Iron Man 3

Tony Stark is a tinkerer. He started by making weapons on military contracts, using his brilliant mind to create devastating tools of war. Now, he is a changed man, and now has a collection of battle suits designed to protect the innocent. He is Iron Man.

 

Robert Downey Jr. returns as Tony Stark, who a year after saving New York and the World, is still coming to terms with what actually happened. To keep himself busy he has continued developing his Iron Man battle suit, making numerous variations. This has caused a gap to grow between himself and Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), and as the deadly Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) threatens the President of the United States and his fellow Americans, Tony must pull on his armour and tackle a foe that may take more than his mettle to defeat.

 

Shane Black has taken over directing from Jon Favreau, who gets a larger role as Happy Hogan, as does Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes. As only Black’s second film as director, he has a lot toys at his disposal, but a lot of fans to keep happy.  Luckily he has worked with Downey Jr. before, and as co-writer he brings even more comedy to compliment the action, which is brilliant choreographed, even if it is often hard to follow (at least in converted 3D, which works as well as it did in Avengers Assemble).

The Iron Man suits and effects are of course phenomenal. W eta Digital has taken on the task and pulled of a Marvel. The ease of which Stark and the other characters interact with the armour would have been a pipe dream not so long ago, and the sheer scale of the set pieces is a wonder to behold.
Unfortunately, there is such a thing as too much. Because these effects have become so commonplace, it has become harder to build to a finale spectacular enough to take your breath away, and Iron Man 3’s just doesn’t seem to cut it after nearly two hours of awesome.
The suspension of disbelief also balances on a knife edge at some points, but in a world where aliens, wormholes, demi-gods and cosmic cubes containing near unlimited power exist, nothing can really be a surprise.
What comes with this is a lack of connection to characters, and as the characters outside of the main cast are left mostly nameless, they become easily dispensable. Even major players seem flat at times, and Gwyneth Paltrow is not given much more to do than be Tony’s love interest.
The redeeming point is Stark’s struggle with the bigger universe he has become part of, and Downey Jr. is brilliant at showing the fragile side of Tony, as well as the witty billionaire he presents to the world. The dialogue overall is very good, and most jokes bring genuine laughs.
There are some real curveballs in terms of where the script leads, and these are definitely moments that will divide fans, but there are few obvious plot-holes, and every thread is tied.

Bigger and better than the previous instalments, but suffers from jarring plot points and an over-use of awesome: 7/10

The Inevitable Credits

I have to first point out the wall of names from Weta Digital that come mid-way through the actual credits. They are one of the thirteen visual effects companies responsible for making this film what it is.
The post credits sequence (not in 3D, oddly) features one other member of the Avengers, but doesn’t really give any pointers to the rest of Marvel’s Phase Two.
Also make sure to note the closing statement. This, couples with film’s ending, could really signal change for the characters within the Marvel universe.