A Complete Analysis of Iron Man Part 3: The Birth of Iron Man (Film Analysis)

LINK TO PART 2: Tony Stark, the Anti-Bruce Wayne

After some life-saving surgery, Tony wakes up to find himself imprisoned in a cavernous cell. This isn’t the worse thing Tony discovers, however, finding—during a moment shot in an almost horror-style manner—an electromagnet, hooked up to a car battery, inside his chest.  A fellow prisoner named Yinsen (Shaun Toub) explains that he’s responsible for the device—having saved Tony’s life by removing all the shrapnel he could that had pierced Tony from the rocket blast earlier.  The electromagnet is there to keep the remaining shrapnel from entering Tony's heart.  Yinsen is surprisingly cheerful for a prisoner, speaking in an unworried tone towards Tony and even joking about the multiple security cameras around them.

This all changes once their captors enter the cell, a terrorist group called the Ten Rings.  With Yinsen as a translator, the terrorist leader welcomes Tony, calling him the greatest mass murderer in the history of America; “He's honored”. The terrorist leader informs Tony he would like him to build The Jericho missile seen earlier.  Tony refuses and is tortured before being taken outside to see a stockpile of Stark Industries' weaponry.  As serious as these scenes are, there’s an underlying bit of dark comedy to them—keeping them from getting overly grim.  When Yinsen translates that after Tony builds the Jericho missile he will be set free, Tony smiles and shakes the terrorist’s hand saying, “No he won't.”—Yinsen parrots Tony’s English to the now-content leader, oblivious to the pseudo understanding.

Yinsen informs Tony that the U.S. military will never find them deep within the mountainous area.  Acting as a kind of moral compass, Yinsen prods Tony on what he will do:

Yinsen: Your life's work, in the hands of those murderers. Is that how you want to go out? Is this the last act of defiance of the great Tony Stark? Or are you going to do something about it?

Tony: Why should I do anything? They're going to kill me, you, either way. And if they don't, I'll probably be dead in a week.

Yinsen: Well, then, this is a very important week for you, isn't it?

Sparked by Yinsen’s words and with nothing to lose, Tony has the Ten Rings gather the needed materials to seemingly build the Jericho—in reality, building a giant metal suit to make their escape.  To make movement and living easier, Tony builds a miniature Arc Reactor—a power core that provides an enormous amount of energy—to power Stark’s electromagnet for 50 lifetimes or the armored suit for fifteen minutes.  

A key difference between Tony Stark and the cinematic superheroes before is his lack of powers/physical prowess.  Tony doesn’t have powers to grow and develop over time, nor is he trained in any martial arts.  Tony’s true strength lies in his brilliant mind, and his ability to use said brilliance to build incredible technology like the miniature Arc Reactor or the armored suit.  Jon Favreau realized the importance of showing Tony’s creative process, giving screentime to him building/developing the technology.  This effectively gives the soon-to-be hero his own unique training montage, complete with some iconic imagery and an adrenaline-pumping soundtrack.  Looking back, these scenes have gained potency as not just the birth of Iron Man but the birth of the MCU.

Tony and Yinsen bond during their time imprisoned.  Yinsen notes he met Tony once at a technical conference—though Tony was too drunk at the time to remember—and that he has a family who he will see when he leaves, something Tony admits he lacks.  Yinsen notes the hollowness of Tony’s financial success; “So you're a man who has everything, and nothing.”  When the time finally arrives, Tony fits into his armored suit and begins mowing down mooks with sheer brute force.  The engaging action piece displays a key difference between the closely released The Dark Knight and Iron Man films's superheroes.  Tony Stark does not shy away from killing, and, in fact, does so quite brutally at times.  One scene has some terrified mooks trying to lock Tony out with a solid metal door, leaving one of theirs behind.  The left behind soldier frantically bangs on the door as a looming giant shadow engulfs him—the scene cutting to the other side as a loud thud is heard, ending the soldiers screams.

Yet that's not to say the sequence is dark and gruesome—Iron Man is an MCU film after all, and the balanced formula of action, drama, and comedy is here from the beginning.  When accidentally using too much force and getting his metal hand stuck in a wall, one of the soldiers tries getting in close to headshot Tony, only for the bullet to amusingly ricochet off the armored plating right back into the terrorist’s head.  Unfortunately, and predictably, Yinsen receives a fatal wound during the escape, revealing to Stark that his family was already dead and this was his plan from the beginning. Tony thanks Yinsen for saving him, the man’s final words being “Don't waste it. Don't waste your life.”  An angry Tony comes walking out the cave, his armor shaking the ground like the T-Rex in Jurassic Park.  The remaining soldiers barrage him with bullets though it's ineffective.  Tony replies with a “My turn” as he scorches the terrorists and remaining weapons with makeshift flamethrowers—blowing up the hideout before ejecting out of there Bond-style.

After wandering the desert for some time, Tony runs into an American Helicopter.  His friend Rhodey is present and, after some light banter, has a genuinely emotional moment with Tony as the two hug.  The scene concludes the origin of what sparks a self-centered playboy into becoming a superhero. If there is a downside to this section, it’s predictability.  Any mildly savvy viewer knows how this process will go, right down to Yinsen’s death.  Nonetheless, predictability doesn’t change how effectively its all done.  The pacing is sharp, just the right amount of exposition to inform viewers without getting tedious as well as bonding scenes with Yinsen to make his death genuinely saddening and his impact on Tony felt.  The soundtrack and imagery build up anticipation and the action payoff delivers with an engaging escape sequence.  Best of all, viewers feel and see a genuine change in Tony Stark as he begins a long journey to become the superhero he is over ten years later.

LINK TO PART 4: Tony Stark and the Heart, Ego, and Cheeseburger