It's that time of the year folks. Summer movies are finally back in season, for better or worse. And who better to open up the summer than Marvel, with Ironman 3?
Tony Stark is back and this time he is facing the Mandarin, a terrorist who wreaks on the United States with a series of bombings. When the attacks get a little to close to home for Tony Stark, and his friend and body guard Happy is put in the hospital, Mr. Stark threatens the Mandarin. And the Mandarin responds how most terrorists would respond. By shooting missiles at his house in a fly-by shooting.
Thugg Lyf3!
This marks the second time director Shane Black has worked with Robert Downey Jr. The first time being in 2005s "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang", a very underrated movie in my opinion. With the opening scene, it is very apparent that the two films share a director. And I mean that as a good thing.
It's been a long time since I saw "Ironman 2", but I don't remember being that thrilled with it. "Ironman 3" brings back the smart-assery that is Tony Stark and also brings back some of the emotion I felt was missed in the second chapter.
With a perfect combination of drama and comedy (in my mind at least), "Ironman 3" is a great start to a action filled summer movie season.
So, I gave in. After all, there wasn't many movies that came out this weekend. No one wanted to compete with The Avengers on opening weekend. And rightfully so. It had the best opening weekend domestic gross (money it made in America) in movie history! This weekend it made $200.3 million in domestic box offices. Thats more than James Cameron's Avatar and Titanic, the two highest grossing movies of all time, made in their opening weekend combined. However, that isn't saying that The Avengers will become the highest grossing movie of all time. Having a fantastic opening weekend such as this usually means profits will decline greatly in the following weeks. But it is still an impressive feat.
This movie exceeded my expectations. If any of you read my last post about how I feel towards Super Hero movies, you would no, I wasn't completely sold on seeing it right away. Luckily, nothing else came out, so I had no choice but to see it.
We all know the story. Or should, anyway. The Government creates a program, called the Avengers initiative during a dire situation. Loki, played by Tom Hiddleston (Thor, Midnight in Paris), a norse god, tired of living in the shadows of his brother, Thor, played b Chris Hemsworth (Thor, Cabin in the Woods), travels to Earth planning to bring an army of alien creatures and wage war on Humans to rise up and become their ruler.
Nick Fury calls upon Ironman (Robert Downey Jr. Ironman, Sherlock Holmes), Captain America (Chris Evan, Captain America, Sunshine) Dr. Bruce Banner/The Incredible Hulk (Mark Ruffalo, Shutter Island, Zodiac) and, of course, Thor, to stop Loki and save the planet.
The main thing I was worried about, going in to the theatre, was that they were going to rush into the action. A lot of action movies nowadays do that. They say "screw the story" and give the minimum amount of information needed to follow and just jump into the explosions. That, for me, makes a movie dull, boring, and quite frankly, insulting. It makes me feel that the studio is assuming that I, as a movie goer, am a empty headed, popcorn eating, zombie. But to my surprise, they took their time with it.
They made sure every character had a beginning, middle and end to their story. No one just popped up out of thin air. All of the characters were connected to their previous movies and everything fit together. It felt like everything was planned from when they first made Ironman. Which is probably what happened.
Joss Whedon co-wrote and directed this newest installment from Marvel. He is one of the best directors out there right now, yet he is mostly unknown. I suspect his name will become more well known... hopefully. He deserves the recognition.
As I sit in the first lecture of my last month of classes, with senior-itis having already been a factor in my focus since late March, I was looking at fandango.com to figure out what movie I should see this week.
Now for many of you, the obvious choice would be The Avengers. And why not? It is the epitome of a weekend movie. There are Super Heroes, explosions, and of course, Scarlett Johansson. I will definitely see it eventually, but the excitement for it is not as great as it would have been a few years ago.
My excitement was absent for Thor and Captain America last summer as well. This got me to thinking. Why am I not nearly as excited for Super Hero movies as I was when Iron Man or The Dark Knight came out? The only Super Hero movie I am even somewhat excited for is The Dark Knight Rises. But the others have me looking for something else to watch the weekend they're released.
I have come to a few conclusions. The one thing that has changed for me between now and 2008 is the fact that I no longer work for a movie theatre. When I worked for the theatre, I didn't have to worry about sold out crowds, or even having to pay to see it. I would get an after hours screening of it, with just me and my friends from work, the day it came out. The annoyance of being crammed into the theatre and people taking up my elbow space, and whispering to each other distracting me from taking in the great visuals.
I have been spoiled with my movie going experience. The $10 ticket that everyone else had to pay while I was seeing everything for free makes me feel like I am putting a down payment on a car that might break down on my way out of the lot. The great thing about not having to pay for a movie ticket was the fact that if I didn't enjoy it, it didn't matter. Now, I have to carefully choose what movies I decide to pay to see.
That brings me to why I skeptical about paying to see a movie most people love.
Super Hero movies have lost their flare to me.
Before you close out this blog out of disgust, hear me out. I have always enjoyed Super Hero movies. Even since I've lost interest I have still enjoyed them. Captain America was the best one I had seen in a long time! I love that movie.
But I have noticed something. The studios try to pump them out so fast, and don't take that much time on them that they have all become very formulaic. They all follow the same plot points, and have the same structure.
Some of you may be thinking to yourself "Well, all movies are like that", and for the most part, I would agree. But Marvel and DC Comic movies do it with such force that they might as well be sitting next you you, nudging your arm, saying "You see what we did there?". They are recycling movies, but inserting different characters and settings.
Here is the outline for almost every Super Hero movie that has been bade in the past decade.
Introduction of the main character. He's either a nerd or a rich giant douche.
He is in love with a girl that is either way out of his league, or don't want anything to do with him because he's a douche.
Something happens to him that makes him have super powers (usually involving radiation), or something terrible happens like his parents dying, or being kidnapped by terrorists.
He decides to become a hero, and tries to change things.
Insert montage of him being awesome!
Best friend, brother, or well trusted colleague becomes the villain.
Villain kidnaps someone close to hero. Usually the girl.
Hero struggles to defeat villain before ultimately winning.
Happy times occur. Girl realizes she loves him, etc.
Hero rides off into the sunset.
The most different movies in this genre are Captain America and Ironman. They manage to have certain things that make it feel fresh. And can I just say, Captain America had a great ending?!
"I are you gonna be ok?"
"Yeah. Yeah, I just.... I had a date"
So good.
All in all, I will definitely see The Avengers and The Dark Knight Rises in theaters. But I will more than likely wait a few weeks until the crowds have died down. Crowds suck.
