Just got back from 3D Imax. I sat at the far right of the theatre, but still enjoyed it far more than I thought i would. That being said, I still had some HUGE issues:
Spoiler
Like it or not, they took a chance with their Mandarin feint, but seriously they need to have him in for real. I’d love for the ‘actor’ to end up being a bluff to fool Tony and the world. but I really built up a lot of hype to see the Mandarin, not some random schmoe from AIM. I kept waiting for mentions of MODOK.
Next, they fucked up AIM. AIM has been around since WWII, and instead you have it created by some random fucking hippy, who in the comics did nothing more than steal Extremis and then shoot himself in the head. They took a super serious Marvel organization like AIM, and turned it into some generic competition for Stark’s company essentially.
Next next next, you take all the Ten Rings and Mandarin build up since Iron Man 1, and you piss all over it and claim Mandarin never existed, and it was just AIM all along. So it was AIM that captured Tony in the first movie? AIM sent Whiplash after Tony in the second movie? How the fuck was John Favreau involved and not infuriated by all this?
Then the day is saved by Pepper Potts, after Tony literally has an entire platoon of his suits literally ripped apart by people with hot hands.
then you don’t give me a GotG after credit scene, and instead show me sleepy Bruce Banner. Eat a giant dick.
and yes, Disney really needs to spend a good half billion buying back X-Men, Spidey, and Fantastic Four.
^I agree on Disney trying to buy back the other properties but I don’t think we’d get them all in a single movie universe for awhile. After Avengers 3 I think they should stop the Marvel movies for a little while and start fresh after buying everything back. Trying to throw in other A-List characters now to the current movieverse would be too jarring.
I was sure that ghostrider was just reclaimed as well. But yes eventually they’ll regain all of the licenses. if MvC3 could happen, this can as well…course on the other hand, Fox and Sony know damn well they can still make money off of new movies via reboots every few years regardless of quality so I doubt they’ll (Marvel) get them back anytime soon.
There were so many fools leaving before the credits ended. The after credit scene tied it all together excellently.
Mandarin and other stuff
[details=Spoiler]Him being just an actor threw me back but I think it really works in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It was clear that he wasn’t going to have magic ring powers and Fin Fang Foom wasn’t going to show up, and with him being Al Qaeda-fied they surely were taking an artistic license. Him being an actor allayed the whitewashing(or rather, Mandarin not being Mandarin) that was irking me. I liked him being a red herring. Killian didn’t have as much pull as a villain(advertising-wise). People knew who The Mandarin was but I doubt the name Killian rung a bell with the majority. When Killian said “Advanced Idea Mechanics”, I instantly thought that he was going to become M.O.D.O.K.
When Tony said he cured Pepper, did he mean that he removed Extremis or just made it so she won’t blow up? Extremis alters your genetic code…[/details]
Saw it in 3D but I don’t know if it is my vision or the fact that I’m not seeing it in IMAX 3D but aside from some nice early bits, by the 2nd half or last third of the movie the 3D effects become unnoticable to me. Maybe I stop looking for them but whatever, it didn’t hurt the movie or help it much.
Spoiler
Eh, it really does seem a bit foolish given how ‘Ten Rings’ has been built up but at the same time, they made A.I.M. a think tank, so even after this movie is done, Disney could still use them in future films. It does continue the long Iron Man movie tradition of somewhat antclimatic endings to the final fights… and Pepper did seem pretty bad ass even if it was a WTF just happened moment.
The after the credits Banner scene seems a bit of a jab at people expecting one that ties into the next movie which sucks, but it could mean they are doing a Hulk movie. Which given how old the actor playing Banner is looking they probably need to get out as quickly as possible.
I remember reading or hearing someone describing this movie as more of showing if Tony Stark is just a man in high tech armor and pretty much they did a fine job at show casing the character. Although the armor itself really doesn’t get a proper show case like it did in the previous films and to me even getting to see so many on display still didn’t make up for that.
[details=Spoiler]The Mandarin being a fake, or at least having Killian turn out to be him (dragon tattoos/fire-breath adds somewhat to that idea) was fine by me. It was a nice little misdirect, and it shouldn’t have to be a misdirect within a misdirect to get the Mandarin as-is from the comics (Not everything has to reflect what’s done in the comics).
You’re assuming that A.I.M is dead-and-gone and can’t be revived in future films, or at least use certain elements from the comics’ version of A.I.M. under a new name?
What build-up was there of The Ten Rings and the Mandarin? The only things that was revealed was the organization in Iron Man 1 and the Mandarin in Iron Man 3, anything else AFAIK was fan speculation that the two might be connected. But the two are separate entities, and Iron Man 2 's villains were only Whiplash/Vanko and Justin Hammer. And Favreau being pissed or upset about this? I thought he moved-on and got past any big issues on the creative side of things.
And Pepper Potts saving the day was a nice surprise to me. She was painted in the position of “Damsel in Distress” only to create a nice role reversal at the end. Tony kicked plenty of ass in the movie(and the subsequent movies), Rhodey got to shine too, and Pepper actually putting in some work to nail the bad guy (the same guy who kidnapped and threatened her life) is that disappointing?
No GotG after credits scene was disappointing, but nothing to outraged over. Plus the rumors of that happening was actually what happens to Tony in the comics, not in the movie.[/details]
[details=Spoiler]Like it’s been said, the Mark 42 was a prototype that’s prone to breaking and falling apart easily.
The other armors were vulnerable to the intense heat and enhanced strength from Extremis-exposed soldiers.[/details]
[details=Spoiler]He was M.O.D.O.K too if you caught onto the “Big Brain” joke earlier in the film
As for Pepper still having Extremis, who really knows at this point?[/details]
I hate to sound like another jaded fanboy but I’m getting tried of comic adaptations. I understand the need to revision the stories and characters for mass consumption but as a comic fan…my association to the source material is too strong to overlook the butcher jobs. I’m tired of the arrogance directors and studios have in thinking they know better about what makes a compelling story and characters then the original creators…if you can’t do a faithful mandarin or extremis then why bother using them. Granted the movie works functionally as a film but contextually to the comic mythos it doesn’t come close.
Nope, you’re jaded. I mean real talk I have no problem with comic adaptations. Doing a frame for frame of a comic book story isn’t really necessary. The only exception was Watchmen mainly cause that movie was in a damn if you do, damn if you don’t scenario.
To me the way they left the movie, its possible to have the Mandarin that people want.
Why bother naming it after the source material if you change the plot, the characters and overall narrative. It would be like uploading a song from a computer to your iPod but during the upload, the lyrics,composition and entire melody of the song changed…just tired of Hollywood types thinking they know better then the actual creators.
It was nothing like the extremis story…that’s like saying the RE movie is"just like the game". Aside from the names of the characters it had nothing to do with the extremis comic. Also I hate the"I’d just read the comic"retort…maybe some of us would like to see these stories adapted with a movie budget. When people make a HD port of a old game would you be satisfied if they changed a game like contra into a puzzle game and then have people call it a remake that faithfully captures the originals basic core essence?
Um dude it was Extremis but again it had some tweaks to it. Hell the origin of Iron Man in the first movie was lifted from Extremis. Get the stick out of your ass and get over it. Ever since Blade, every comic book movie has been an adaptation minus Watchmen of course.