Iron Man 3 (2013)

SPOILERS ABOUND because I cannot do the out-of-left-field “Iron Man 3” justice without spilling its secrets like the myriad flying, not-quite-controllable bits of Iron Man armor that plague our hero Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) in this first-post-“Avengers” Marvel film. Nor can I stick to my 200-word count. (I really, really, truly tried.)

Upfront: Director/cowriter Shane Black steers this sequel to a sequel toward the “Lethal Weapon” thrillers that made him famous as a writer. Genius move. He finds every excuse to get Stark out of the tin suit and load him with MacGyver-like weapons, running alongside Don Cheadle as military man Jim Rhodes, to attack the villain’s glitzy Miami chateau and then go after a cargo pier at the finale. The ghosts of Riggs and Murtaugh hover close, as does Black’s directorial debut “Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang,” which starred Downey post-rehab/ prison/near-career-death. 

We only think mastermind terrorist named Mandarin (Ben Kingsely), one of Marvel’s most infamously racist creations, is the villain. Trusting the marketing and trailers. In truth, the dude’s a two-bit actor downed by drugs, working for a sun-tanned rich guy (Guy Pearce) who Tony once did wrong. 

The characters are metas, off-screen and on, Kingley’s loser the What if Downey?, while Pearce’s evil CEO is the What If Tony Stark? If neither had not “become” Iron Man. The stunt also takes the character down a peg, what can Marvel do? Complain their anti-Chinese boogeyman 1-D stick figure was not played accurate? 

The movie -– like the clap-trap maze of cranes at that finale -– is a Rube Goldberg machine of asides and homages, including 1980s “child sidekick” flicks, peppered with kick-ass action and a full tear-down of the franchise. Indeed this ends with Downey throwing the ball at Marvel and saying, “You’re move.” Cast iron balls he has. 

The plot is a wiry mess, and Pearce’s scientist lacks motive and focus. Never mind Rebecca Hall as another scientist with a quarter personality, and less screen time. These are moot complaints for all eyes are on Downey. He is Iron Man. Lest we, or Marvel, ever forget. B+

Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows (2011)

Director Guy Ritchie’s 2009 “Sherlock Holmes,” with Yank actor Robert Downey Jr. playing the Brit detective, was an entertaining farce that tripped too far into the superhero arena. The Ritchie-directed sequel “Game of Shadows” gallops full force into silly Hollywood cliches with “top this” action pieces minced into slow-mo chunks of film that may irritate even the most Ritalin-deprived viewer. A third-act chase through a forest sticks out as the sorest thumb, smashed by Ritchie’s antic edits. Ditch the deerstalker hat and get this Sherlock a cape as Holmes’ pipe, careful contemplations, and witty word play are for the most part dumped in lieu of a 007-worthy plot involving arch-nemesis Moriarty (a ho-hum Jared Harris) as the instigator of a 1890s European war that plays out too broadly and with inane clues (to the winery!) that reek weak. Worse, great actress Noomi Rapace (the Swedish “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” and “Prometheus”) is stuck glaring in silence as Downey along with Jude Law as Watson ham up literature’s oldest bro-mance, making this outing shrivel under the shadow of greater Holmes adaptations, including the stellar BBC modern-day-set mind-fuck “Sherlock.” C

Marvel’s The Avengers (2012)

It all leads up to this, “The Avengers.” Earth’s Mightiest Heroes, assembled in one massive movie, based on the must-read comic book that tied together the vast Marvel Universe like the quickest game of Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, month after month for decades. And still going strong, print-wise. Cinema-wise, after “Iron Man” 1 and 2, two “Hulk” movies (one in 2003 now disowned, the other in 2008 grudgingly accepted), “Thor” and “Captain America,” we now have the comic book movie of the year. 

Sorry, “Dark Knight Rises.” (For now.)

The Avengers is an unlikely team of super heroes: Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, the Hulk, Hawkeye and Black Widow, joined by SHIELD Agent Nick Fury in one massive film. (Classic B-side comic book characters such as Ant-Man and Wasp must wait for a sequel I guess.) The plot follows the book’s lead: The team fights intergalactic threats, a power-mad super villain, and/or more likely each other or another Marvel hero, Iron Man vs. Thor, Wolverine vs. Hulk, or everyone vs. Hulk. Those later fights were more exciting than any run-of-the-mill story of hero against villain, on the page. Who to root for? 

Does the “Avengers” movie live up to the years of hype? Never could. I dreamed about this movie all the childhood, and it’s a work of pop-art summer flick beauty for a boy who got himself happily lost inside three-color panels and myriad crossover cliffhangers for much of his childhood. It contains the single greatest ripped-from-a-comic-book-scene ever on film: The Hulk smashes a villain around as if he were a sock monkey, and drops a one-liner as he walks off, satisfied with his big, green, angry self. Cheer!

But that comes at the end, and I need to start at the beginning: We open in space – evil mumbling abound about the destruction of Earth, by a freakish, hooded alien of some sort. Loki – the villainous brother of Thor, both the hero and the namesake 2011 film, played by Tom Hiddleston – is to lead the charge. He zaps to Earth through a portal that opens at the headquarters of the super-secret spy group SHIELD, the latter tinkering with a glowing blue Cosmic Cube thingy that promises unlimited energy. (Confused? You have not watched the earlier films. Go back to start.) Loki wreaks havoc, taking prisoners and under-mining the Mo-Fo that is Fury (Samuel L. Jackson). 

The first 20 minutes is all SHIELD, an odd introduction, but director/ screenwriter Joss Whedon (TV’s “Buffy the Vampire Slayer” and “Firefly”) is easing us into this massive universe, bringing in his team one member at a time. We hop from America to Germany then to a massive floating aircraft carrier (straight out of the comic books) and then to New York City for a 40-odd minute battle finale, complete with massive creatures reminiscent of the sandworms in “Dune,” floating above the skyline. 

So, yes, it’s a Michael Bay “Transformers” finale with smashed buildings and fleeing extras, but Whedon whets our appetites (mine anyway) with long shots of the heroes, standing in a circle, backs to each other, ready to fight, and every hero -– even the relatively unexplored Hawkeye and Black Widow – gets a shining moment. Captain America, in the middle of the battle, takes charge of the team as the only man with real-war experience. Iron Man blasts his way through canyons of skyscrapers. 

Then there’s that beaut scene with Hulk and sock monkey Loki. It’s everything you want in a comic book, outlandish action with wit as Loki lays hyper-ventilating and thinks, “What am I doing?” It’s a stellar Whedon moment, and one of many surprises, including the strong touches of humor (Harry Dean Stanton as a security guard) and sad (a major character dies, but he’s not that major). 

The real Whedon coup, though, is fitting all these heroes and actors into one film and making it work – Chris Evans as Captain, Robert Downey Jr. as Iron Man, Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Scarlett Johansson as Black Widow, Jeremy Renner as Hawkeye, and Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/Hulk. Major names mixed in with minor names, and of course Downey rules the roost with his Tony Stark strut and outsize ego, but Ruffalo uses nerdy charm to win scene after scene. When minor-league Evans -- he can’t compete with Oscar nominees -– steps up to the plate to take over the team, we’re cheering for the actor as much as we are the character. 

I never thought a live-action film of the Avengers could be pulled off, but Whedon has done it. It’s not perfect -- that plot is weak, in case you didn't notice, Loki’s lizard baddies are faceless and void of personality, but Downey’s Stark can drop a shawarma reference out of the blue, and make it sing. Comic book love. If “Dark Knight Rises” threatens to lean too far to tragic importance, “Avengers” is bright, bold fun, with the inner-fights of heroes, and their coming together against a world threat a reminder of the best of all humanity. So, in the sequel, Vision please! Confused? Go back to the comic books. And as Stan Lee always said, “Exclsior!” A-

Iron Man 2 (2010)

“Iron Man 2” is not as good as the 2008 installment that made one of my favorite childhood superheroes -- a second-tier Marvel character -- a household name across America and put Robert Downey Jr. back on top of the “A” list. Let’s face it, sequels always toss in innumerable side characters to expand the plot, rarely cover new ground and, generally, feel like an after party. This falls into the same traps: The combination of Mickey Rourke as psycho-villain Whiplash and Sam Rockwell as evil industrialist Justin Hammer are potent, but not nearly as grounded or menacing as Jeff Bridges’ lone bad guy in film one. Bridges rules. Also, the story is ... smoke.

Here’s the gist: Self-appointed superhero Tony Stark (Downey) as Iron Man has pushed the world toward peace, he’s adored in America and overseas, has women falling at his feet, and … has an out-of-control ego bigger than the BP oil catastrophe in the Gulf of Mexico. He’s also drinking heavily, and watching his power-battery chest apparatus poison his blood. Oh, and the happy American military government? It wants the suit. Helmet to boots.

Then there’s Russian baddie Ivan Vanko/Whiplash, who nurses a long-held family drudge against Stark, plus Hammer, a snarky, nerdy Stark-wannabe who covets being the Pentagon’s pet supplier. Also on deck: federal agent Nick Fury (Samuel L. Jackson); the femme fatale named Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson); best pal Jim Rhodes (Don Cheadle, taking over for Terrance Howard) who becomes the second Iron Man; love interest Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow); and less-than-subtle hints to fellow superheroes Captain America and Thor. This is one packed house. Frat party style.

Despite thinking I want that damn name chart from "Shutter Island," to track all this, not much actually happens. This is a film of scenes, rather than plot or story. Thankfully there’s plenty of action, including a knock-out fight scene between our Iron Men, Black Widow wiping out a small army of tough guys, and then a closing battle in the old World Science Fair Park. That final fight stops just short of CGI overload. But only by inches. It doesn’t hit the high-note of the first film’s showdown. Is it the replacement of Howard by Cheadle? The lack of Bridges’ presence? I don’t know.

What pushes “Iron Man 2” into silver (not gold) territory is the dialogue. The patter and off-the-cuff remarks are so pure, they seem made up on the spot. Take this line from Rockwell describing a terrible self-built bomb: “If it were any smarter, it'd write a book. A book that would make 'Ulysses' look like it was written in crayon ... It's completely elegant, it's bafflingly beautiful, and it's capable of reducing the population of any standing structure to zero. I call it 'The Ex-Wife.'" If it’s too clever, then fine, I’ll take it.

Yes, the armor nor the story isn’t as strong this second visit, but I’m game for “Iron Man 3.” And "The Avengers"? Ohh, man. Can't wait. Hey, I'm a herd. I have standards. But I am a nerd. B

Zodiac (2007)

During the audio commentary of “Zodiac,” James Ellroy declares this stellar David Fincher film “one of the greatest American crime films ever made.” True. It’s also one of the best films about American journalism and obsession, he kind that cracks one’s life like broken crystal. During the 1970s in San Francisco, the self-named Zodiac killed at random, rambled in cryptic letters to the “Chronicle,” ruled radio and TV, disappeared for years. He owned the information, and therefore the city, and one shudders at what he could have done with the Internet. Among the lives he ruined: The detectives (Mark Ruffalo and Anthony Edwards) and newspapermen (Robert Downey Jr. and Jake Gyllenhaal) who picked up the pieces and stored the evidence. Fincher and writer James Vanderbilt give us a suspect (John Carroll Lynch of “Fargo”) who presents a veiled sense of evil, but manages to stay outside the spotlight. “Zodiac” is wildly accurate, from the newsroom cigarette smoke to the endless interviews and dead-ends that keep detectives busy. Fincher’s masterpiece. A

Sherlock Holmes (2009)

I had no literary prejudices going into the new big-screen “Sherlock Holmes,” starring Robert Downey Jr. as the fictional sleuth. I’ve (sadly) yet to read a Sir Arthur Conan Doyle story. That said, gritty director Guy Ritchie serves us a “new” Holmes who is an underground boxer prone to dark rooms, not bathing and sleeping on the floor. He is gruff and dirty, as is the 1890s London around him. He’s like no Holmes I’ve seen before, and Downey is wonderful in the lead. The standard plot, which gallops but never breaks into a full run, has the duo of Holmes and Watson (Jude Law, wonderful) unmasking a dark arts master (Mark Strong) bent on world domination in line with a Batman villain. Ritchie provides brilliant scenes where Downey as Holmes mentally breaks down an action – say, a fistfight – before seeing it through. But as the climatic fight arrives, the trick is dropped. And it’s a bit disappointing. This is a fairly solid movie that is more of a franchise set-up then full-fledged film. Moriarity appears in shadow, and it got my head spinning about who will play him. I’d love to see Russell Crowe take the part. That would be a helluva match up. B

The Soloist (2009)

Somehow “The Soloist” got bumped from an Oscar-contender winter 2008 release to a ho-hum spring 2009 release. It’s a shame, even though the film (inspired by a true story) doesn’t really hit the Oscar caliber mark that its creators were hoping for. But it’s damn good, despite some sappy heart-yanking moments where two soaring birds represent … the soaring sprits of two men. (Ugh!)

The unstoppable Robert Downey Jr. plays “Los Angeles Times” columnist Steve Lopez, who stumbles upon a homeless schizophrenic (Jamie Foxx) playing a two-string violin with the grace of God Himself. Lopez wants to help this street musician, but the questions – Can he truly be helped? Does he want help? – roar loudly. Forget the sap and the creaky ending (director Joe Wright made the same mistake in his “Atonement”), this is an actor’s film. Downey delivers.

As the talented Nathaniel, Foxx again fires on all cylinders, especially in flashback scenes depicting his crumbling while a student. The film wrecks the theory put forth by some (such as Rush Limbaugh) that the poor and homeless are lazy and need only “get a job.” Bastards.

Instead, “Soloist” suggests (despite a fumble or two) that the homelessness is a far more complicated problem than any newspaper writer, activist or movie can ever hope to solve. B

Tropic Thunder (2008)

"Tropic Thunder" certainly is the busiest action-comedy-spoof in ages. Aping Hollywood egos and serious war films such as "Platoon" and "Apocalypse Now," it has a cast and budget that rivals those two classics plus a dozen more epics.

Star, director and co-writer Ben Stiller is Tugg Speedman, an action film star on a career nosedive after he starred in an Oscar hopeful about a "retard" titled "Simple Jack" that not only crashed and burned, it seemingly offended half the known world. Speedman is now starring as Four Leaf Tayback in "Tropic Thunder, a hellish take on the real Tayback's experience in Vietnam. The film has a first-time Brit director (Steve Coogan), two wild co-stars -- an Australian method actor named Kirk Lazarus (Robert Downey Jr.) who's made up in black face, and a comedic drug addict (Black Jack) trying to go serious. Both are gods in their own minds. But the cast soon find themselves hunted by real Southeast Asia killers in a real war after a funny mix up kills the director.

The film is wildly offensive and all over-the-map, not only making fun of on-set ego fights and productions, but zipping back and forth to Hollywood to dig at a kiss ass agent (Matthew McConaughey) and an immoral studio executive (Tom Cruise). But nearly every dig feels true (even if it isn't), from the self-importance of film actors and Hollywood in general to the way whites would like to think they know how it is to be African-American. Alas, Black returns to full Tasmanian wild-eyed devil mode, while Stiller continues his happy "loser" character he's played to death for for the past decade. The clear champs are Cruise and Downey. Both under heavy make up, Cruise looks like he's having the time of his life, while good ol' Iron Man continues to show he's the best actor of his generation. Downey's every line is classic.

The film is a bit too hectic to win absolute love, and the best comedic bit is the quickest and most quiet. In a spoof trailer at the film's opening, Downey as Lazarus and Tobey Maguire as Tobey Maguire play monks in love, fondling each others' ... rosary beads. Hilarious. B

Iron Man (2008)

When I first heard "Iron Man" was getting the big-screen, live-action treatment, my initial reaction was absolute nerd fear. I have hundreds of Iron Man comic books from the 1980s and 1990s. The all-too-human Tony Stark as the ordinary hero in a metal fighting suit has been my lifelong favorite (behind only Spider-Man, but not always) read. Like Batman, Iron Man seemed more "real" to me. Stark was never bitten by a radioactive spider, or smacked with gamma rays or sent to and from in a rocket ship. He was a guy who reached a breaking point, getting smacked in the face once too many, and decided no more. He dons his self-designed suit and takes action. How cool for a geeky kid?

Plus, bad comic book adapted films ("Ghost Rider") far outweigh the good ("Spider-Man 2"), and I knew in my heart this would be bad. I just didn't see Iron Man and his metal suit gelling as a real visual object. How could they produce on film a metal suit, the fit of Stark's head in the mask, the crunch of heavy metallic boots on the ground? If Iron Man didn't look real, the whole thing would fail. But the news I kept hearing was uplifting: Robert Downey Jr. as Stark; Terrance Howard as Jim Rhodes; Jeff Bridges, one of the most under-rated actors in cinema, as Obadiah Stane. All perfect. I honestly hadn't seen many of Jon Favreau's films, so that left a big question mark in my book.

Well, my fears were put to rest upon the film's release. "Iron Man" is just too friggin' cool. It soars. I adore it. In their first film as a studio, Iron Man publisher Marvel Comics exactly nails this great character (which provides the only negative, I knew exactly how the film would end before it began). The story: While visiting a war-torn county, military industrialist and spoiled playboy Stark is taken by enemy combatants and held for ransom. Stark, realizing he's doomed, builds a suit of weaponized armor and escapes. Once home, he turns a new leaf and becomes Iron Man, reigning in his sprawling war-profiting company whilst blasting away bad guys. (The major transition: The comic book has Vietnam as the instigating country; here it is Afghanistan.)

A simple story, yes, but that's part of the joy. The comic book and this film isn't loaded down with clumsy plot mechanics like the awful "Spider-Man 3," it's character-driven from start to finish. I can't say enough about Downey as Stark -- he nails the gravitas of this character, his good, his bad and his ugly. When Stark is the cold-fish lackey of capitalism, Downey plays him as a self-worshipping heel. When that wake-up call comes and a friend lays dying, Stark's world and Downey's eyes -- and performance -- come into focus. Every Iron Man fan knows that Stark has long carried an addiction to alcohol, and Downey's sullied past brings that baggage to screen without it being mentioned. A perfect detail. Even without the comic book history in my brain, the casting of Jeff Bridges as Stane, Stark's mentor and substitute father, points to villainous deeds. But Bridges takes this admittedly one-note role to the hilt. Howard delivers a low-key performance, much needed against out-sized characters as Stark and Stane.

The look of Iron Man's various incarnations, from the first welded together impromptu rescue suit to the final gleaming, red and iron god, are perfect. The look, play and reflections of light on metal, the sound of crunching ground under boot and the presence of the suit as a real mass object taking up space is flawless. (Versus, say anything in the disappointing "Indiana Jones" 4.) Four times I've seen this film, and I still can't tell where CGI and model effects begin and end. The engineering mechanics of the suit work beautifully, watching on film you understand how each part fits and interconnects and moves. I also love the mistakes Stark is allowed to make as he finds himself and learns who Iron Man can be as he builds, rebuilds and tinkers with his new self.

Favreau set out to bring a super hero to screen that would have been impossible 10 years ago, and hits a home run. The film, for me, essentially is America finding the right course, waking up to its full potential and becoming (once again) a hero. This is a brilliant starter film for a franchise I greatly look forward to. A