![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
grassangelSo I saw Iron Man 3, and I had gotten up my hopes ridiculously high last night about Wanda and Pietro and the Runaways and the Pride. Hopes which weren't filled and I'm sorry to the people sitting behind me and my friends if my babbling about Runaways got on your nerves, but tough - you should like it anyway. (I had gotten my hopes up because the Pride is obviously a threat that SHIELD is monitoring and Malibu is in LA. I think? I get Florida and California mixed up and I was surprised that New York state borders Canada, so don't look at me for American geography lessons. Knowing Washington state and Washington DC are separate is about as complex as I get.)
Anyway, spoilers underneath.
There was Extremis. I hated it less than the comic and the animated storyline but I was still grumpy about the ending. It's still a horrible panacea and– oh gods, it's actually a good thing that Bruce fell asleep there– I still feel it diminishes Tony's character that he took that option. There's a whole shedding of the armour as metaphor development, but it felt tacked on. Maybe if it was connected more to his worry about Pepper I'd've bought it, especially the developments that happened. Like he doesn't need to protect her and she's shown that actually, she protects him a lot too.
(I just want Pepper to be Rescue or whatever other name she chooses for herself. I want her retain Extremis and use it, I want her and Tony (and Rhodey and everyone else) to be a team and yes, I do want her to have a suit of her own. (Not that she needs it if Extremis still has controllable offensive capabilities.) I want to know if that tacky necklace has some other meaning aside from 'd'aww, he loves her!'. I want it to be some sort of coded key to something awesome AND HE PUT IT ON HER NECK IN NEW YORK. I KNOW THOSE LIGHTS.)
I did like Extremis was powered down a little bit. It's still pretty powerful, but it doesn't make a person nigh on indestructible. And I'm kind of glad that "bio-mechanical answer to the super-soldier serum" wasn't actually used, since Bruce was being talked to and that'd make Tony way too much of an asshole to use it despite being friends with him. Although MCU fic with Tony talking directly to JARVIS has been Jossed now. Which I am sad about because Tony/his robots is the most adorable thing ever.
I was a little happy that Maya and Pepper got to talk. (I'm taking the "We need to get out of here" as a Bechdel test pass, supplemented by Maya talking about her science and how it landed in the wrong place. Even though that used a story about a man as metaphor.) There should've been more of it though, and I kept expecting it would cut to them trying to avoid getting shot at. Also there should've been more Pepper in the suit.
I wasn't happy Maya and Tony slept together and I'm disappointed Maya didn't get to talk more about her project and how it works. (It got shafted to Killian instead. *hisses*)
Maya was fridged, but I'm a bit happy it wasn't a fridge of her own making. (She was metaphorically fridged in the comic, because she wanted funding. She still wanted funding, but at least she wasn't all bitterly "I could've gotten away with it!".)
There was a long wait for Pepper at the end. A good fifteen/twenty minutes where neither Killian nor Tony were thinking much. And nope, Gwyneth Paltrow, you can't leave now when Pepper's become a hero in her own right.
Speaking of Killian, there was this weird White Saviour/Orientalism/Anti-Consumerist America thing going on. The first two made me uncomfortable, but I can't actually say I disapprove of the last. Eco-terrorism and the environmental issues connected to it shouldn't really be used as 'the bad guy'. The general public has become a bit too aware of oil spills, the rising price of oil, pollution and deforestation for it to be written off as 'hippies being violent'. I disagree with bombing the companies involved, but I do agree there needs to be dissuasion. My favourite character in Batman is Poison Ivy and I like her power-cousin Black Orchid even more. I'm from New Zealand, I vote for the Green party and conservationism is taught in schools.
I am sympathetic to being unsympathetic to oil CEOs. Creating 'a face to hate' not so much, killing people to make that face hated and painting that face with Middle Eastern origins, definitely not. Although I was glad there wasn't religious extremism. (Also Killian once upon a time had his ear pierced. I notice things like actors having their ears pierced when there are close up shots like that.)
(And yes, Tony Stark probably votes Republican and doesn't believe in taxes on companies, but I also think that he puts into place ridiculously good employment benefits for all Stark staff, even if was just because he was saying yes absentmindedly when Pepper asked him.)
There was a lot of missed opportunities and things I would've liked to see. The kid could've been Erin instead, 40% is one significant digit (and 20% would've been cooler) and I am perpetually awaiting UNIT being added to the list of agencies JARVIS pulls data from, especially since there was a lot of talk about Thor and the Chitauri and aliens in general. One of the Extremis guys was called Savin, which sounds remarkably like Xavin and I was really hoping that phone call was to the alien prince dude person who's engaged to Karolina.
There was a curious lack of talk about New York, but I can handwave that as Tony trying to avoid having an anxiety attack. The shadows on the wall were eerily like the Hiroshima shadows and thus 'We will become silhouettes' ran through my head, and I doubt Tony's subconscious mind didn't get that connection. Fucking Braun and connecting things to WWII. (Though my mind did slip to Conqueror of Shamballa and how the first FMA series slots perfectly into the MCU. Prosthetics even! Like Al and Ed have grumbled to Tony in passing about the up and coming prosthetics company AIM and how they're stealing valuable test subjects for a treatment that might not even work!)
The mother of the soldier reminded me of The Winter's Bone and that deep rural protectiveness in isolated communities. There were entirely too many scenes of Tony in a car driving to nowhere. (Though I did like his McGuyvering.) The Extremis bombs were a nice, obvious, plot twist for anyone who had read the original Extremis comic.
There should be Tony using his House Party protocol and dancing with his suits in the DVD extras. That protocol reminded me of the phrase 'Party of One', which is both an MLP episode as well as a book about introverts/authors. Sleepy JARVIS was adorable. As was cranberry. The crotchshot was a nice running joke. I still hate all the chromed suits for looking like Cybermen. The eighties themed primary credits was hilarious and awesome.
I had not noticed all the arc reactor concrete pads in the palatial Malibu house. The plant growth makes it look like a good eight months passed after the explosion before he retrieved his robots. I wasn't paying enough attention to his hair to see if it matched the post-credits scene.
Bruce's hair reminds me too much of an asshole character Mark Ruffalo played. Also there was nil characterisation in the segment, so I just want it to be longer~ I want to see Pepper unload as well and where the fuck Bruce has been for the 10+ months he wasn't there. (Also he was wearing a suit that looks like he picked it out because it is unobtrusively grey.)
I am still very glad that extremis wasn't phrased as a bio-mechanical/electrical solution to the super soldier serum. The end credit scene actually makes the argument for Bruce/Pepper/Tony stronger. (ie he's opening himself up to Bruce. He almost never does that.) I do so want CA: The Winter Soldier to be roughly 1/3 CA, 1/3 Natasha and 1/3 Bucky. I am super excited for Thor 2, because space vikings and Jane and maybe the London bits will be Jane attending a science conference and there is talk of Tony Stark doing a thing there? Also Frigga holding a short sword.
Lastly I suspect Tony will make a post-credit appearance in at least one of the movies to come before Avengers 2.
BTW, I figure that about 1/6th of the people in the cinema I was in stayed for the credits and that seemed to be equally spread between male and female.
Anyway, spoilers underneath.
There was Extremis. I hated it less than the comic and the animated storyline but I was still grumpy about the ending. It's still a horrible panacea and– oh gods, it's actually a good thing that Bruce fell asleep there– I still feel it diminishes Tony's character that he took that option. There's a whole shedding of the armour as metaphor development, but it felt tacked on. Maybe if it was connected more to his worry about Pepper I'd've bought it, especially the developments that happened. Like he doesn't need to protect her and she's shown that actually, she protects him a lot too.
(I just want Pepper to be Rescue or whatever other name she chooses for herself. I want her retain Extremis and use it, I want her and Tony (and Rhodey and everyone else) to be a team and yes, I do want her to have a suit of her own. (Not that she needs it if Extremis still has controllable offensive capabilities.) I want to know if that tacky necklace has some other meaning aside from 'd'aww, he loves her!'. I want it to be some sort of coded key to something awesome AND HE PUT IT ON HER NECK IN NEW YORK. I KNOW THOSE LIGHTS.)
I did like Extremis was powered down a little bit. It's still pretty powerful, but it doesn't make a person nigh on indestructible. And I'm kind of glad that "bio-mechanical answer to the super-soldier serum" wasn't actually used, since Bruce was being talked to and that'd make Tony way too much of an asshole to use it despite being friends with him. Although MCU fic with Tony talking directly to JARVIS has been Jossed now. Which I am sad about because Tony/his robots is the most adorable thing ever.
I was a little happy that Maya and Pepper got to talk. (I'm taking the "We need to get out of here" as a Bechdel test pass, supplemented by Maya talking about her science and how it landed in the wrong place. Even though that used a story about a man as metaphor.) There should've been more of it though, and I kept expecting it would cut to them trying to avoid getting shot at. Also there should've been more Pepper in the suit.
I wasn't happy Maya and Tony slept together and I'm disappointed Maya didn't get to talk more about her project and how it works. (It got shafted to Killian instead. *hisses*)
Maya was fridged, but I'm a bit happy it wasn't a fridge of her own making. (She was metaphorically fridged in the comic, because she wanted funding. She still wanted funding, but at least she wasn't all bitterly "I could've gotten away with it!".)
There was a long wait for Pepper at the end. A good fifteen/twenty minutes where neither Killian nor Tony were thinking much. And nope, Gwyneth Paltrow, you can't leave now when Pepper's become a hero in her own right.
Speaking of Killian, there was this weird White Saviour/Orientalism/Anti-Consumerist America thing going on. The first two made me uncomfortable, but I can't actually say I disapprove of the last. Eco-terrorism and the environmental issues connected to it shouldn't really be used as 'the bad guy'. The general public has become a bit too aware of oil spills, the rising price of oil, pollution and deforestation for it to be written off as 'hippies being violent'. I disagree with bombing the companies involved, but I do agree there needs to be dissuasion. My favourite character in Batman is Poison Ivy and I like her power-cousin Black Orchid even more. I'm from New Zealand, I vote for the Green party and conservationism is taught in schools.
I am sympathetic to being unsympathetic to oil CEOs. Creating 'a face to hate' not so much, killing people to make that face hated and painting that face with Middle Eastern origins, definitely not. Although I was glad there wasn't religious extremism. (Also Killian once upon a time had his ear pierced. I notice things like actors having their ears pierced when there are close up shots like that.)
(And yes, Tony Stark probably votes Republican and doesn't believe in taxes on companies, but I also think that he puts into place ridiculously good employment benefits for all Stark staff, even if was just because he was saying yes absentmindedly when Pepper asked him.)
There was a lot of missed opportunities and things I would've liked to see. The kid could've been Erin instead, 40% is one significant digit (and 20% would've been cooler) and I am perpetually awaiting UNIT being added to the list of agencies JARVIS pulls data from, especially since there was a lot of talk about Thor and the Chitauri and aliens in general. One of the Extremis guys was called Savin, which sounds remarkably like Xavin and I was really hoping that phone call was to the alien prince dude person who's engaged to Karolina.
There was a curious lack of talk about New York, but I can handwave that as Tony trying to avoid having an anxiety attack. The shadows on the wall were eerily like the Hiroshima shadows and thus 'We will become silhouettes' ran through my head, and I doubt Tony's subconscious mind didn't get that connection. Fucking Braun and connecting things to WWII. (Though my mind did slip to Conqueror of Shamballa and how the first FMA series slots perfectly into the MCU. Prosthetics even! Like Al and Ed have grumbled to Tony in passing about the up and coming prosthetics company AIM and how they're stealing valuable test subjects for a treatment that might not even work!)
The mother of the soldier reminded me of The Winter's Bone and that deep rural protectiveness in isolated communities. There were entirely too many scenes of Tony in a car driving to nowhere. (Though I did like his McGuyvering.) The Extremis bombs were a nice, obvious, plot twist for anyone who had read the original Extremis comic.
There should be Tony using his House Party protocol and dancing with his suits in the DVD extras. That protocol reminded me of the phrase 'Party of One', which is both an MLP episode as well as a book about introverts/authors. Sleepy JARVIS was adorable. As was cranberry. The crotchshot was a nice running joke. I still hate all the chromed suits for looking like Cybermen. The eighties themed primary credits was hilarious and awesome.
I had not noticed all the arc reactor concrete pads in the palatial Malibu house. The plant growth makes it look like a good eight months passed after the explosion before he retrieved his robots. I wasn't paying enough attention to his hair to see if it matched the post-credits scene.
Bruce's hair reminds me too much of an asshole character Mark Ruffalo played. Also there was nil characterisation in the segment, so I just want it to be longer~ I want to see Pepper unload as well and where the fuck Bruce has been for the 10+ months he wasn't there. (Also he was wearing a suit that looks like he picked it out because it is unobtrusively grey.)
I am still very glad that extremis wasn't phrased as a bio-mechanical/electrical solution to the super soldier serum. The end credit scene actually makes the argument for Bruce/Pepper/Tony stronger. (ie he's opening himself up to Bruce. He almost never does that.) I do so want CA: The Winter Soldier to be roughly 1/3 CA, 1/3 Natasha and 1/3 Bucky. I am super excited for Thor 2, because space vikings and Jane and maybe the London bits will be Jane attending a science conference and there is talk of Tony Stark doing a thing there? Also Frigga holding a short sword.
Lastly I suspect Tony will make a post-credit appearance in at least one of the movies to come before Avengers 2.
BTW, I figure that about 1/6th of the people in the cinema I was in stayed for the credits and that seemed to be equally spread between male and female.
