Bat!John, Martin Crieff, Iron Man 3
It's ANZAC Day today, so I will start off with a remembrance poppy before segueing awkwardly into fandom. Lest We Forget.
Why is it that I personally can't stand fawnlock or catlock or (god forbid) tunalock, but batjohn seems like a really good idea? What is brain? Anyway, I've been adoring Salsify's Sherlock Holmes and the Adventure of the Very Small Flatmate series, based on the whole "this makes sense on tumblr" thing. It's on hiatus for now, but it's episodic anyway and doesn't really suffer for it.
Also in things that really shouldn't work but do: Martin Crieff/Iron Man ( LJ/AO3) by flawedamythyst (as recced by killerweasel). I'm not a particular Iron Man or Avengers fan at all, but it turns out what Martin needs is a technology-obsessed billionaire who finds him irresistibly sexy when he blushes. I was a little put off by the PG rating (because I'm just that shallow) but it just means that the smut is only mentioned in passing, which works just as well for the purposes of the fic.
I swear that I decided to see Iron Man 3 today pretty much due to the influence of those fics. Okay, granted, there was also very little else on I could be bothered with (I'd already attempted to muster up enthusiasm for Trance or Oz the Great and Powerful, without much success). I'd seen 1 and 2, but wasn't particularly interested in 3 (hadn't even seen a trailer before I went, so I knew absolutely nothing about it save the cinema blurb). However, Robert Downey, Jr., Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley are always drawcards. Anyway, I enjoyed it so much more than I'd expected, mostly thanks to some very, very nice writing.
I'm a bit of a sucker for a witty turn of phrase, and this script was packed full of them. In so many blockbuster movies they spend millions blowing things up, while the script sounds like someone spent the absolute minimum effort on it necessary to convey the thick black crayon outlines of story and character. What made Iron Man 3 for me were the delightful quips and plot twists and general air of fun that kept right on going throughout, and of course RDJ generally knows how to make the most of everything he's given, and he was given a lot to work with. He also has this ability to switch from arrogant jokester to serious to vulnerable and make it all surprisingly believable. Also a huge plus - action sequences in which I did not fall asleep. I often feel that having spent millions on making things blow up, the director's temptation is to make us all watch those millions being spent in excruciating detail for minutes on end = dull, dull, dull. Whereas even during the most spectacular sequences here, there was always a very strong sense of story, of what the characters needed to do, even if it was only along the lines of survive, escape, fight. Instead of lingering lovingly on the colossal explosion or implosion of various structures, the camera only stopped long enough to register - look! it's spectacular! - before going back to concentrate on individuals and their reactions and expressions. That's pretty much the only way to engage me during that kind of thing and I appreciated it SO much. I suppose a possible downside is that suspension of disbelief was pushed to a whole new level in terms of the human body's ability to withstand various forms of trauma, and miraculous last-second rescues happened... pretty much every other second. But I can live with that *g*
I think despite the humour it was a darker, more sober movie than the others, and the script mainly focused on the aftereffects of The Avengers (he didn't escape without consequences) and Stark's humanity rather than his 'superhero' side as emphasised in the other movies. The structuring of the plot was very nice as well, drawing a full circle from past to present and back again. Rebecca Hall was a nice surprise in a fairly thankless role, and I also enjoyed Don Cheadle in a similarly thankless role, but Ben Kingsley was brilliant as The Mandarin. No, really. I know how it sounds, but he was. There's a charming kid in there somewhere, too, who somehow manages to sidestep most of the obnoxious cliches, and his rapport with Stark is hilarious. Even Gwyneth Paltrow was pretty kickass in the role, which I concede begrudgingly. It really was excellent - not really something I'd watch again or buy on DVD, but the kind of thing I might be tempted to catch if it were on TV, mainly to enjoy RDJ spouting witticisms and appreciate Kingsley doing his thing.