Iron Man 3 Review

All Surface and No Substance, Iron Man 3 Disappoints

The following review contains no major spoilers 

Hopefully they are all tax deductible

This weekend I decided that the best way to celebrate the beautiful weather would be to sit inside a dark movie theater. Although I didn't find the trailers for Iron Man 3 to be exceptionally compelling, I am a nerd and had to see the newest Marvel outing. Two and a half hours later I left the theater feeling more disappointed than the last time I paid to see an M. Night Shyamalan film.

Normal Osborn James Rhodes as the Iron Patriot

Iron Man 3 takes place in a post-Avengers world. "Genius, billionaire, playboy philanthropist" Tony Stark has to cope with the knowledge that he lives in a universe where gods, aliens, super soldiers, and hulks all exist. This, mixed with idea that a bigger threat is impeding, has driven him to spend almost all of his time in his lab tinkering with his suits. This has led to a serious disconnect with his love interest and Stark Industries CEO Pepper Potts, as well as his best friend and fellow crime fighter Captain James Rhodes. But when a seemingly impossible to find terrorist named the Mandarin enters the picture, Tony is forced to discover that it's not the suit that makes the man.

Yes, that incredibly corny line is essentially what Iron Man 3 is about. Through its convoluted plot, Tony as well as the audience is supposed to believe that it's what inside that really makes us all super. The Iron Man suit(s) are just tools, whereas Tony is the real superhero. The only problem with this is that it goes against every single thing Iron Man is supposed to be about. Director Shane Black tries to hammer this point home by only having Robert Downy Jr. in the suit for about a third of the movie. And of that time it seems to be malfunctioning almost constantly. The majority of the movie he lacks even the ability to fly! Stark Industries may also have been exporting jobs to China as well, because whereas in The Avengers Iron Man could go toe to toe with Thor, in this film he has a suit destroyed by a truck. Tony Stark does not have super serum running through his blood stream, thunder powers, anger problems, or even exceptional archery skills. His power is that he is built and uses a nearly indestructible that makes him even more powerful than all those other superheroes.

Supposedly all these other people still exist, they just never drop in to say hi.

While we're on the subject of the Avengers, don't expect to see any of them in this film. Despite getting to hear about two dozen times about "that New York event", not a single one of them shows up or is even mentioned by name. Even during circumstances where some of them (specifically Captain America) would probably believe it was their civic duty to help out. Even SHIELD is only referred to I believe a single time in a throw away line. After all of Marvel's Phase 1 movies continually expanding the universe, this feels like a big step backwards. I won't harp on the fact that Marvel refuses to bring the X-Men into their shared universe, despite the fact that the entire plot of Iron Man 3 is practically begging for it (he fights mutants the entire time).

Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin

Despite all my complaints there are the typical high points you would expect. Robert Downy Jr. is amazing as usual. He completely owns the role of Tony Stark, even if the film tries a little too hard to remind you every few minutes of how cool and devil may care he is.
 Although they both have limited screen time, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are as reliable as ever. I wish that we would have seen more of Ben Kingsley, because he is always outstanding despite the amount of terrible movies he does. Naturally the film looks and sounds amazing. The effects heavy third act gets stale because it goes on for so long but its a treat for the eyes the entire time though.

The third act consists of this for roughly 20 minutes.

Despite some positive moments I found the first movie in Marvel's Stage 2 to be all around lacking. Much like Tony Stark's remote controlled suits, the film appeared highly polished and promising, but fell into pieces and proved to be hollow. I won't go into it due to spoilers, but almost every decision both the good and bad guys make will leave you scratching your head and asking yourself "why?". In my opinion this is the worst movie of the shared Marvel Universe (with the exception of Ang Lee's Hulk if that is considered part of it.) I suggest saving yourself two and a half hours and simply rent or buy a copy of The Avengers.

Positives 

• Robert Downy Jr.
• SFX

Negatives

• Plot lacks any sense
• Huge step backwards in "shared universe"
• Unsure roles for secondary characters
• Damn near everything else