Don't hover over this freaking title if you haven't seen the movie. Ok? Just go see the film before even entering this if you care about the main plot twists. Now, since I'm so courteous, I'll even spoiler tag the question I have: Spoiler How do you guys feel about the Mandarin being changed from his traditional version to the way he's portrayed in the film? And I'm talking about Aldrich Killian specifically, not the decoy Mandarin. My main beef is that they named him Mandarin when his powers are almost completely different. I can't say much for his personality honestly, but Aldrich in the film made a pretty neat villain in my opinion: a man with no suit fighting the man with the suit(s). Still, I wish they went the way with the rings, but I'm not as butthurt as some of my friends.
One thing before I talk about the movie. This thread should have been posted or moved to the Movies subforum. Just saying, it is there for a reason. Anyway... Spoiler Aldrich Killian is a composite character of his comic counterpart and the Mandarin. He has the powers of comic!Killian but has the tattoos, marial arts skills, and mindset of the Mandarin. While I personally have no objection to this, I do have to wonder why the two weren't just seperate characters, with Ben Kingsley actually, ya know, be the Mandarin with Killian serving as his right hand man or somethin'.
What burnitup said about Movies subforum... I freaking loved it. I expected something like that after I realized that they changed the Mandarin's voice (it was definitely more menacing in the original trailer). Then when Mandarin looked surprised and still shot that man when the President called, I got suspicious that his actions were scripted and that he wasn't ready for an actual call. When the reveal came around, it really annoyed me (though my god, Kingsley was amazingly hilarious). However, when Killian (WHO I'M SO DAMN GLAD BREATHED FIRE) called himself the Mandarin, I embraced and loved everything about it. The only thing is that I wish the Mandarin was more tied into the Ten Rings from the first movie and somehow incorporated into the second movie (though I didn't watch the deleted scene where he was mentioned or something, nor did I read the Avengers tie-in comic where War Machine was sent on a Mandarin-related mission by Iron Man). I mean, if Killian had somehow used Trevor as Mandarin to start or control the Ten Rings (or used the Ten Rings to create the Mandarin), stole the Stark tech as a sort of fuck you to Stark, and then gladly kidnapped Stark for War Mongerer's (Obadiah Stane) plan, it would have been great. I wish the Mandarin's rings were actually alien in nature, but changed to fit Guardians of the Galaxy. Maybe one quick line from Killian "We found a ship, an alien ship. Probably related to those things you fought in New York. You have no idea what we made with the tech we salvaged, Tony. We created these ten rings, rings that can do things beyond your little suits. Sure, we chose a drugged-up actor to use the rings and be the Mandarin, but he's too far off his horse to do anything ambitious. Pretty controllable guy, you know. Besides, I'm much more of a behind-the-scenes kind of guy." Even if he's wrong about the origin. Though that would have made the movie longer. Then when Guardians of the Galaxy is released, a little line about how alien tech found its way to Earth, but some "armored human" took care of it. Long story short: loved the Mandarin's original portrayal in comics, hated the voice change, loved him in the movie as a political figure, hated him after the reveal, loved him after Killian called himself Mandarin.
Just saw it. I haven't full taken it in and formulated my full thoughts and opinions, but here is my initial reaction. I thought it was great. It was the perfect blend of tense action and comic relief. The comic relief was well timed and felt better integrated into the film than in previous movie, and the action is incredibly thrilling and some of the most fun action to watch. As others have said I wished that the Mandarin we thought was the Mandarin was indeed the Mandarin, but once Killian revealed he was the Mandarin I was okay with it. I felt like there were too many plot twists/someone else is behind the scenes twists. I could have done without the vice president bit since that never payed off and was only even talked about in one scene. It could have easily been left out of the movie, or made more prominent, either would have sufficed. Like I said these aren't all of my thoughts and they aren't final, but yeah, great movie.
