Iron Man 3 Film Review

Iron Man 3 "Mr Stark, today is the first day of what's left of your life."

Iron Man 3 is Marvel's first step into phase two which will re-introduce all of the Avengers with individual films and setup "The Avengers 2". I'll be blunt, this movie left a horrible bitter aftertaste in my mouth. The Avengers wasn't a terribly good film but at least it was fun, Iron Man 3 had a shift in direction and tone which failed. Shane Black of Lethal Weapon & Kiss Kiss Bang Bang fame helms and writes the third installment of the Iron Man franchise which in the beginning was a really interesting choice, but after watching the film it has some horrible pacing issues and it lacks in action. Iron Man 1 was probably as perfect as we're ever going to get, Iron Man 2 was rushed and boring & Iron Man 3 suffers in the same area as all the Iron Man's do, which is villains. They're never a real threat, you know they're never going to win and it's a really tired, monotonous formula. There is a scene halfway through the film which was unpredictable but it polarizes your audience, your either going to love it or hate it & if you know the comics then you're probably going to hate it.

Iron Man 3 was marketed in such a way that we thought we knew what we were getting, they hired Ben Kingsley to play the Mandarin, of all the possible villains this was a very interesting and exciting choice, or at least it could have been, Marvel however decided to take a different path and shit all over that villain which begs the question why bother casting such a thespian like Ben Kingsley in the first place? His demeanor and voice are great, his costume is terrific but the character itself is empty & hollow. A real bitter disappointment. Guy Pearce another interesting casting choice, he nails his role as a man with a mission and a grudge, fueled by fire and hate he's believable but of course is he ever really going to be a threat to Tony Stark? Marvel's most profitable and popular hero? Pepper Potts role in this film is elevated so that she is central to the plot but don't get excited she isn't a strong female character in this, she's just used as a pawn, given no real dialogue and frankly her character's ark in this film is a little ridiculous. Don Cheadle was thankfully given a meatier role, some great banter between Rhodes and Stark & a great bromance. Paul Bettany returns as Jarvis a perfect voice for Tony to bounce ideas off but not really important to the plot.

It's a real shame this film couldn't step up and be the first truly terrific Marvel film, you can give the others a pass it was an interesting idea to setup the Avengers and combine them all to see if it works but you've grounded your characters, you've set them up it's time to bring out the big guns and give us a good story. Maybe Thor: The Dark World will step up and be the new crown jewel of Marvel, who knows. Ultimately disappointing, don't expect anything particularly amazing or cerebral, it's probably time for Robert Downey Jr. to exit the series and pass it on to a fresh young face. It's not important to see it on the big screen and the 3D isn't effective or impressive, it's just another cost, the film has a dark tint throughout the whole 130 minutes, much to long, many scenes could have been left on the cutting room floor. So if your desperate to see it, then choose a 2D session and go in with very low expectations. 1.8/5