“Iron Man 3” (2013) Mini-Review

It seems strange to me that I can come out of these blockbusters that would have seemed miraculous 30 years ago with the thought that it was a nice “minor” effort. However, by today’s standards the dazzling display of an “Iron Man 3” is almost routine. It is crazy how fast we adjust our expectations. Looking back on “Lord of the Rings” or “Spiderman” today, one can really see the seams. What really seems to disappoint most of all is that we come out of a popcorn movie and are disappointed that there wasn’t a lot of “message.” It can’t be faulted for that. Blockbusters are supposed to be brainless entertainment.

But if you really think about it, “Iron Man 3” does have a message by design. It is not just rhetoric that the Mandarin speaks about fortune cookies. Hello, and empty shell metaphor in a movie about a super-suit? Add to that the fact that our hero is traumatized and afraid after his adventure with super humans and aliens, and the idea that this broken, limited, reluctant hero is faced with fighting bad guys who are trying to make people truly super-powered… There is some commentary here about our American idea of heroism that is accompanied by swagger and conceit. By the end of the film Tony Sparks has learned to simply be the man that he is and we are left wondering if he will really be back, despite what the credits imply.