Iron Man 3 Reviews

The fact that it manages to be entertaining, especially in its first half, compensates for the flawed script that even comes up with a pathetic post-traumatic panic attack for our hero. Still, it never raises the stakes to make us believe that there is a serious danger involved.

four stars...

There were things to like... but Iron Man is becoming less interesting in general.

Spoiler Alert! They ruined and wasted The Mandarin. Sigh...

"Iron Man 3," which opened yesterday in theaters across the country, is a movie with a lot of ideas but none of them are particularly compelling. Whereas as the first two films in the series papered over their lack of story (remember how the second act of "Iron Man" was "Tony Stark builds armor?") with Robert Downey Jr.'s lovable irascibility, this movie has enough plot for a whole new trilogy. In fact, the movie has so much going on that becomes kind of wearing about an hour and half in. As with the other the "Iron Man" movies, Downey's charismatic super genius must deal with the machinations of a malicious, lesser innovator, this time with "Lethal Weapon" scripter Shane Black at helm. As a superhero movie, it's better than average. As a Robert Downey Jr. movie, it's more rewarding than anything he's done since "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang." As a Shane Blake movie, it's the worst thing to ever bear his name.

Someone in the Marvel Studio's production chain must have read reviews for their earlier films but not the right ones because this movie is a big departure from their standard formula. Instead being a character piece about a nobly intentioned goof learning to get out of his own way to become a hero, this film is a very traditional action movie designed to showcase some very expensive set pieces. There's no improvisatory freshness or winking humor to the film, just ham-fisted themes and a relentless pace.

In spite of their corporate mandate, Black and Pearce do work in some fun bits of genre tweaking. They retconned Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts into a capable super suit pilot which was nice since she spent two movies being tied to train tracks. They even allowed her to personally redress the kidnapping and torture the film's villain puts her through but she's still the only character to be kidnapped and tortured so it's a one step forward two steps back situation. Don Cheadle is still Robin to Downey's Batman but he does get to save the president and perform Chow Yun-fat's signature move of backsliding into a room while gunning down every bad guy in sight. Blowfish antagonist Ben Kingsley gives his most enjoyable performance since "Sexy Beast." James Badge Dale is great because he plays his super powered henchman like a guy who has always has something more important to do.

The big draw with these movies is Downey and he doesn't disappoint. He's more engaged with the role than he was in "Iron Man 2" and less abrasive than he was in "Sherlock Holmes 2." He's called on to do some actual acting in this film and it was affirming to know that after five years of commemorative cup roles he can still do that. It's a not a defining performance by any means but Downey makes you feel that the character has a gone on a real journey and is legitimately changed by the end of it.

"Iron Man 3" is better than most super hero second sequels but it's only an okay film. It's too plot driven to be to have much depth and it's overloaded with themes it only plays lip service to. The main conflict in the film arises because years ago Tony Stark slighted an insecure inventor (Guy Pierce) but at no point does the character lose his trademark arrogance. "Iron Man 3" also introduces the idea that Cheadle's War Machine armor has been turned into a slightly more P.R. friendly military drone but nothing comes of it, or the idea that Eastern terrorism is funded by Western business interests. Those concepts are there to make the film seem more sophisticated than other movies where super powered dudes try to punch each other to death.

There was lot of excitement around the announcement of Shane Black as the co-writer and director of "Iron Man 3." Instead hiring a studio hack or a discount TV director, Marvel Studios/Disney enlisted someone with a few bona fide classics on his résumé. Though nobody but James Cameron gets to make $200 million movies without non-negotiable parameters, it was reasonable to think that Black could bring of his lacerating humor and old school action sensibility to the film. Unfortunately, what ended up being made was a movie that asks permission instead of forgiveness. There's no bite to it and while the CGI set pieces are skillfully animated, they don't integrate into the narrative organically. Most of the film's dialogue feels like chewed over superhero movie boilerplate save for a few grace notes. It's silly to expect auteur filming from anything with a 3 in the title but this movie felt like opening an In-N-Out bag only to find a McDouble.

Iron Man was created in 1963 by Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby.

"Iron Man 3" also features material from Iron Man comic books by Warren Ellis & Adi Granov and Matt Fraction & Salvador Larroca.

Filled with numerous jokes, a solid plot, and a great cast, "Iron Man 3" is one of the best Marvel films to date, even though it has a very annoying twist. There a few side plots that felt tacked on, but as a whole, this film delivers much more entertainment than the previous "Iron Man" feature. Coming full circle, after an attack by the Mandarin, Tony Stark is left in the ruins, to rebuild himself with nothing, just like the first film. I really loved this about the movie, and the fact that he had a kid to guide him through, was a nice touch, letting the better side of Tony out. There are dark moments, light moments, and a couple moments that will throw you out of the film at times, but I was able to accent them and move on and enjoy this film for everything it was. It's a very small film if you think of it as a follow-up to "The Avengers," but as a film in itself it's a very strong addition into this trilogy of films. It's a little funnier than it needs to be, but it has great action pieces, solid performances, a very likeable plot-line, and a few devastating moments, that are very effective. "Iron Man 3" is not really what the trailers make it out to be, but oddly, I really loved it for that reason. It is in no way a perfect film, and I do have a few minor complaints, but overall, I love it for what it is!

Iron Man fights a terrorist, bio-engineered super-mutants and panic attacks in this third entry in the franchise. Robert Downey Jr.'s gleefully narcissistic portrayal of Tony Stark has made IRON MAN the most watchable of Marvel's onscreen superheros, and this entry doesn't disappoint on the blockbuster level with over-the-top action sequences and plenty of sarcastic putdowns and quips from the misanthropic Stark. Ben Kingsley is a treat.

This is what superb and exhilarating entertainment is all about. A two-hour adrenaline-rush. One hell of an awesome and spectacular adventure. It's the best Iron Man movie yet. Director, Shane Black succeeds perfectly with his direction, writing and mixing it up with real world events and villains. It's The Dark Knight of the series. It delivers some fantastic dialogue, intriguing plot-twist, sharp humor and incredible non-stop action sequences. Aside from its darker tone it still manages to be a load of fun to watch and is absolutely a must-see. A wickedly funny and explosively action-packed roller coaster ride. An unforgettable and utterly satisfying conclusion to the series, it hits all the right notes. It's endlessly enjoyable and thrilling from start to finish. The all-star cast is truly amazing to watch. Robert Downy Jr. is at the top of his game once again, delivering humor, charm and confidence. Downy Jr. adds new depth to the character and shines him in a different light and makes it work perfectly and has wonderful chemistry with Paltrow and Cheadle. Don Cheadle is terrific. Gwyneth Paltrow is fantastic. Guy Pearce is excellent. Ben Kingsley is brilliant. Pearce and Kingsley are outstanding villains and look like they are having a blast. Marvel works their magic once again by hiring grown-up actors and filmmakers to do a man's made superhero film.

After you watching this movie, you only have 2 choice : love it or hate it cause Black made a style that will made two sides either you love it or you hate it because of his different makeover to 'The Mandarin' character.. And as for me, because I'm not a fan of the comic so I don't really care about 'The Mandarin' true character should be.. I'm just concerning if this movie can still maintain its level even without Jon Favreau behind the director's wheel.. And for me, in my own opinion, Shane Black did a great job on this third installment of Iron Man..

When Tony Stark's friend and bodyguard is seriously hurt during a series of bombings, he swears revenge and becomes the target of a mysterious terrorist known as The Mandarin. Shane Black takes over the helm of the Iron Man franchise and rekindles the partnership with its star for the hugely enjoyable post modern noir Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. It shares the sardonic wit and banter of that film and injects a lot more humour into the story, concentrating more on the character of Tony Stark than his super-powered alter ego. Separating the two makes for a more satisfying story arc than the gizmo-orientated second instalment, especially since Iron Man is one of the few superheroes that are rather less interesting and entertaining than their "secret" identities. Unsurprisingly the set pieces are extremely well done, but the human angle makes them rather more suspenseful and the finale involving a cadre of customized suits schools Michael Bay in how a robotic action free-for-all should be done. The pacing is perhaps a little uneven and the inclusion of a kiddie side-kick questionable, but it has some great moments and the twist in the tale revolving around The Mandarin is a great idea. A quality summer blockbuster.

The best parts involve RDJ bantering. He's a great banterer. I could watch him banter all day. Fly around and blow stuff up? Meh.

Very good! Tony Stark's somehow loveable arrogance and wit translates well into film.
This is a film that non-comic fans can enjoy too.

Easily the best of the Iron Man films

Maybe by watching this a second time and having lower expectations then i may enjoy it more, however this was a major disappointment in my opinion and i wanted the humor and sarcasm that was delivered so brilliantly in the first one. It was certainly more darker and you see Iron Man more as a human as he struggles with whats happened in the Avengers. may re watch!

'Iron Man 3'. Biggest disappointment of 2013 to date. Terrible writing throughout. What the hell did they do to the Mandarin?

In general, I found the writing incredibly weak. I mean, OK, we get it, he's having an identity crisis, he's more man than machine, but good lord, they really dragged us through a lot of crap, explicitly, to convey that.

The humour, and there's a lot of it, failed for me way more often than it worked.

Is it me or does the entire premise of this film rip off 'Batman Forever'?. Think back to that 1995 Schumacher film when 'Edward Nygma' approaches 'Bruce Wayne' asking him to check out his new invention, but 'Wayne' denies him. 'Nygma' then goes off filled with hatred for 'Wayne', reinvents himself as 'The Riddler' and becomes his arch nemesis.

Now look at the start of this film. 'Killian' approaches 'Stark' about his new company, 'Stark' denies him, so off he goes filled with vengeance, recreates himself as a nemesis to 'Stark' and the Iron Man hero, using his company alongside a new experiment. Notice any similarities here?.

I'm no Iron Man fanboy, I don't know all about the Iron Man lore, but that still doesn't detract from the fact they really fudged up 'The Mandarin'. The whole setup for this guy is really well done, it really is. We see lots of news footage, stock footage, hand held camera footage of the character as it buzzes around various TV stations. Its all been created in the same vain as reality, obviously in recent years with Osama Bin Laden and various other terrorist propaganda, what you would (and still do) see every night on the news. Footage of him with his extremists, firing guns, preaching, making statements etc...

'The Mandarin' is envisioned just like this and it all looks very realistic, threatening and intimidating, Black and his team really do make this villain look good, like he's really gonna be a hard underground nut to crack for 'Stark'. But then out of nowhere the whole setup is thrown out the window because the character is fake, a front, a big setup created by 'Killian' to cover himself and his experiments. Neat twist? yes, very much so...good idea? no definitely not, not for a franchise like this. A franchise where a villain like 'The Mandarin' is very popular and people wanna see 'The Mandarin', not a puppet creation.

A film like this hinges on its villain, usually the villain makes the film. In this case they made a great looking villain with Kingsley (despite his rather odd drawl) but they threw it away. Plus you also gotta ask yourself who would actually agree to act or play a villain to cover someone else? surely common sense would dictate that you're only gonna cause a lot of trouble for yourself? even if you didn't actually do any of the things you claim, you're still gonna be in the shit for being involved with terrorism. Just doesn't make any real sense to me.

Must admit I liked Kingsley's little performance in the reveal sequence, a kind of typical drunk, drugged up British hippie, but it just made a mockery of the whole film. Makes you feel you're watching a spoof not a serious adaptation.

Nice little touches of humour throughout as we have come to expect from this franchise and Downey. The small team up with the little kid isn't as cheesy as it sounds and offers some nice dialog, although one sequence seems to be pretty similar to a certain John Candy/Macaulay Culkin film from many moons ago.

On the whole the film is really quite average in my opinion. I didn't think that much of the whole 'Extremis' idea and the way characters looked when they went all ballistic. The visuals and ideas kinda looked like something from a hammy sci-fi flick to me, it all felt a bit 'X-Men-ish', a franchise I never liked. I still don't really get how this regenerative power causes people to have such extreme heat power, its suppose to help them heal no? so why the heat?. Plus I really don't see how 'Stark' manages to kill most of them when they can regenerate so easily, when 'Savin' is killed, why couldn't he regenerate from it?. The Extremis soldiers seemed so much more powerful, they could easily take down Iron Man suits as shown by 'Pepper Potts'.

The finale is on impressive scale but messy really. Lots of Iron Man suits flying all over the place, difficult to make out what exactly is going on, Extremis henchmen/women leaping all over the shop. It all sounds cool and the idea is cool but like some other superhero comicbook flicks it becomes a fast blur of CGI, an incoherent, badly lit, chaotic brawl between metal suits and CGI people. Plus I gotta ask, why didn't 'Stark' just utilize all his Iron Man suits together originally? before 'Jarvis' went offline, and why does 'Stark' keep running around without his suit?! just stay in it you fool!.

I must say I'm disappointed with this trilogy bookend. The first film was superb, the second (in my opinion) was clearly not as good as the first but still a solid action film. This third entry has lost me completely with bad plot decisions and untidy action sequences (something which the made the first so good, it was very clear without excess CGI mess).

So the question is...was this all just narration, a therapy session for 'Stark' to get some previous history of his chest with 'Banner'? or is that it? no more Iron Man films and no Iron Man for 'Avengers 2'?.

Iron Man 3 bests its predecessors in terms of character development and pathos, but (memo to director Black) it all proves unnecessary without coherent (and numerous) actions scenes. After all, this IS an action flick. The visual effects are not exactly on par with IM & IM2 and the climax looks a bit cartoonish. The cast is fun to watch and Downey Jr. nails it, like always. Hopefully we get a sequel because it should not end like this.

Iron Man can't lose. He's like America (fuck yeah): arrogant with first world problems that are miraculously solved despite glaring plot holes (where were all those other suits before? how does he heal Pepper so quickly?) He has nothing to really fight for in this installation except Pepper who is as flat as GOOP's enviable abs. She gets a few badass moments, but there's still nothing remarkable about her character or their relationship that make the story anything more than a stale "saved by the love of a good woman" story.

The movie's saving grace comes in Tony Stark's soul-searching journey with the kid. Despite most of the movie being out of the suit, the man himself in all his panic attack glory makes the superhero a bit more human.

I enjoyed it and thought RDJ was great as expected, but Iron Man 3 was just more of the same ol' same. The CGI was on point, probably better work in that department than in the first two films, but other than that the film was cheesy to me at many points. If you have seen it, you probably know what I mean; moments like that bring down the film in my opinion and make them borderline childish. Hopefully this is the final film in the franchise because I don't see any future films going anywhere but down.

Taking over the director's chair from Jon Favreau, co-writer/director Shane Black makes a return from a brief absence for this rousing third adventure in the Iron Man series, and the first entry into Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Set some time after the events of The Avengers, Tony Stark is back in California, and dealing with the aftermath of the events in New York, namely by being restless, sleepless, and prone to occasional panic attacks. To put himself at ease, he devotes himself to making more Iron Man suits, much to the frustration of his lover Pepper Potts.

Tony's issues come to a head when attacks from a terrorist cell leader known as The Mandarin destroy his personal world, prompting him into an unbridled quest for vengeance.

The primary inspiration for this film comes from the Extremis storyline from the comics, which was also used in bits and pieces for the previous two Iron Man films. What I really liked most about this film is how it tackles the issue posed by Steve Rogers in The Avengers about what is Tony without his armor and toys.

This is the darkest of the three films in the series, and it has some great moments of tension and drama. It's still got that trademark with and humor though, which does help, because had this been done like Nolan's Batman films, then I'm not sure it'd be fun to endure. But it is fun, and the levity and darker material actually blend surprisingly well.

The script is pretty decent, but not without its faults, namely trying to juggle plot threads, one too many characters, as well as how come The Avengers aren't in this. The handling of the antagonist is actually something I'm okay with, but I'm sure that it won't please everyone. For the most part though, even with its faults, this is some really decent stuff, and a blast to watch.

The effects are top notch, there's some impressive action scenes, and a good mix of character and pathos. It's also really well shot, and the music is fine, but it bugs me that there's no AC/DC. The post credits stinger, and the retro-inspired end credits montage make for a really nice icing on an already delicious cake.

The performances are pretty terrific, and I really legitimately think that RDJ should be given some awards consideration. Paltrow and Cheadle are both getting better and more comfortable with their characters, and Ben Kingsley is a scene stealer. Guy Pearce is quite menacing, and I like how they got Miguel Ferrer and William Sadler, even if they underused them (along with Rebecca Hall).

All in all, this might not match the level of epic that The Avengers did, but it's nevertheless a very worthy film, and, while it may not be quite as good as the first one, it proves better than the second.