Movie Review: IRON MAN 3 - 7.7 Stars, Spoiler Alert!!

I've started using a single decimal point in my movie ratings because, and I must emphasize this, IRON MAN 3 is not an 8 star movie. Will you go and have a fun time? Yes. Is IRON MAN finally in 3D? Yes. Should Marvel be proud of this effort? Not really, in my opinion.

WARNING: THERE ARE SPOILERS IN THIS REVIEW. Couldn't help it.

The worldwide success that IRON MAN 3 is enjoying is predominantly from the goodwill from THE AVENGERS, the 3D surcharge and the remarkable marketing jobs that Disney can pull off. To date, IM3 has raked in $700M - a stunning figure in that it was just released in North America this weekend. But in the end, IM3 will lower expectations from Marvel Studios and hurt future box office returns, including that of THE AVENGERS 2. What I am NOT saying here is that THE AVENGERS 2 will bomb - far from it; but I am saying that it will be hurt in some degree by this let down.

So why am I disheartened by the movie? Multiple reasons. Some of them I am quite passionate about - others more of feeling than anything else. Keep in mind that 7.7 stars is far from panning a movie - it's just that Marvel is capable of so much more.

Here's the storyline for the movie:
Marvel's "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Let's go over the categories one at a time and break this thing down into chew-able pieces:

ONCE AGAIN - SPOILERS FOLLOW!!!

Story - 68%. Not a great story. In fact IRON MAN 2 and 3 are fairly close in my mind. The original IRON MAN was an amazing movie. Look, I'm going to have to give some spoilers here to justify my comments and so, the problem is this: Marvel promised something and didn't deliver. In many ways. There's a fine line between expectations and surprises and this movie failed to manage both. I love the angle of Tony being anxiety ridden and the strange symptoms that can bring (who wouldn't after New York?), but the delivery of it was horrible. J.A.R.V.I.S. diagnosing anxiety within seconds of reviewing basic bodily function stats? A kid making a psych evaluation and solving his problem? Why in Asgard is Stark seeking treatment for anxiety from Bruce Banner? I can think of better Avengers tie-ins than that!

But I digress (it's easy to when you love a character like Stark). Broken promises. The Mandarin. Where do I even begin? My expectations were toasted up, buttered and slapped with saliva inducing marketing marmalade for months upon months. Finally a deep, psychological nemesis for Stark to deal with - intellectual parity battling for supremacy. Nope. A been there, done that character device - he's just an actor. You know, the ol' Star Trek TOS device in "The Corbomite Maneuver" where the evil villain is really just a front for a child-like man. I felt the same let down in THE DARK KNIGHT RISES and the metaphorical castration of Bane. Dang it, I just want original material! Marvel has an amazing menagerie of villains - why on earth would you intentionally lobotomize him? His rings alone would warrant a movie.

Broken promises. Tony goes back to the cave (paraphrasing). What cave exactly? A suburban garage with a young kid in it? No, no, no, no, NO. I wanted solitude. A fortress of solitude if you will. But a place where Stark could be his creative self. Seriously - what did you think he could build there? He built exactly what he could in such a place - a pop tart heating oven mitt. What was that?? That's a fair cry from building a miniature arc reactor in a middle eastern cave. I wanted him to TOP THAT. I wanted him to walk into this amazingly secret location he had built with every conceivable toy he could dream of using to build something worthy of the Stark name. And that kid! Great for some comedic relief, but come on - not in the fortress of solitude. Let me write the script here: Have him battle his anxiety on his own, while trying to build something useful to battle the real Mandarin and throw in either his growing dependency on alcohol (due to New York and character flaw) or some other drug for anxiety to complicate things. I'm going to stop here - but I could go on and on and on about this topic, believe me.

Heck, seeing that Hulkbuster looking armor barreling through walls had me sit forward in my seat - what's going to happen? Is Stark going to use that armor personally to win the battle? Ah no. It was used as a throwaway. Inanimate. A waste of my attention and not required in the movie's story AT ALL. *Sigh*.

Acting - 85%. Obviously strong with this cast in place. No real weak link. Robert Downey Jr. did the best with what he had I felt, but it could have been so much more. The real waste was of course Ben Kingsley - his awesome performance as a villain was cut very short.

Character Development - 77%. An attempt was made to finally show some weakness in the ego armor of Stark. But in the end, I had a bad taste in my mouth from the way he treated the child (it's not his child and even if it was, does he want to repeat what his father did to him?), his almost laughable creations in the boy's garage and ultimately his full surrender to 'serenity now'. It all doesn't sit right with me.

Now Pepper Potts on the other hand was brilliantly wrought. Finally she is a formidable adversary both physically and mentally. Her quick and decidedly very aggressive actions have her and Stark meeting themselves going in different directions: Potts becoming more warlike and Stark un-arming himself. I applaud whats happened to her in IM3 and as a device, I like having the two characters slowing migrating to polar opposites once again.

The Mandarin was a sham. Completely put off by the premise as a slap in the face of everything I thought Marvel stood for. Marvel has to work so hard at suspension of disbelief with superhero movies, to just up and rip this one to shreds points to too much ego in the ranks. Someone is getting too big for their britches. It stinks. Yeah, I'm upset.

Suspension of disbelief - 75%. I'm going to touch on this later in the effects review, but for now suffice to say that there were many times I was thinking about the effects and not what was going on in the scenes. That's bad. The acting held together, the effects suffered. When my expectation of the Mandarin was shattered, so was my disbelief. Marvel invited me to believe the character and like a lemming I did, only to be slapped with their notion of a plot twist later. Thanks. At least the camera work and score held things together outside of that.

Directing - 71%. I never thought I'd say this, but I want Favreau back. He was a student of the character and I believe he's the only one I can think of right now that can bring more life back into the character. Favreau's biggest drawback to me is his lack of 3D experience. Shane Black's IRON MAN 3 is disjointed. Several times he lost me. Maybe I should have picked something up earlier, I don't know but there were a few scene shifts that completely lost me. Understand that I am a hard person to lose in a movie too. Sure I liked the nods to the original IRON MAN like the inclusion of Stark's assistant from the Middle Eastern cave. His comedic touches were somewhat nice too. Loved Stark's "Westworld" comment for example.

Sound / Score - 88%. Nicely done. Especially the folly and sound effects. The Iron Man franchise has always been strong in that department. Hat's off.

Cinematography - 87%. The other reason to see this movie. It's a spectacle. Awesome camera angles and motion! Inventive scenes and a very nicely lit and shot movie. Between this, the sound and the acting - these are the reasons to see IM3.

John Toll (BRAVEHEART, CLOUD ATLAS) was the Director of Photography.

Visual Effects - 81%. Nope. Not as good as ILM and it will be sometime before anyone can catch (if ever) ILM in what I call "hard line engineering". ILM did the first two IRON MAN movies and boy can you tell the difference. At least I can. And it was DISTRACTING. Look, I am a HUGE Weta Digital fan. And Digital Domain fan too. But Weta is a much more of an organic, photo realistic shop for tight closeups of creatures and humans that want to cross the uncanny valley. In other words, they have their place right now and that is working their magic in Middle-earth and on Pandora, rather than the armor of Tony Stark. ILM owns this space. Nobody is better than they are with robots (TRANSFORMERS - which was converted mostly by Legend 3D), building destruction, ships, cars, etc. It's just their heritage. They've built their engines from a pedigree influenced by their previous works. Same goes for Weta. It's no disrespect here. ILM is better with hard lines and Weta is better with soft line engineering (organic). The best result if both types of effects are needed are for these tow companies to work together. Producer Kevin Feige actually compared the final battle scene in IM3 to THE AVENGERS final battle scenes and said IM3 was better (paraphrasing)! No, it's not. Far from not better. One scene with Stark walking down stairs in his armor had me shaking my head. It was so easy to tell it was effects, and kinda shoddy at that! I want to be guessing if this was someone really in a suit walking or effects. There was an overall softness to the effects and I wanted nice hard lines. In other words, Disney - spend the money to get ILM. Don't contract this stuff out to the lowest bidder if that's what happened. And to be clear, I'm sure Weta did the best job they could with what they have.

Stereoscopic 3D - 76%. Oh man does Marvel need to embrace native 3D if they are going to continue down the path of IRON MAN 3. The 3D in IRON MAN 3 was passable and good in most scenes, but in other cases was bad. Stereo D did the conversion and while they are Marvel's go-to conversion shop, this effort is merely ok. Compared to THE AVENGERS, the 3D in IM3 pales. One scene had a lazily converted backdrop that had me shuddering.

I was able to tour Stereo D's facilities while I was in LA in February and they were working on IM3 when we were walking through. They're good people there. I just think Marvel had better shape up in the effects and 3D department - spend the money where you need to. Go native 3D if you can't get the conversions you want. And go back to ILM for hard lines! The digital renderings in 3D seemed much better in THE AVENGERS than in IM3 and my guess is because they had both ILM and Weta involved. Assuming ILM did the building devastation and Iron Man suits, while Weta did the Hulk and alien invasion forces. It's perfectly logical to assume that better 3D will arrive from these shops when they are working within their own specialties.

CONCLUSION: Marvel needs to learn from this movie and unfortunately they are going to be happy with the monetary gain this thing is going to enjoy. Will they actually take the time to learn, or just continue on? Heck J.A.R.V.I.S. was practically omnipotent! How in the world is J.A.R.V.I.S. not sentient yet? For me IRON MAN 3 was a step backward for Marvel and for stereoscopic 3D conversions. Weta did the best it could with the customized engines they have. I don't blame them AT ALL. I don't want to see Shane Black back in the Marvel fold - I think the writing was a mess too (Shane Black and Drew Pearce) as I've already said with the story. I want to have Favreau back. In native 3D. All in baby. Iron Man deserves it.

Thank you to Empire Theaters for the screening! The IMAX presentation was well lit and sounded remarkable!!

Iron Man 3 Review

Hey all, Tim here with a review for you. Iron Man 3 completes the journey Tony Stark started in the first film released in 2008, and takes place after the events of The Avengers (2012). It is a fun adventure, and a good movie. It surpasses the second Iron Man film, but isn't nearly as good as the first.

Now, I need to warn you that I am not familiar with the comics, and thus will only be rating the movie based on how it works as a film by itself and as part of the whole Iron Man trilogy. Let me begin with the story…

Some small spoilers here - you might want to read it after you see the movie.

The movie begins with a very Shane Black (writer and director) style voice-over, which honestly didn't quite fit into the world established in the first two movies. It didn't quite work too well either as it felt like a lazy way to tell exposition instead of showing it. Nonetheless the movie gets moving quickly enough, and it maintains a pretty quick pace for its two hour running time. Although the story tended to feel a little disjointed, it worked.

There were some things that were done well to comedic effect, but likely pissed of fan boys. Guy Pearce worked effectively as the antagonist, and it's in large part because he's such a fantastic actor. Character development wise Tony had better development than the second, but not nearly as good development as the first. However, what they establish as his short-coming at the beginning of the film is overcome by the end.

The performances in the film were top notch. Robert Downey Jr. owns the role of Tony Stark/Iron Man. By now he's got the role down and completely escapes into the character. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Tony's better half Pepper Potts and gets a lot more screen time this time around. She even gets to don the famous suit! She has great chemistry with both Robert Downey Jr. and Guy Pearce. As stated before Guy Pearce is fantastic in his role as antagonist Aldrich Killian. Ben Kingsley is the second antagonist in the film, and even though he's great in his performance he's under used. Also, from my understanding there's a deterrence from the comics in the way his character, The Mandarin, was written. It worked well enough for the film as a standalone, but still with a performer such as Kingsley the character could have been better developed. Don Cheadle returned in the role of Colonel James Rhodes, as he wasn't replaced like Terrence Howard after one go in the role. He did a fine job in the role again, and got to have equal screen time to what he had in the last. This time it felt like he had more fun with the role. Rebecca Hall and James Badge Dale also round out the rest of the cast in well acted roles.

The stereo 3D conversion on the film was spectacular. Not surprising these days, but still a pleasant thing for the eyes. Although there were a few moments where the 2D cinematography wasn't meant for stereo 3D, it overall worked great. All the digital elements are easily rendered in 3D since they're built that way in the computer. It merits mention however that there was a clever use of 2D and stereo in the film. All of The Mandarin's broadcasts are in 2D. When they fill the whole screen everything plays in 2D, and then when they appear on a screen in a set the set is stereoscopically rich as the broadcast continues to play in 2D. This especially helped emphasis the use of stereoscopic space, and instantly became this reviewers favorite use of 3D in the film. There were plenty of other great stereo moments, especially during the climatic battle. The visual effects were spectacular, as is to be expected, and were as dazzling as ever. Paired with top notch sound effects this film was technically solid.

Overall this film comes in at a 3.5 to 4 out of 5 stars. It's graded down on the story and the small lack of proficient character development. IRON MAN 3 is an enjoyable, fun, and a good film. It's definitely worth seeing in theaters and in stereoscopic 3D. It is this reviewers recommendation that you go see it.

IRON MAN 3 is now playing.

Watch: Six Minutes Of Behind The Scenes Footage From IRON MAN 3!

I love behind the scenes footage. I can't get enough of it. Maybe because it minimizes spoilers yet still gets you into the action before a movie is released. Maybe because I love filmmaking in general and you can see the cameras, director and crew in action. Want to see what's green screen and what's not? How the practical effects are done? Watch these BTS clips from IRON MAN 3.

Slight warning - there are some visual spoilers in this, but of so very brief. I had no trouble watching it, but fair warning to you.

Here's the movie's storyline:
Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Enjoy the clip! IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

Whoa! New Spoiler Filled TV Spots From IRON MAN 3

Ok well only one has massive spoilers in it. The second one below. Watch yourself - you have been warned. We WILL discuss this in the comments section, so don't read those either if you want a pristine viewing experience of IRON MAN 3.

Paramount has released two TV spots for us to play, replay, pause and screencap, and they're GREAT! The first one has nothing to give you other than some new visual treats, but TV spot number 2 has got spoilers, one that I may wish I had back. In fact, I know I would have rather not known this piece of info.

By the way Kevin Feige himself has claimed that the final battle sequence in IRON MAN 3 is bigger than the one in THE AVENGERS if you can believe that. Remember that this movie is the first of Marvel's appointed "Phase 2" movies.

Says Feige: "... I showed the film to Joss Whedon, who is our writer-director of Avengers and who is currently working on Avengers 2, and he saw the finale of this and he goes, now what am I supposed to do? What am I going to do in Avengers 2?"

Anyway, here are the two new spots - watch them, or not, but beware of spoilers in the second!

WARNING SPOILERS BELOW!

So what did you think? Did you watch the second one too and if so did you catch the spoiler? If you didn't here it is - just highlight the area below with your cursor. Just be aware that you may regret it:

Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts is wearing the suit defending Tony Stark. She in fact dons the suit when Stark's house is blown to smithereens and she herself has claimed that she will be taking part in the giant final battle scenes (so she doesn't die early on in the film - if at all).

End spoilers. IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

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Must See: New IRON MAN 3 Poster!

Click to enlarge

Love this new poster for the upcoming IMAX release of IRON MAN 3. The skin of Tony Stark's armor has been peeled off! But most of all, it's those sparks that really make the poster ;-)

Everyone is looking to the right of the camera - except for Paltrow who has her eye caught by something else entirely. What is she looking at? Perhaps her hubby is a tad upset with her proximity to RDJ? Coldplay buddy. Coldplay.

Here's the movie's storyline:
Marvel’s IRON MAN 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

Source: IMAX

Yes! MUST WATCH: New IRON MAN 3 Trailer - Hulkbuster!!

Here we go. Marvel at it's best. Finally a bigger reveal on IRON MAN 3 and it's looking GOOD. More Mandarin. More Potts. More Stark. More Hulkbuster!

Shane Black is also relieving many fears about his ability to handle a big budget tentpole - nothing wrong with this thing so far.

Even Mandarin's accent is growing on me: "I'm gonna offer a choice - do you want an empty life or a meaningful death?"

Here's the storyline for the movie:
Marvel’s IRON MAN 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark / Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Enjoy!! IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

WHOA. New IRON MAN 3 Poster Reveals Iron Legion!

IRON MAN 3 is looking extremely inviting right about now. Seems the Iron Legion rumors have been verified here. For those not in the know, the Iron Legion are a series of suits created and controlled by Tony Stark through Extremis (nanotechnology). Apparently these suits have interchangeable parts to enable various configurations of weapons, defense, etc.

Question: Are the suits on his side or has The Mandarin managed to gain control of them in the poster? Thoughts?

Here's the movies storyline:
Marvel’s IRON MAN 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

IRON  MAN 3 opens on May 3.

Source: Yahoo

Helm's Deep: New IRON MAN 3 Character Posters

Take a new look at IRON MAN 3's leading talent for Shane Black's first crack at the Marvel universe. First up we have Gwyneth Paltrow with a distinctly damaged helm and lots of sparks.

Followed by Robert Downey Jr. with the same helm and more sparks.

Not sure of the order of things with these posters - was Potts sad to be missing Stark, or angry in the inappropriate gift from him that still had sparks flying from it?

IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

MUST SEE: New IRON MAN 3 Character Poster For Ben Kingsley's The Mandarin!

Yes! This is what I was hoping for all along! I wanted a fresh take on The Mandarin and it looks like we are getting it. I think everyone kind of took a step back when we heard Ben Kingsley's accent for The Mandarin in the trailer for IRON MAN 3 - and I still don't know what to make of it! That's the beauty of it - so abstract. Where are they going with this character?

Well know we get a much better taste through this single character poster. And I am loving it! You can see the Asian influence on the sleeves and pants and yet it is unmistakeably camouflage. He is posed as a thinker with a heavy weight upon him. I'm liking the incense burning behind him and the what are those... dog tags in the right foreground shadow?

Creates a lot more questions for me, but the desire to see IRON MAN 3 has just been kicked up a notch!

IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3.

A Stark Message For The Holidays...

Happy holidays from Tony Stark! Coming from the official Iron Man Facebook page, Marvel has gifted us an appropriately themed wintery message and a new image.

What do Marvel and Shane Black have in store for us with IRON MAN 3? In this post Jon Favreau production - how will what we know and love about Stark continue to grow? At least we know this one will be in 3D! A great place to start.

Here is the storyline for the movie:
Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Starring Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale with Jon Favreau and Ben Kingsley, Iron Man 3 is directed by Shane Black from a screenplay by Drew Pearce and Shane Black and is based on Marvel’s iconic Super Hero Iron Man, who first appeared on the pages of Tales of Suspense (#39) in 1963 and had his solocomic book debut with The Invincible Iron Man (#1) in May of 1968. Iron Man 3 is presented by Marvel Studios in association with Paramount Pictures and DMG Entertainment. Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing and Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Stephen Broussard, Victoria Alonso, Alan Fine, Charles Newirth, Stan Lee and Dan Mintz are exec producing. 

The film releases May 3, 2013, and is distributed by Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures.

MUST WATCH: First Trailer For IRON MAN 3!

...And here it is. Three successive Marvel posts and BLAM - here's your trailer to ogle over for awhile :-)

Brace yourself. Tony Stark is handling the fallout from Loki's New York invasion in a very normal, human way. It's refreshing. It's brilliant. The stakes are high to have that much fun in a suit my friends.

Here's the movie's storyline:
Marvel's "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Director: Shane Black
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Stephanie Szostak, James Badge Dale, Jon Favreau, Ben Kingsley

IRON MAN 3 hits it's thrusters on May 3rd, 2013.

Must Watch: Trailer For The Trailer Of IRON MAN 3!

Click to enlarge

Yes, it's another trailer for a trailer, but this one is quite well done and does precisely what it is intended to do: Make you watch the full trailer that's going to drop on Tuesday (October 23)!

Here's the movie's storyline:
Marvel Studios’ Iron Man 3 pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man against an enemy whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy’s hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest to find those responsible. This journey, at every turn, will test his mettle. With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those closest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

The movie headlines Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man, Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle as James Rhodes, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin. Also starring are Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale and William Sadler.

IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3, 2013. Looking great so far!


Check out the trailer for the trailer:

Must See: Amazing Aerial Images From The IRON MAN 3 Set!!

Click to enlarge

I have to admit my jaw dropped on these shots from the set of IRON MAN 3. It looks like some kind of intricate combination practical / visual effects shot that Shane Black has had up his sleeve. Perhaps a slo-mo shot? Would they dare drop all those stunt people at the same time in that close of a proximity to each other?

It looks to me as though Tony Stark is in mid-transition to becoming Iron Man in what seems to be an entirely new suit. What kind of suit? Does Extremis have something to do with this? Good question.

The stuntwork sounds amazing on this production and reminds me of the work done on MISSION IMPOSSIBLE: GHOST PROTOCOL.

Note that the cameras they are using do not seem to be in stereoscopic configuration and so it's fairly clear IRON MAN 3 will be post converted to 3D just like CAP, THOR and THE AVENGERS.

Here's some official info about the movie:
Following in the footsteps of the record-breaking Marvel Studios’ release “Marvel’s The Avengers,” production on the highly anticipated film “Iron Man 3,” directed by Shane Black, has production locations in North Carolina, Raleigh/Durham, Miami, Florida and China.

Based on the ever-popular Marvel comic book series, first published in 1963, “Iron Man 3” returns Robert Downey Jr. (“Iron Man,” “Marvel’s The Avengers”) as the iconic Super Hero character Tony Stark/Iron Man along with Gwyneth Paltrow (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2,”) as Pepper Potts, Don Cheadle (“Iron Man 2”) as James “Rhodey” Rhodes and Jon Favreau (“Iron Man,” “Iron Man 2”) as Happy Hogan. Set for release in the U.S. on May 3, 2013, Marvel’s “Iron Man 3” marks the second feature to be fully owned, marketed and distributed by Disney, which acquired Marvel in 2009.

“Iron Man 3” continues the epic, big-screen adventures of the world’s favorite billionaire inventor/Super Hero, Tony Stark aka “Iron Man.” Marvel Studios’ President Kevin Feige is producing the film. Executive producers on the project include Jon Favreau, Louis D’Esposito, Alan Fine, Stan Lee, Charles Newirth, Victoria Alonso, Stephen Broussard and Dan Mintz.

The creative production team on the film includes two-time Oscar®-winning director of photography John Toll, ASC (“Braveheart,” “Legends of the Fall”), production designer Bill Brzeski (“The Hangover,” “Due Date”), editors Jeffrey Ford, A.C.E. (“Marvel’s The Avengers,” “Captain America: The First Avenger”) and Peter S. Elliot (“Fantastic 4: Rise of the Silver Surfer”), and costume designer Louise Frogley (“Quantum of Solace,” “Contagion”).

Oh and you have GOT to watch Robert Downey Jr.'s entrance to Comic-Con this year! Hilarious!! Check it out:

IRON MAN 3 opens on May 3, 2013.

Photo source: Marvel's Facebook

IRON MAN 3 Starts Shooting Today: ~$200m Budget

Hot on the heels of THE AVENGERS, Marvel is starting to shoot IRON MAN 3 in Wilmington, NC's EUE/Screen Gems Studio. Apparently the production brings with it 550 high paying jobs and 1,000 talent opportunities (we saw the casting call here). Congrats if you're one of them!

Disney, being the shrewd mouse house it is, bought back the distribution for IRON MAN 3 from Paramount along with THE AVENGERS back in 2010 for $115m. Looking like a good deal now right guys? I'll say. I commented on how great it was to see Disney's commitment to the Marvel properties so early after acquiring the comic book company.

China will also play in part of the production of IRON MAN 3 as well as partially finance it. It is this financing deal and addition of a new director (Shane Black) that I am hopeful of a 3D movie this time around for Tony Stark. The scenes in THE AVENGERS with Iron Man swooping around were among the best of the 3D conversion movie.

Details on what's among the first locations in Wilmington? Here you go:
"Earlier this month, 'Iron Works Productions' submitted a filming permit application to the City of Wilmington on behalf of the film 'Caged' for permission to close down Chestnut Street between 2nd and 3rd streets from 5 a.m. and 5 p.m. on Tuesday, May 29. Two cast members, about 20 extras and 150 crew members will film an office scene at Cape Fear Club at 206 Chestnut St., according to the permit application."

IRON MAN 3 is slated for a May 2013 release.


Source: StarNewsOnline