Movie Time

Over the past few weeks I've been able to enjoy a couple of the big spring action flicks to come out this year in Iron Man 3 and Star Trek Into Darkness. Do they live up to the expectations of the earlier films successes or do they fall to the weight of certain expectations based on their predecessors. Well here is what I thought of both films anyway. Be forewarned there will be some spoilers to follow so if you haven't seen the films yet and don't want any spoilers I suggest you stop reading.

Lets start with Iron Man 3 which has become a rather polarizing movie between those that love it and those that find great fault with it. Honestly I can see both sides of the coin here. On one hand I thought it was a fun film with much of the exciting action and humour that made the first two films so enjoyable. The problem is there were some decisions made with this film that quite frankly I just can't understand why they were implemented. First off was the use of the character Mandarin in the film. I certainly am not an expert on some of the marvel universe but I do know the basics on who the Mandarin is in the lore of the comic universe. Now I am not one for caring if there are tweaks to characters and stories told from the comics but the blatant deception used with the Mandarin in this film was just baffling. I actually liked the idea of the character in the film but why they decided it was a good idea to trick those familiar with the character of Mandarin just to sell this film was baffling since he isn't in the film at all. I guess they did it to help sell the movie but honestly how many people  went to see Iron Man 3 because of Mandarin. And if you did well you would end up mighty disappointed in the results. I think they could have kept the essence of their story without such deception. Now we are left with a storyline that pretty much makes it impossible to ever use the true Mandarin in a movie because that would just make it more confusing to the overall storyline.

The second flaw I found watching the movie was how it finished. It felt like every major issue or problem not resolved near the end of the film was quickly wrapped up with convenient plot points just thrown in to provide a supposed 'end' to the Iron Man trilogy. It really felt like even if the story was far from really being over they felt like since it was the third film they needed to end many of the story lines that had come up over the three films and let left me thinking that it was a little forced and unnecessary since we all know Tony will return for the Avengers sequel and a few of those plot points could have been left to be resolved in a more satisfying way. That and I really just can't understand why he destroyed his hall of armours at the end. Yeah it was a strong message to Pepper but honestly without those suits her and Tony would probably be dead so I didn't see the logic of that decision. Perhaps I'm thinking about it to hard.



Cheer up Tony. You still have the next Avengers movie to look forward to!

 Now in saying all this I still enjoyed the movie. The action scenes were the best I thought in the series even if Tony Stark seemed rather over powered/lucky when fighting without the suit. That and there was a good deal of humour to be found in this film also that for the most part worked well. I guess in the end the one thing that kept me from loving the movie was a few decisions meant to twist the story in order to ensure nobody guessed what would happen but it felt like a cheap trick in the end that took away from the real story being told that would have been great if done correctly. Still the Iron Man trilogy as a whole was excellent and I certainly hope Robert Downey Jr. comes back for the Avengers 2 since it makes a perfect Tony Stark and Iron Man based on his work in these movies.

The second film I watched this month was Star Trek Into Darkness. The first thing I'll mention here is this movie hearkens back to the now classic Star Trek The Wraith of Khan for those familiar with the lore and for me that certainly wasn't a bad thing considering I thought it was a great movie for its time. This new take on the story was a great attempt at recapturing some of that magic while telling its own story. The movie was fun, filled with exciting action, some heartfelt moments that admittedly had me going a little teary eyed, and though some plot points stretched logic it still made enough sense in the Star Trek universe to work.



Thankfully this movie doesn't crash and burn like the Enterprise seems to be doing in this pic

Visually this film was stunning and showed a wide range of vistas from the bright and beautiful to the more dark and gritty tones that frequent much of the film. I found the acting to be top notch and the action and humour provided just the right mix to make this a fun springtime movie. My only real complaint and I treat it as a minor one is that the movie does re-tread over some similar plot points of the earlier film wraith of khan but the new twists and completely new actors have provided and updated version of that tale that should more then satisfy many Trekkie's and just fans of action films in general.


If I had to choose from the two films Star Trek is the one I would go see again but both movies I found to be worth the time and money despite some flaws and provided just the type of entertainment needed during this busy time of year. Now lets just hope superman can soar next month and provide some hope that DC can cobble together something meaningful before trying to pit the justice league against the behemoth of the Avengers.



Okay so this scene was just eye candy in the movie and its the same reason why I posted it here but is anyone really going to complain =P