Iron Man III was good until the last 10 minutes
So....that happened. We were going along with hilarious dialogue ("Dad's leave, kid; don't be a pussy about it.") and fighty action and omg, maybe Pepper died but she totally didn't.
And then.
And then...the last 10 minutes of the film.
Look, lets talk about it on a writing level. After the climactic final battle between Tony and Aldrin Killian, we get a Tony voice-over telling us, "Oh yeah, I fixed everything. The end." It was just a voiceover wrapping up everything in a neat little bow. It was summary. Did the director, Shane Black, run out of money? Couldn't he cut 10 minutes of an action sequence and film the actual ending? No, instead we get a stupid voiceover. I almost thought it didn't really happen. Like, Tony would do this VO of how he saved Pepper and how he had this awesome life with her and then it would be revealed to be a lie, or Bruce (hiya, after-credits Dr. Banner!) would just gently say, "But Tony, that's not what happened." But nope. It was just...a really weird choice in terms of writing.
Now, lets discuss how it worked on a plot level, because I think the choice is even weirder here. First, we find out that Pepper was dosed with Extremis (yet another attempt at the Super Soldier serum), a nano-technology that causes rapid healing and fire-bending type powers. But not to worry, Tony's VO tells us. He "fixed Pepper." Whatever that means. Is she human again? Did he simply resolve the issue that the Extremis serum has (ie, blowing up the subject)? No clue. The movie doesn't tell us.
Weirder was Tony's decision to 1. destroy all his Iron Man suits and 2. get rid of the arc reactor. We are supposed to see this as Tony giving this great gift to Pepper, him moving forward in his life and dealing with the trauma and PTSD he experienced after almost dying in Avengers. However, it seemed more like a desperate attempt to hold on to Pepper, who seemed hectoring and generally annoyed at Tony the entire movie.
Case in point: 30ish minutes into the movie, Tony finally admits that he is having panic attacks and can't sleep. Pepper propositions him and they fall asleep together. Tony suffers from a nightmare and an automated Iron Man suit responds to his panic, grabbing Pepper and scaring her. It is clear that Tony feels like complete shit about it, on top of still being heart-racingly terrified when he wakes up. Pepper's response? "I'm going to sleep in the other room!" Not, "Oh my god, honey are you okay? How long has this been going on? Do you want to talk about it?" Her response just seemed so out of place. Its clear to me that she doesn't love him anymore, but they both haven't admitted it to themselves. So Tony is trying even harder to be "normal" and Pepper treats him even more like a screw up. Clearly, this is going to be resolved in Avengers 2 with the tired old, "I-gave-up-that-life/if-you-go-I-won't-be-here-when-you-get-back" trope. Which *siiiiiiiigh* Come on, movie! You were SO. CLEVER. until then.
There was definitely a way that this ending could have been written, where it was clear that both Tony and Pepper were lying to themselves and to us-the audience. Where they are trying so hard for a happy ending, but we know its not true. Where Tony is shown to be an unreliable narrator. But the author didn't do this. The author wanted us to believe that this was a genuinely happy ending. That Tony trashing his work and getting rid of the arc reactor was a step forward. That Tony crippling himself to keep Pepper happy was a legitimately good decision, instead of a desperate, self-defeating and cowardly way to resolve their relationship issues.
Obviously, Tony's whole "I am Iron Man, but I don't need to suit/arc reactor/superheroing" can only last so long, especially in light of the impending rise of Thanos. But I just wish the movie didn't take this weasel way out of its own plot. Would it have been too difficult to have Tony and Pepper actually discuss their issues? Or, god forbid, break up at the end of the movie instead of riding off into the sunset? Why did the movie have to pull out the most cliche superhero trope at the end? Sure, Tony Got The Girl, but at the cost of what makes him him. I like Tony Stark as a character. I hate to see him neutered when the writer so obviously wants us to think that this was a good decision.
Was the movie good? Hell yes. I would pay to watch it 10 more times. It was immensely entertaining and had some laugh-out-loud great moments, mostly due to Robert Downey Jr's fantastic delivery and the always wonderful Ben Kingsley. But the last 10 minutes...Yeah, I'm gonna need some fan fic retcon stat!