Movies movies!

Okay, so I have two movies to discuss here, let's get down to business.

You might remember in my post a few months ago that I said I was sick to death of superhero movies. Well I've got news for you: I watched Iron Man 2 not long ago. I thought it was about time, given the proximity of the final film in the trilogy, and it looked pretty interesting. And here's the thing:

I didn't think it was all that great.

See, Ivan Vanko was an okay villain, but it was less fun. S.H.I.E.L.D played a larger part in it than in the first one, and it just didn't feel like an Iron Man movie. It was dark. It was brutal. It was only when we got closer to the end, and Tony teams up with Rhodey in the warmachine suit to fight Vanko's drones (it's on DVD - if you haven't seen it yet, you should expect spoilers) that it began to feel like the sort of brightly-coloured, fast-paced action movie I'd been expecting. But I felt it dwelt too much on the problems with Tony's arc reactor, it was too personal and didn't really fit well with the original.

That's exactly why I love Iron Man 3. It's completely the opposite to 2, or perhaps that's the wrong way to describe it. Maybe I should say it combines the best elements of both films. Tony spends a lot of time outside the suit, using his own wits to survive. We see him as he was in the first film, designing the Iron Man suit for the first time, only this time he's facing an enemy with powers to rival those of the suit. He's not just hitting terrorists or fighting his own corrupt company executives - this time he's up against the Mandarin, a terrorist who styles himself as a teacher, bringing his message of death and destruction with untraceable bombs.

There's not a lot more I can say about this without heading into spoiler territory, but I will say this: the scenes where Tony is out of the suit, using his wits, and making new weapons with whatever he can find, are some of the best parts of the movie. And it's not a darker and edgier third film either, which surprised me. The trailers make it look that way, but once you sit down and watch, the jokes come fast and frequent and the action is just as fluid and fun as it always has been. We have battles of Iron Man 2 proportions and larger, but with the heart and excitement of the first film. It feels light, fresh and fun again.

Anyway, that's Iron Man 3. You should all totally go watch it because it's awesome. Now onto the next movie. Because it hasn't been all that long since I watched Oblivion either. It features a pretty bangin' cast, including Morgan Freeman, and of course Tom Cruise as the protagonist. I'd expected a more straight-up sci-fi smasher, an alien film with less story and more gun-toting, shoot-'em-up action from the trailer, but there's a whole lot more to it than that. What that is, I can't exactly tell you, but what I will say is this: it's kinda fun.

The whole movie is a little ridiculous, but it's Tom Cruise so that's to be expected. The scenery is breathtaking, beached ships and vast deserts, with idyllic oases hidden deep inside canyons which bring to mind memories of the trench run from Star Wars. There's always an unsettled feeling running through the whole thing, though, a tension which doesn't seem entirely clear. Something doesn't fit right with anything, and every time you see Jack Harper at home it feels uncomfortable, too sterile and too square. That, coupled with the soundtrack by M83 which doesn't entirely gel with the atmosphere of the world as it is in the movie, makes for an interesting watching experience, where you're constantly on the lookout, trying to spot something off-kilter about the whole thing. It plays like an action movie - there are lots of action scenes and plenty of shooting - but feels, under the surface, like a horror.

Anyway, those are the films I've seen. I'll be back soon enough to talk about Star Trek Into Darkness. I'm hoping to get back up to at least a weekly update, since these posts are always pretty fun to write. One last piece of advice before you go:

Watch Iron Man 3. You won't regret it. And stay for the credits; it's a Marvel movie after all...