Starring Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce
Things haven’t been the same for Tony Stark since the events that happened in Avenger Assemble. He is having trouble sleeping and spends his time messing around with his Iron Man suits. But when a mad man by the name of The Mandarin starts blowing stuff up and makes things personal Tony Stark must overcome his issues to save the world.
As a fan of all the Phase 1 films this makes a very good start to Phase 2 with Tony Stark being the class act that he is while taking on one of his biggest comic book enemies The Mandarin. The trailers that came out before the film did show an awful lot of the story and some of the coolest bits in the film. It was interesting, beforehand, to see how they would avoid all of the other Avengers and why he wouldn’t just pick up the phone and ask for help but it actually works and you sort of forget that the others are not that far away. Plus I suppose that being the type of character that Tony is he wouldn’t want to ask for help anyway.
While watching the film there were scenes that made me think of the Lethal Weapon series, in which director Shane Black had a hand in making.
Recommend
There were a lot of comedic elements to the film and the introduction of a kid sidekick made the film feel a little bit like it was aiming for a younger audience. However this is Iron Man and is great fun throughout. Do you need to have seen all of the other Phase 1 films before this? No probably not. It would work as a standalone film. But then my question would be why haven’t you seen all the others. We have a long way to go in Phase 2 not to mention Phase 3 and this was a solid start.
Post Credit scene – as with all of the Marvel films of recent there is a scene to stick around for after the credits
TheFriedGold rating – 7/10 – A strong Iron start to Phase 2
Film Fact
The song heard at Bern in the beginning of the film is “Blue” by Eiffel 65. This song is about an encounter with aliens, and foreshadows Tony Stark encountering alien beings in Avengers Assemble.
Following on from last year I have compiled a list of films, that I am looking forward to, being released this in 2013. It was going to be a top 10 but there were far too many so I made it a top 15 to look out for.
So have a read and see if any of these are getting you excited for the film year ahead.
A Good Day to Die Hard
Directed by John Moore
Starring Bruce Willis and Jai Courtney
Taking place in Russia, John McClain goes after his son who is in a spot of trouble with some local authorities. Expect guns, explosions, witty one liners and a Yippie-ki-yay…….
Out February 14th
Oz the Great and Powerful
Directed by Sam Raimi
Starring James Franco, Mila Kunis, Rachel Weisz and Michelle Williams
Ever wondered how the wizard ever came to live in OZ. This tells the story of how a young magician is transported to the Land of Oz and his encounters with the inhabitants.
Out March 8th
Iron Man 3
Directed by Shane Black
Starring Robert Downey Jnr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Ben Kingsley and Guy Pierce
Taking place right after the events of Avengers Assemble, Tony Stark is trying to deal with who he is. The man or the suit? Stark comes up against his toughest threat yet in the Mandarin as his personal world crumbles around him.
Out April 26th
Star Trek into Darkness
Directed by J.J. Abrams
Starring Chris Pine, Zachary Quinto, Simon Pegg and Benedict Cumberbatch
The crew of the Enterprise find Starfleet and the Earth in chaos and it is up to the Kirk and his crew to find who is responsible and settle an old score.
Out May 17th
Only God Forgives
Directed by Nicolas Winding Refn
Starring Ryan Gosling and Kristin Scott Thomas
This film reunites the team that brought us Drive, Refn and Gosling. The film is about a Thai boxing club that is the front for a family’s drug business. Things don’t go to plan and Gosling is forced to find the people who killed his brother.
Out May 23rd
The Hangover 3
Directed by Todd Phillips
Starring Bradley Cooper, Ed Helms and Zack Galifianakis
Not much has been released about this yet, a possible funeral, possible mental home…. But what we do know is that they will be returning to Vegas and the Wolf pack is sure to have one crazy final blowout.
Out May 24th
Man of Steel
Directed by Zach Snyder
Starring Henry Cavill, Amy Adams, Kevin Costner, Diane Lane, Laurence Fishburne and Russell Crowe
Yes this is another Superman film and we will probably see a lot of Kal-el becoming Clark Kent and Clark Kent becoming Superman once again but this will be different. Christopher Nolan is helping produce and helped write the story which already adds anticipation considering what he did for the Batman franchise.
Out June 14th
Monsters University
Directed by Dan Scanlon
Starring the voices of John Goodman and Billy Crystal
This is the story of how Mike Wazowski and James P. “Sully” Sullivan met at university and became best friends before going into the scaring business.
Out July 12th
The Wolverine
Directed by James Mangold
Starring Hugh Jackman
Taking place after the events of X-Men: The Last Stand, Logan travels to Japan to deal with his continuing issues but soon finds himself in a battle against someone from his past.
Out July 26th
The Worlds End
Directed by Edgar Wright
Starring Simon Pegg, Nick Frost, Paddy Considine and Martin Freeman
This is the final part in the ‘Three Flavours Cornetto Trilogy’ which will see the green mint choc-chip ice cream being used. The story is based around five child hood friends who meet up to repeat a pub crawl that they did in their younger days which finishes in The Worlds End pub. However things don’t go according to plan and they realise that it’s not just their own lives they should worry about but the whole worlds.
Out August 14th
Elysium
Directed by Neill Blomkamp
Starring Matt Damon, Sharlto Copley and Jodie Foster
There are two types of people that live in the year 2159. Wealthy ones who live on the space station Elysium and the rest who live on an overpopulated and destroyed Earth. The film sees a plan to make everyone equal by sending ex-con Damon on a mission to make the 2 worlds 1.
Out September 20th
Sin City: A Dame to Kill For
Directed by Robert Rodriguez
Starring Mickey Rourke, Michael Madsen, Jamie King, Jessica Alba, Rosario Dawson, Josh Brolin and Joseph Gordon Levitt
Mostly based on the second book in the Sin City series by Frank Miller Sin City: A Dame to Kill For follows the same path of the first film looking over 4 different stories that intertwine. 1 of the stories is new and has Joseph Gordon Levitt playing a cocky gambler called Johnny. Anything with JGL in gets my vote.
Out October 2nd
Thor: The Dark World
Directed by Alan Taylor
Starring Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Tom Hiddleston, Stellan Skarsgård and Christopher Ecclestone
A primeval race intends to send the universe in to darkness while at the same time Thor battles to save all the Nine Realms. Thor must team with Jane Foster to save the universe from the evil Malekith. What makes this even more interesting is director Alan Taylor has also worked on the 1st and 2nd series of Game of Thrones.
Out October 30th
The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug
Directed by Peter Jackson
Starring Martin Freeman, Ian McKellen, Richard Armitage and Andy Serkis
Continues on from where The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey left off. Expect stunning visuals and great fun.
Out December 13th
Anchorman: The Legend Continues
Directed by Adam McKay
Starring Will Ferrell, Steve Carrell, Paul Rudd, David Koechner and Christina Applegate
Not much has been released about what we can expect from this film. All we know is that the news team are reuniting and that the story may involve a custody battle and some bowling.
The next Marvel release, Iron Man 3, has a trailer which was released today and shows Tony Stark in a spot of trouble, much to do with the arrival of classic villian The Mandarin. Since The Avengers (Avengers Assemble) all I’ve wanted and I’m sure many others is too see the next Marvel film. Lets just hope this stands up to what we are all expecting, more Iron Man, less Iron Man 2 (although i didnt mind it that much).
Announced at Comic-Con yesterday, July 14th, were the titles of the next Marvel offerings of Thor and Captain America. There was also some concept art released for Guardians of the Galaxy and some test footage of Edgar Wrights Ant-Man. On the DC side of things we had the first poster reveal of the next Superman film.
Thor 2 is now officially called Thor: The Dark World and will be released on 11th August 2013
Captain America 2 is now officially called Captain America: The Winter Soldier and will be released on 4th March 2014
Guardians of the Galaxy will be released on 1st August 2014
Edgar Wright’s Ant-Man currently does not have a release date but with Edgar doing it you know it is going to be epic.
And lets not forget Iron Man 3 which is due for release on 3rd May 2013
Here is the first Man of Steel poster. With this now finally released and some footage shown at Comic-Con the rumours coming out are that we will be getting the first trailer run in front of The Dark Knight Rises which would make sense as they are both DC properties. Man of Steel is due to be released on 13th June 2013
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