Okay so I saw it and it was pretty good. Not incredible but good. I thought the Mandarin twist was pretty clever and goofy but then again, this is my only exposure to Iron Man so my opinion is apparently null compared to the expert opinion of hardcore Ironman fans. I may see it again though.
[spoiler] The one thing that doesn't make sense is how the vice president was involved in the whole thing. Yes the lost leg was a giveaway to a possible connection but nothing was really said. I may have missed something so that's why I may see it again, or can someone fill me in on the details of what I just or may have missed? [/spoiler]
This movie may have been a 100% if there was more Deadpool. :P
leviathan91
[spoiler] the connection is so that Aldrich/Mandarin can control both sides of the 'war', his phantom and the US president, to fund his Extremist super-soldier program. That's basically it. Aldrich says so before going after the President on Air Force One and using the phrase "the whole world is watching". It's straight out of what i used to read from conspiracy theorists about how Osama Bin Laden is just a ghost or held somewhere but we wheel out whenever the world needs to be reminded why we have to have military adventures.
As for what i thought of the twist reflecting back on it, i'm not really that upset by the twist, because it's basically one of the big ways Mandarin fights Tony, from Aldrich's martial arts skills (hands down beating Tony everytime) - which is the Mandarin's style, the dragon tattoos on him, and even his tone of speech the words he uses change after the twist has been revealed who the real villain is. Working through agents and having them terrorizing Tony in his life (because he is a publically known super hero) is all the calling cards of the Mandarin from the comics.
the thing is there is also a meta-ness to it. When fake Mandarin says "You'll never see me coming" is equally true for both in story and the first-time viewers. and thinking back since they looped Aldrich's connection to Tony in the very beginning before he becomes Iron Man (Tony says how someone creates their own demons), and this is seen in the subtle hints of the Ten Rings terrorist organization that is seen in Iron Man 1, and was seen (until it was cut out in the final cut) in Iron Man 2, of this mysterious figure/organization being behind everything.
in the comics Mandarin is the opposite in Tony in that he fights up close where Iron Man doesn't, he uses far advanced technology (the ten rings) that he calls 'magic' because he does'nt understand how they work and doesn't always use them as well as he could, whereas Tony is all about engineering and designing and maximizing it's tolerances. Mandarin is about working through agents, and is like a cult-like terrorist leader, hiding behind a fake face(s) - Iron Man does not.
A lot of this is in the film, so in a sense i got everything i'd hoped for in an Iron Man vs Mandarin movie, just not in the exact way i was hoping. [/spoiler]
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