I went into this movie hoping it was at least better than its predecessor, Iron Man 2. In the end, I was more than satisfied in that regard. However, for those that are proclaiming this is the best of the three Iron Man films I respectfully disagree.
I'm not going to give away the plot, minus the overall story arc for Tony Stark in this entry. After the events in The Avengers, Tony (played so effortlessly by Robert Downey Jr) is battling his own demons, in the form of PTSD. So with that he becomes even more obsessed with his own work, ignoring the love of his life, Pepper Potts. (Gweneth Paltrow keeps getting better with age it seems) It's with that conflict that the movie centers around. Tony needs to focus more on what really matters, and less on his toys. And ya know, in some ways I see a hidden message buried within the films story: Guys need to give up hobbies and only focus solely on their significant others. I'm not saying the film's writer, Shane Black, was really aiming for that kind of meaning, but in some weird way I left the theater pondering whether there was something to that idea. I didn't like that aspect either way. There's a balance somewhere to be found.
Nonetheless, the film soars in the action department. The dialogue is also very catchy and is something one should expect from a Shane Black movie. (Those may forget he scripted the first Lethal Weapon film in 1987) It also flows a lot better than Iron Man 2, something I had a major issue with as compared with the first entry in the series. The film does jump around a lot the first half, but overall you see the dots connecting towards the film's climax. The supporting characters do a great job with Guy Pierce doing a pretty "decent" job playing Aldrich Killian, and of course Ben Kingsley does a fantastic job playing the film's main villain, "The Mandarin" given the source material.
As far as the bad points of this film are concerned, as amazing as the aerial rescue of roughly a dozen people, falling from Air Force One was, it all took a nose dive (no pun intended), when it was revealed Tony Stark wasn't even in his Iron Man suit. He was instead patched in remotely to a suit that took care of it for him. I'm sorry, but that just takes away the thrill from my perspective. Superhero films shouldn't have any instances where saving people's lives is solely reliant on technology versus the human element. Lastly, as phenomenal as you'd expect Ben Kingsley to be as Mandarin, there's a juncture in the film where his character has a slight change in tone, and without giving more away I'll simply say it was arguably "meh", but I suppose it was needed given the circumstances. I'll let you be the judge on what you felt there.
Other than that, it was without a doubt a very entertaining superhero film that hit the right notes visually, it was funny in many instances amidst the chaos, and well acted all around. Nuff said...
2.5/4 stars.
