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Dissecting The Iron Man 3 Trailer

Does The Suit Make The Man or Does The Man Make The Suit?

The new Iron Man 3 Trailer has been revealed to all but the most secluded humans holed up in barren, 4g –dead zones and wifi cold spots. Speculation was already inflating among fans, as this is the first post-Avengers escapade for Marvel, and the first for Tony Stark since the less than stellar Iron Man 2, which many people took for a hundred million dollar commercial for The Avengers. The trailer’s release has only permeated that supply of imaginative wonder as it gets dissected frame by frame for potential clues to the story’s premise and direction.

We’re fans at heart; hence, we’re no different. Read our observations below.

The Iron Man Rises?

Before we begin, we understand that there are a million, non-linear ideas taken out of context that can go into a trailer. Often, these previews isolate tones, themes, and emotions targeted at a specific audience, which may be a far cry from the final product. How many of us remember thinking In Bruges was going to be a lighthearted comedy?

But there is no mistaking the new dark tones present in the third arch of the Iron Man franchise. It starts with a battered Tony Stark laying submissively in a frozen wasteland, and the rest of the trailer is a progression of ass kicking at his expense. It’s a polar shuffle from the marking strategies of the previous films, which used tracks from ACDC and Robert Downey Jr.’s one-liners to lure us into the seats with promises of fun and humor. It’s almost like they hired Christopher Nolan to direct it. Like The Dark Knight Rises, this installment will be the darkness before a dawn, though we can still expect Downy Jr. to be in full court jester mode since one of the more endearing qualities of the franchise is his tenacity to laugh at his own insane circumstances.

There are other similarities with Nolan’s Batman trilogy, the first of which being that Batman and Iron man are essentially inter-dimensional doppelgangers of each other, with both being emotionally unstable billionaires- with daddy issues- who use their fortunes to fund their vendettas.

Like TDKR, the villain is inspired from the first film, with Batman resurrecting The League of Shadows and Iron Man doing battle with his deadliest foe, The Mandarin, who was first alluded to in the first film with the inclusion of a terrorist group known as The Ten Rings. The baddies themselves are both international terrorists, with distinguishably questionable voices (Ben Kingsley sounds like he’s narrating a Charles Dickens novel), who employ methods of attrition as a strategy to slowly break down their opponents. Bane crushed batman’s back and used his weapons and vehicles against him while the Iron Man trailer reveals that The Mandarin will blow up Stark’s home and sabotage the technology to manipulate his suit. Which brings us to our next critical observation…

War Machines

Iron Man 3 looks to continue paving a journey to define what it is to be a hero, the seeds of which were planted by Captain America in The Avengers when he implied that Tony Stark was just an egomaniac in a suit.

“Take away the suit, and what are you?” He asks.

Of course Tony rose to the occasion by sacrificing himself for the sake of New York, and it appears that IM3 will continue developing that theme by stripping him of his toys and pushing his limits as a man.

We see shots of various suits of armors self destructing in sequence, and several (somewhat erotic) clips of the Iron Man suit attacking Tony and Pepper. There’s no doubt that director, Shane Black, knew the kind of response such imagery would generate. One can’t help but notice sci-fi elements from classics like Bladerunner and Isaac Asimov novels.

I'm Sorry. I think we're moving a little too fast

This game of man vs. machine will be escalated by Tony Stark’s voluntary fusion with nano technology. The inclusion of Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce), and a shot of Tony commanding pieces of his armor via telekinesis, all but guarantee that portions of the “Extremis” storyline from the comics will be at play. Expect Tony to gain the ability to manipulate technology – from cellphones to satellites – through the sheer will of his mind.

With over six months to go, many of these thoughts can be accused of moving prematurely, but where’s the fun in waiting to find out?

Coming In 2012: Can DiCaprio and Lurhman Strike Gold with New Gatsby Movie?

Baz Luhrmann has never been accused of being subtle. His films (Romeo and Juliette, Moulin Rouge) are camp extravaganzas filled with anachronistic music and visual overdoses of color, so it’s no surprise that the trailer for his adaptation of “The Great Gatsby,” an American masterpiece with a reserved, grimy tone and a passive narrator, created a buzz as mercurial as the mysterious Jay Gatsby himself. Like a shot of prohibition era bathtub whiskey, reception is divided between those who are happy to have another serving of the classic, and those who are turned off by the unconventional flavor of the new direction. The title character isn’t introduced until the third chapter in the book, so his characterization up to that point is revealed by the gossip of clueless speculators. Likewise the Internet is crawling with trolls ripping into the guts of an unfinished movie – that won’t be released until Christmas – based on a two minute put together by a marketing team with no emotional or creative input into the finished product.

This isn’t the first time F. Scott Fitzgerald’s bacchanalian portrait of the “roaring twenties “ has made an appearance on the screen. Its predecessors aren’t exactly memorable, except perhaps for the lack of chemistry between Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. Luhrmann’s version, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire, offers a refreshing perspective on the themes of greed, obsession, and opulence that defined the tale of a man, ashamed of his modest upbringing, who turns to bootlegging and other illicit activities to raise a fortune and regain the woman he lost.

Those who criticize Luhrmann for failing to replicate the serious tone of the book should keep in mind that Mr. Gatsby is ultimately brought down by his futile attempts to recreate the past. Adaptations that aren’t given the space to roam from the source material are seldom met with critical praise.

Though the film takes place in 1920s, elements of the trailer are unmistakably modern, perhaps as an attempt by Lurhmann to apply the story’s theme to a contemporary audience. It was shot in 3D with a budget that was well over a hundred million dollars, which is unusual for a film not featuring talking robots, nuclear explosions, and masked vigilantes.

Much of the criticism also comes from the trailer’s score, which features music from Jay-Z, Kanye West, and Jack White’s cover of U2’s “Love is Blindness” instead of tunes native to the time period. It’s not known yet whether Luhrmann will use modern music for the film itself, but based on his previous work, it would not be a surprise. It may not be a bad thing if he does. The book was written over fifty years ago, and chances are, much of the movie going public has not read it. Fans of the novel do not need to be persuaded to buy the ticket, but if the film hopes to turn a profit, it better attract those who aren’t familiar with it.

In any case, any press is good press, and the current uproar incited by the trailer has to be good news for the film’s producers.

Checkout the trailer below and give us your take.