We Interrupt this Program

Grendal and I went to the movies today, which is a big thing! We used to go to the movies rather frequently but lately money has been tight and we've been a little more critical on what we decide to see. High end Scifi, fantasy, and comic book movies, though, seem to throw that right out the window.

We saw Iron Man 3. There has been a big brouhaha about the movie and it's twists and all that. So, I am noting now that if you haven't seen Iron Man 3 don't read on. If you haven't seen it and don't care about spoilers, though, keep going.





We good?  Good.

Now. I've heard people going on about how this movie doesn't seem like and Iron Man movie. Not enough action, too many one liners, blah blah blah.  As a BIG fan of the previous two movies I must say this is right along the same feel. Nothing has been changed. If it has, I haven't noticed and am delusional.  The big complaint about the movie is this guy

Love me some Ben Kingsley

The Mandarin. Stark's greatest foe in his comic books suddenly brought down to being drugged up actor proxy. This character is supposed to be a genius, well trained in technology, ten magical rings, and awesome with martial arts. In the movie, like I said, he is a drug addicted actor who is there to live it up and remain all druggy. The Mandarin is actually this man

A very airbrushed Guy Pearce

What? Aldrich Killian gets barely any screen time in the comics but in the movie-verse he is suddenly The Mandarin.  :|  He has a think tank, so I suppose he could be an intellect, and while one could say he has the martial arts moves at the end, well so does Pepper. I attribute all of that to the drug Killian had flowing through him.

So, I am one of those people in the good ship Mandarin proclaiming that Kingsley's Mandarin is the real one. The Mandarin character would be crafty enough to pull the twist of, 'I am Mandarin but I hired this group to do this for me and I will continue making my threats but you see this guy with the bad dye job? Yeah, he's the figure head' or something along those lines.

Why do I think Killian isn't Mandarin? First we have the first shot of the 'studio' where Mandarin films from. Everyone is getting ready and suddenly we hear that 'Master' is arriving. Now, knowing that this guy is a drugged up actor just looking for his next fix, why would these people be referring to him as 'Master'? If he was in the room I suppose they could be indulging the man but he wasn't there. He couldn't hear them. There was no derision in their voices. They also couldn't look him in the eye. A lot of those people looked like the type not to take shit from anyone, so why would they kowtow to someone who would bend over backwards to get his next fix?

Speaking of his arrival, it got me thinking. Now correct me if I'm wrong but the place where they film is where he lives, just held in a different portion of the building, yes? If that is true then why the hell would the country's most wanted leave the premises IN COSTUME only to come back? Not to mention he had escorts. Why do all this parading? Sure you can say it was for the audience's benefit but if they're trying to keep all of that hush-hush, why let him out in the garb? Give him some plain clothes, a bad hat, and call it a day.

There is also the portion of Mandarin explaining that the gun he had on camera was fake, that the people there didn't trust him with a gun. Okay.....Thinking back to Mandarin killing that corporate fat cat on camera. It was live, yes? Even taking into account the possible 3 second delay there is no way things would have gone off without a hitch. The firing of the gun, while they could have used a sound effect someone may have noticed it being off(that person is out there, you know it) and Mandarin's 'actor' may have flinched. I don't care how awesome of an actor you are, there would have been some facial reaction to the sound of a gun going off. Not to mention we don't know what happened to the man afterwards! Did they just off him and ditch his body some where? It's not like they could have let him go. The crew and everyone else would have had to keep up the whole 'Master' thing as well to make sure said fat cat didn't try anything while the camera was rolling.

I also want to know WHAT they showed on TV when the gun went off. Was it a close up of Mandarin's face, a nice image of his hand squeezing the trigger, or was it the man's death? All we know is the shocked reaction from the random people in the country.

All of that set aside we have the moment when Stark enters the home, offs some guards, and breaks into Mandarin's bedroom. Why would he be hamming it up if no one was around but the ladies in the bed? The area was heavily guarded and Killian seems like the type to have cameras around too, so I can place the argument that he knew that Stark was coming.  I could even say that Mandarin speaks with the British accent rather than the accent he has 'on screen'. He is a genius and it doesn't take one to come up with a story on the fly or even recant one that had been prepared from the get go.

Ben Kingsly is Mandarin in my head. While the marvel movie-verse may state otherwise, I don't believe it. He is too big of a character to be reduced to what he had been. Yes I could be in denial but a white guy with a bad dye job, crappy dragon tattoos on his chest, and drugs pumping through him doesn't really seem like a super villain.

Besides, someone wishing for world domination wouldn't jump in head first against a 'super human' foe, especially after the incident in New York. No! They'd test the water.  This was Mandarin's way of testing Stark to see how much he would have to push. If the people wanted to, they could use this as Mandarin's springboard and it would fit.