IRON MAN 3 : THE MANDARIN CONTROVERSY

 

Now before I start discussing this tender topic, this is not a review of the film itself, as I already have reviewed the film which you can view in the side bar of my past reviews. Iron Man 3 was without doubt the first big summer blockbuster of 2013 and had a worldwide release only a few weeks ago and generally the film has had positive response from the media and filmgoers alike, however the topic on everyone's lips regarding Iron Man 3 is the portrayal of Tony Stark's arch nemesis, The Mandarin played by the highly talented Ben Kingsley. Now i myself am not a huge comic book fan but going into this film I was aware of The Mandarin's existence and how is portrayed in comic book law, couple that with the marketing behind The Mandarin as a huge threat to Tony Stark and indeed the world, a global terrorist intend of global domination. However in the film it takes a HUGE U-Turn and it is revealed that he is indeed an actor, and no such man exists as it was a make-believe creation of Aldrich Killian {Guy Pearce}, and instantly upon seeing this when I was in the cinema, it took me a fair while to get back into the film. Nobody saw it coming, it was a well kept secret but no doubt it has caused a huge stir amongst fans of the comics. Some see it as a master stroke by director Shane Black, and there is no denying Ben Kingsley's performance was v funny and one of the stand out parts of the entire film, but in my opinion it didn't work all too well and it seemed they took all the build up for that character to be a super villain and turned him into a laughing stock. Don't get me wrong, I loved Iron Man 3, it was a brilliant action film, but I felt this twist was a misstep, but without doubt it was a very brave and bold direction to take as they knew they would face an extreme backlash from a lot of die hard comic book fans of the marvel classic series. Maybe it's just me, but i felt The Mandarin could have gone down as one of the best villains in an action film if done in it's "proper" fashion.

 

 

So i want to know, what do you guys think of the whole thing? Did you enjoy the different creative direction they went with The Mandarin? Did you hate it? Did it take you out of the film completely or just for the moment? Let me know!

 

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