Movie Review: Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 appears to be the last in the Iron Man trilogy. If so, the movie went out with a bang, lots of bangs. Out of the three, I have to say I think the first one is the best but 3 makes a very valiant effort to usurp that first one. It says a lot that I saw the movie twice over the weekend.

Iron Man 3 takes place after The Avengers. As a result of going through the wormhole in that film, the Tony Stark in this film is scarred. He can’t sleep and he’s having panic attacks. His solution? Throw himself into his work. He ends up with over 40 Iron Man suits that respond to his beck and call.

He’ll need all of those suits to combat the latest terrorist threat, The Mandarin (played deliciously by Ben Kingsley and not to be confused with the delicious little oranges usually in a light syrup). Working for The Mandarin is Aldrich Killian (played by a slightly bulked up Guy Pearce), a scientist that Stark blew off at a party over a decade before.

The Mandarin is wreaking havoc through a series of televised terrorist events. It is first up to the Iron Patriot (a red, white and blue Iron Man worn by Don Cheadle) to vanquish him. Adding to the mix is the head of Stark Industries and Stark’s significant other, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow – who could use a few sandwiches with cheese and extra mayo) and her new head of security, Iron Man’s best friend and former bodyguard Happy (Jon Favreau).

Lovers of action will love Iron Man 3 which has some seriously intense and long action sequences. Yet, Robert Downey Jr. has always brought the fun and comedy to the series and he definitely does not disappoint here. Some of his best lines are exchanged with Harley (Ty Simpkins) a young boy he meets along the way to saving the world.

If I had a problem with the movie it was the nature of the villain. The Mandarin’s warriors have the ability to regenerate limbs and survive just about anything. Yet, to me, it was never clear what could actually kill them and what made some of them blow up. Was it intentional? Was it accidental? It was never made clear.
However, the villains did turn into a freaky red-orange color and the fact that they could blow up made for a lot of cool explosions and ratcheted up the action feature a few notches.

The film ‘ended’ the trilogy satisfactorily. It seemed like a fitting conclusion - so much so that a 4th Iron Man would seem a little disingenuous. Of course stay until the very, very end for a funny little after the credits sequence.