ArticlesMovies

ARMORED UP! The Iron Man Trilogy

ARMORED UP!

IRONMANtrilogy 1

The Iron Man Trilogy

By: TFG1Mike

The Marvel Cinematic Universe has grown exponentially! Marvel Studios started with Iron Man in 2008. It was awesome! Within this article, I’ll be talking about the entire Iron Man trilogy. THERE WILL BE SPOILERS YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED! 

Iron Man (2008)

Iron Man 1

The film that started it all. The Summer of 2008 was Marvel Vs DC! Because both Iron Man and The Dark Knight were released. However I’m here to just talk about Iron Man. This marks Robert Downey Jr’s return to film, well for some it could be that. I honestly can’t see anyone even in 2008 better to play the role of Tony Stark. Marvel doing Marvel movies is just awesome! This film shows that Marvel knows what they are doing in the film industry. No offense meant to Fox or Sony. I have enjoyed every X-Men and Spidey film that they have done. However Iron Man was Marvel’s jumping off point!!!!!

In the first Iron Man we get the origin, and a battle with Stane. We also get some sweet armors in Mark I, II, and III. Plus Stane becomes the Iron Monger. I love everything about this film. The action, acting, sound effects, music, visual effects, and so much more are all superbly done. Who would have though that Foggy Nelson (Jon Favreau from Daredevil) would be directing this, and doing a killer job with it!

Iron Man has everything you need to tell a great story on screen. It has action, emotion, a tragic hero, a scheming villain, and IRON MAN ARMOR!!!!! Every time I watch this film I enjoy it even more! The littlest moments, like when Tony raises his arms and says, “I give you the Jericho” That was just an awesome moment! The aerial battle between Iron Man and the raptors was just amazing!!! There are so many great things about this film, and very few nitpicks or issues I have with it.

FINAL RATING: 

RATINGS - 5.0 STAR

Iron Man 2 (2010)

Iron Man 2

Justin Hammer, whether he be a feeble old man or the young man we get here, has always been a douchebag in my opinion. He is a the cutting corners cheapskate version of Tony Stark. Unlike a lot of people I know, I do praise Iron Man 2. For the fact that it reminds me of the Armor Wars. This movie is a setup to The Avengers, and even with the recasting of Rhodey, this film feels like a friendship gone awry to me. Rhodey and Tony are at odds because Rhodey has his duties to the Air Force, and let us face it he got enamored by HammerTech.

Yes Don Cheadle is wayy better then Terrence Howard in the role, but I very much enjoyed the Howard performance in Iron Man. The difference in acting styles is that the Howard version of Rhodey was more serious/less of a friend to Tony. The Cheadle performance is a better mixture of both sides of Rhodey’s personality. I have never liked any incarnation of Justin Hammer at all. Sam Rockwell nailed the utter douche that Hammer is on screen. So in that case it was a great performance. However the character of Justin Hammer is just throw away for me.

The action in this film is great, the fight between Iron Man and War Machine is awesome, and the action all around is just eye popping. Iron Man 2 is NOT the lowest film in the MCU for me, that goes to The Incredible Hulk…. At the same time Iron Man 2 is not the best either. I’d say it falls in the middle. I can sit back and enjoy it for how awesome seeing new armor is, and the end battle.

FINAL RATING: 

RATINGS - 3.5 STAR

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Iron Man 3 Poster

HOW do you follow up The Avengers? Is that even possible, and what do you do with a single character film again? After the biggest team up in film history…. You make Iron Man 3, and focus on the main character. I’ve heard that most of Marvel’s Phase 2 films post Avengers will focus on each character more. I think that’s the best way to handle them.

Iron Man 3 was amazing, both times I saw it. Sure I have a few complaints about it, but overall it was a great Summer Blockbuster! After the MWIRE Ep we did covering IM3, and a lot of thought… I find myself being ok with the way that the filmmakers brought in classic Iron Man story elements. This film steps away from the playboy attitude Tony had in the first two films. After all he was sucked through a wormhole in Avengers. So of course there would be some psychological repercussions. After checking out several other Iron Man items within media, I don’t so much have an issue with the end of the film anymore. However my issue with the treatment of the character of The Mandarin remains.

I loved seeing all the armor, but at the same time on the second viewing I had caught that he called them his “babies” … meaning children, ummm that’s a little creepy. However it didn’t take away from my enjoyment of the film. I do wish Rhodey had a bigger part in this, and that we saw a NEW War Machine armor. Because let’s face it no matter what the focus groups say, Iron Patriot is lame. I was there was more to the whole VP being involved with the story then we got. Sure we see that his daughter was missing a leg, but they never even spent one minute explaining what he was gonna do to help her. I did enjoy the whole autopiloting of the armor that was a neat trick, especially in the Air Force One scene!

Iron Man 3 is the lead into Marvel’s Phase Two films, and what an awesome lead in it is. I’ve grown super attached to Brian Tyler’s scoring of the film, and it is a film I can watch many times over in the future.

FINAL RATING: 

RATINGS - 4.5 STAR

Final Thoughts:

The Iron Man franchise is what launched Marvel Studios in the film business. I enjoy all three Iron Man films. Tony Stark to me is Marvel’s answer to Batman. I’m not saying one is better than the other, because I enjoy each of the characters. However you put Batman and Iron Man in a fight, I think it would be a very interesting outcome. On a whole the Iron Man Trilogy is great. I love how they have adapted many of the classic Iron Man comic stories into these three films. I’ll say now that 1 and 3 are my favorites.  do enjoy IM2, but it isn’t as epic as the first and third films.

I leave you with this great write up of an analysis of Tony Stark’s Character in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. WARNING THERE ARE HEAVY SPOILERS!!!!

iron-man-3-wallpaper_10

Show More

TFG1Mike

TFG1Mike is a geek with many interests. He has been podcasting for over a decade, and sees no stopping point in sight. From Transformers, He-Man, Batman, Comics, movies, video games, cartoons, and so much more, Mike has a zeal for the things he loves, and he will bring the hammer down on the things that he has a disdain for. He's generally a postive person, but negativity can creep in there. Mike is all about the innuendos and innuendon'ts too. You'll hear him on many of The GCRN podcasts!

2 Comments

  1. I enjoy this look at all three movies, but I do have a question Mike. In this you give Iron Man a
    higher score than Iron man 3, but in the GCRN Top 10 Superhero episode you
    ranked Iron Man 3 number one of all. That surprised me when I heard it, and I wonder
    if you changed your mind about that statement?

    1. Thanks for reading and listening!

      I wrote this trilogy look back right after I saw IM3 a second time in theaters. This was before the Top 10 Superhero ep was recorded. The first viewing I had went to I was like oh hell yeah this is the best IM ever etc etc…… Then when I saw it the second time I started noticing stuff. After which I thought about writing this up on all three films.

      So think of this as a objective viewpoint, admiting to the flaws etc, and the Top 10 Superhero ep a gush fest….. that’s the best way I can explain it.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button