The suits have taken over the franchise. Not the corporate suits, though 'Iron Man 3' is so incoherent that it might have been written by a particularly quarrelsome committee, but the robotic suits. The movie is obsessed by them. Tony Stark, the supersmart industrialist played once again by Robert Downey Jr., has his Mark 42 suit, which comes when he calls it, piece by piece, anywhere in the world. Tony's friend Col. James 'Rhodey' Rhodes (Don Cheadle) has his Iron Patriot suit, which is a War Machine suit with upgrades and fresh paint. There's a point to this sartorial tech. Tony himself is obsessed by the suits, so he keeps building new ones. They give him a sense of security, and promise relief from the anxiety attacks he has been having since his near-disaster at the end of 'The Avengers' last year. But the third iteration of a franchise that began so well becomes a hollow hymn to martial gadgetry. The suits and story clank in unison.
在《钢铁侠3》(Iron Man 3)中，战甲成为了影片的主角。尽管这部看起来极不连贯的影片可能就是由一个特别爱争执的编剧委员会编的，但我们在这里所说的不是办公室着装，而是机械战衣，它们充斥着整部影片。这一次，仍由小罗伯特•唐尼(Robert Downey Jr.)饰演的男主角──才智过人的实业家托尼•斯塔克(Tony Stark)配备了马克42代(Mark 42)战衣，无论他在世界何处，只要他有需要，它都会一件件出现。托尼的朋友“罗德上校”(Col. James "Rhodey" Rhodes)也有自己的“钢铁爱国者”(Iron Patriot)战甲，它是一套更新换代并且新刷了涂料的“战争机器”(War Machine)战衣。这一制衣技术有其合理之处，托尼本人因战甲感到困扰，因此不停地打造新战甲。它们给他带来安全感，也给他带来能从焦虑中解脱出来的希望，自从去年在《复仇者联盟》(The Avengers)结局处遭遇到那个险些成为灾难的事件以来，他就一直受此折磨。作为一部开局很棒的影片的第三部续集，《钢铁侠3》成为了夸赞战斗装备的空洞赞歌。战甲与故事情节同时发生了碰撞。
That's not to deny the distinctions of this huge production, which was directed by Shane Black. The computer animation is often astonishing, even if the 3-D is indifferent and explosions are explosions, no matter what's being exploded. (Tony's cliff-clinging house in Malibu is reduced to rubble after he gives out his street address on national television.)
这并不是要否认这部由沙恩•布莱克(Shane Black)执导的巨制的特别之处。电脑特效大多令人震撼，尽管3-D效果一般，反正无论是什么发生爆炸，爆炸场面都不过如此。（在国家电视台上公布自己的街道地址之后，托尼建在加州马里布悬崖之上的住宅沦为了废墟。）
The film's greatest distinction is the spin it puts on its villainy, which involves not only Guy Pearce as the malevolent entrepreneur Aldrich Killian, but Ben Kingsley as The Mandarin, an arch-villain unlike any other. To explain why he's unlike any other would spoil one of the few good surprises in the script, which was written by Drew Pearce and the director. Let's just say that Mr. Kingsley, or Sir Ben, if you will, makes The Mandarin both frightening and terrifically funny─Tony refers to the character as Sir Laurence Oblivion─and that the surprise is both enjoyable and oddly damaging to a dramatic structure that doesn't need additional hollowness.
该影片最大的特色是扭转了一众反派角色的形象，其中不仅包括盖•皮尔斯(Guy Pearce)饰演的邪恶企业家奥德里奇•基利安(Aldrich Killian)，还有本•金斯利(Ben Kingsley)饰演的一个与众不同的大奸角──“满大人”(The Mandarin)。这里还是不解释为什么“满大人”不同于其他反派了，因为此举会毁掉这个由德鲁•皮尔斯(Drew Pearce)和导演共同撰写的剧本中为数不多的几个精彩意外情节之一。这么说吧，金斯利（假如你愿意，也可称他为‘本爵士’）将“满大人”（托尼把这个角色称为Sir Laurence Oblivion）演得既让人畏惧，又非常搞笑。此外，关于“满大人”的那个意外让人欣喜，但它也进一步破坏了一个本就显得空洞的戏剧结构。
In the first 'Iron Man,' Mr. Downey was the only funnyman. He was funny in a way that superheroes had never been─hip, droll, sardonic and self-ironic─and his quick wit meshed beautifully with the movie's sophisticated style and elegant action. This time he settles for nervous and flip. He gets his laughs, but Tony's self-irony has been replaced by the star's self-comment, and it doesn't help that the writing often depends on glib banter, the most conspicuous example of which is an extended set piece in small-town Tennessee. Finding himself there in extremis, Tony collaborates with a precocious little kid named Harley─he's played by Ty Simpkins─to produce a jury-rigged piece of equipment like the one E.T. used to call home. (When a massive explosion takes down the town's water tower, you watch with interest though without feeling, since all of the previous massive explosions have functioned like Novocain, leaving you prenumbed.)
在《钢铁侠》第一部中，唐尼饰演的角色是剧中唯一风趣的人物。他的风趣与其他超级英雄不同，他玩世不恭、诙谐、爱嘲讽而且也自嘲，他的机智与影片老练的风格和精密的情节完美契合。这一次，他却只是焦虑和轻率。他也引发了观众的笑声，但他的自嘲被他的自我评论取代，而剧本常常借助油嘴滑舌的戏谑也无济于事，其最明显的例子是发生在田纳西小镇的一个很长的场景。托尼在那儿发现自己身陷绝境，于是和一个名叫哈利(Harley，由泰•辛普金斯(Ty Simpkins)饰演)的早慧的小男孩合作，临时装配了一件过去常被外星人称作大本营的装置。（在一次大规模爆炸摧毁那个小镇的水塔时，你会饶有兴趣但毫无感觉地看着，因为这之前的种种爆炸场面已产生了如奴佛卡因(Novocain)一般的效果，事先让你麻木了。）
Extremis is also the name of a bioenhancement process that turns some of the movie's humans into turbocharged heavies who glow with evil energy and look like zombies. There's no lack of energy throughout, even if much of it, like the acting, feels forced. (Gwyneth Paltrow, who is back as Pepper Potts, has lost her cool but gained her own robotics, and her own action sequence, which ends with casually absurd illogic. Rebecca Hall, a superb actress in normal circumstances, seems uncomfortable as Dr. Maya Hansen, who's responsible for the invention of Extremis, and for its fateful flaw.) 'Iron Man 3' is an industrial enterprise fabricated for kids, and they will eat it up just as eagerly as the Iron Giant scarfed scrap metal. If you're not a kid, though, or if you want to keep your memories of the first 'Iron Man' unsullied, beware of the buzz and hubbub, and the glowing reviews. You know the story of the emperor's new suit.
片中一个生物强化方法也被称为“extremis”（终极改造），它将一些人类转变为充满邪恶力量的大块头，他们力量大增，看上去像僵尸一样。整部影片不乏活力，即使其中很大一部分和片中表演一样让人觉得牵强。格温妮丝•帕特洛(Gwyneth Paltrow)饰演的“小辣椒”(Pepper Potts)回归，这次她不再冷静，有了自己的机械战衣和故事，不过剧情最后草草地以荒谬的逻辑收尾。丽贝卡•霍尔(Rebecca Hall)平时是一个演技一流的演员，但这次在饰演参与发明Extremis及一手造成其致命缺陷的玛雅•汉森博士(Dr. Maya Hansen)时似乎并不自如。总之，《钢铁侠3》是一部为儿童制作的影片，他们会与包裹着“铁巨人”(Iron Giant)的那些铁片一样热切地完全接受它。倘若你不是儿童，或者如果你想保留对第一部《钢铁侠》的完美印象，要小心那些炒作喧哗，以及给予盛赞的剧评。你们都知道皇帝的新装这个故事的。