The Iron Man 3 Twist

[spacecaps]

There isn't a spoiler here, there's THE Spoiler here. If your one of the eight people that didn't see the movie yet, don't read ahead even though I'm going to be as vague as possible. If you have seen the film, then you already know what I'm talking about but you may want to read the linked article too. The comments section are quite entertaining.

ANYWAY,I'm glad I WAS not the only one going ***?!?! when "Mandarin" came out of the loo doing his best "Do NOT go in there!" Ace Ventura impersonation. Apparently it's a big deal either way you took it. The Joker analogy in this article is exactly how I explained it: http://movies.yahoo.com/blogs/movie-...203853732.html
On one hand, it was a great reveal but on the other I was so excited to see how they were going to do the Mandarin, after the twist, I felt rooked. Kind of like a kid who sees his Christmas presents about a week before Christmas I was immediately excited by the prospect and then totally let down when I realized Val Kilm....um, Guy Pierce was the actual villain.

Oh, also thought I'd mention setting this film at Christmas was quite possibly the worst setting in a super hero movie that had no chance in coming out at any other time than the Spring or Summer. I know the director said it's a universal time that the world can relate to or something like that but no one wants a Christmas setting in May anymore than you want to hear holiday songs on the radio.

Now if they really wanted a jaw dropping twist, killing Gwen Paltrow off would have been something spectacular and one that most fans wouldn't mind.

[enyawd72]

I read a review elsewhere that suggests hints were dropped throughout the movie that we all got the ultimate bait and switch...that Kingsley really IS the Mandarin.
Hint #1...Guy Pierce calls Kingsley the Master in private when no one else is around. Why would he do that?
Hint #2...The Ten Rings. They are obviously important, yet Pierce never wears them...even in his "reveal".
Hint #3...Kingsleys obvious change in demeanor when he reveals to Pierce he told them "Nothing".
Hint #4...Kinglseys comments about distraction and deception...what better way to hide than in plain sight?

[huedell]

Why has no one brought up a simillarity to the Ras Al Guhl malarkey from Batman Begins yet? Am I missing something?

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I can see the similarities between the two but at least in Batman, the Ras Al Guhl was a misdirection off of the actual Ras Al Guhl. He's still very much as he appears in the books, just not who you initially thought he was. The Mandarin on the other hand is a total tool not at all related to what the character is. It be like if the Scarecrow hired some dude to play the character of the Joker, a guy that terrorizes Gotham for the purpose of anarcy, only to find out later that there was no Joker, just some drug-addled actor getting paid to read a script to divert attention away from the real villian.

[huedell]

I can see the similarities between the two but at least in Batman, the Ras Al Guhl was a misdirection off of the actual Ras Al Guhl. He's still very much as he appears in the books, just not who you initially thought he was. The Mandarin on the other hand is a total tool not at all related to what the character is. It be like if the Scarecrow hired some dude to play the character of the Joker, a guy that terrorizes Gotham for the purpose of anarcy, only to find out later that there was no Joker, just some drug-addled actor getting paid to read a script to divert attention away from the real villian.

Interesting take.

[madmarva]

I think the twist is clever, but so many IM and comics fans were hoping for a really great portrayal of a classic villain by an outstanding actor like Ben Kingsley that it became a big letdown. It probably works better for the general audience than one well versed in Marvel lore.

I still thought the movie was fun and entertaining, but it would have been about the same even without the twist

[Hector]

Yes, I'm one of the eight people who has not sen the movie, for one, I just had surgery, and two, not a huge Iron Man fan, so not really in a hurry to see it, but eventually will go once I'm well enough.

[Hector]

Now if they really wanted a jaw dropping twist, killing Gwen Paltrow off would have been something spectacular and one that most fans wouldn't mind.

Couldn't agree with you more, Paltrow is one of my least favorite actresses ever, awful on screen, and according to many insiders, a real life backstabbing snake as well.

[Operation:Mego]

Director-writer Shane Black explained the concept of the Mandarin being a front for Aldrich Killian as a play on perceptions and expectations: "I wanted to do an interesting story choice, something that was about our own fear and our own ways of viewing villains. What if he's sort of this all-things-to-all-people uber-terrorist? What if he is the myth, and in the end that is what we're dealing with: a created myth perpetuated and cobbled together from popular consciousness?" Producer Kevin Feige admitted it was a huge risk to do, "but it's sometimes important to break with tradition, even at the risk of alienating some purists. Shane had really great ideas about identity and anonymity and false faces."

[MIB41]

I don't mind clever twists when they serve the material well. But in this instance, I felt like it diminished the story and served more as a plot device intended to fool the audience rather than layer intrigue for the characters involved. I say that, because if the ruse was designed to take attention away from the actual author of this scheme, why allow the decoy to be traced and thus flushed out? Wouldn't it have been more interesting for the decoy to be completely manufactured on a hard drive where the IP address can be misdirected? Why use an actor that can be identified? And why would the author have a traceable path from a decoy left out in the open? Plus if the concept was to allow the decoy to embrace all the stereotypes society places on villains, why then was this "Mandarin" so watered down? If he was sold as a terrorist, why didn't he have a dialect and culture associated with that stereotype? Better yet, why didn't they just go all out and interpret the Mandarin as a stereotyped Fu Manchu villain as he looks in the comics? So for everything the writers claimed was "clever" about the treatment, I have to disagree and say they were too afraid to offend anyone with stereotypes. They watered down the character past the point of truly exploring that theme, and explained it away in interviews designed to influence how they wanted people to see it. It reminds me of what the Beatles did when they called Sgt Pepper a concept record. No it wasn't. They just said it was, so people looked for the hidden novel. This is the same thing. It was just a cheap trick on the audience from where I see it.

[megomania]

Wow. That's heavy man. ^ Real heavy.

[Operation:Mego]

[Hector]

Iron Man 3, possibly the worst superherp flick I've ever seen.

[Operation:Mego]

Shane Black specified, "Ultimately we do give you the Mandarin, the real guy, but it's Guy Pearce in the end with the big dragon tattooed on his chest." He elaborated, "Do they hand me a blank check and say, 'Go break something!' Or, 'Go violate some long-standing comic book treaty that fans have supported for years?' No, but they'll say: 'Let's break something together.' So it's okay to come up with these crazy things, these far out ideas … and they'll fly. It's just that the Marvel guys have to be in the room."