I've read has. The most brave hero that ever lived that has faced cosmic level threats saying that "We're going to lose" is truly something else.

And that is what I consider to be the most powerful moment in all of comics. Not a fight, not a death, just a single sentence.