The potential downsides to mucking about with the space-time continuum.
Iron Man 3 – The Mandarin unmasked
What's going on?
This mindblowingly successful but slightly by-the-numbers superhero sequel featured one jaw-dropping moment of wit and inventiveness, a total reversal of expectations which also happened to be among the funniest scenes of the year. Like the rest of the world, Tony Stark aka Iron Man (Robert Downey Jr) has been horrified by the random, violent actions of global terrorist The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Tracking the evil mastermind to his lair, Stark sneaks into the master bedroom…
Why our jaws dropped
There's a loud flushing sound, the bathroom door slams back and Kingsley emerges, flapping his dressing gown around his pale, hairy knees and warning about the stench. It soon emerges that The Mandarin is a construct, and Kingsley's character is in fact Trevor Slattery, a down-at-heel London-based actor and full-time drug hoover hired by the real villain to be the face of pure evil. Thanks to a beautifully judged performance from Sir Ben and a lovely turn of phrase from screenwriters Shane Black and Brit Drew Pierce ('his Lear was the toast of Croydon… wherever that is'), it's a charmingly eccentric, genuinely hilarious aside amid all the blood and thunder.
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As Shakespeare probably said, a great movie scene is a joy forever. And 2013 has given us more than our fair share of such joys, from a pungent terrorist mastermind to a lonely woman on a San Francisco bench, from a very French breakup to a very English cannibal warlord. Prepare for eye-popping action and heartbreaking emotion as we run down our 10 favourite scenes of the year.
A word of warning: a number of these scenes involve MAJOR spoilers, so proceed with caution.
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