Movie rating: 4 Star

Iron Man 3

Director: Shane Black
Actors: Guy Pearce Gwyneth Paltrow Robert Downey Jr
Genre: Action, Comic Book
Details: US/ 130 mins / 12A

95% Want to see it

In a cinema near you:

The best thing about the Iron Man series is that the superhero enjoys being a superhero; there's no internal lamenting or weighing up the cost of being a hero against just being a normal person, a la Spiderman or Batman. Iron Man is an out and proud superhero. Unfortunately though, thus far he's been barely differentiable from his sidekicks and bad guys with everyone seeming to be just a variation on 'A Man in a Metal Suit'. This was the major problem faced by Iron Man 2, aside from being nothing more than a jumping-off point for the rest of The Avengers to start assembling. Thankfully, the threequel side-steps this problem by bringing things back to basics.

Suffering from PTSD-ish panic attacks, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr) is finding it difficult to sleep due to nightmares of the intergalactic attack on Manhattan that almost killed him. His missus Pepper Potts (Gwyenth Paltrow) is understandably concerned, but she finds herself distracted by the return of Killian Aldrich (Guy Pearce), a biogenetics genius who may be on the verge of something world-changing. Meanwhile The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a very bad man of a wisely non-specific origin, is blowing up small parts of America, and the President has assigned Colonel Rhodes (Don Cheadle) in the newly revamped War Machine/Iron Patriot suit to hunt him down.

After last year's 'The Avengers' introduced aliens and Gods into Tony Stark's world, writer/director Shane Black reigns in the scope by pitting Stark against a much more terrifying and topical bad guy; a modern day terrorist. By not trying to compete with some of the world-destroying villains that have gone before, Iron Man 3 allows the characters, along with the superb dialogue, to shine through. Tasked with some proper acting, Downey Jnr does more here than just rehash his billionaire genius playboy philanthropist for the fourth time. While not as consistently funny with the one-liners as we've previously seen, he is given some fantastic two-handers with a very young inventor.

Considering this is a $200 million summer blockbuster, the first 90 minutes are surprisingly light on action. Save for a helicopter attack on Stark's mansion, most of the first two thirds of the movie has Tony out of his suit, investigating into the background of The Mandarin. When the action does get going, it comes thick and fast, culminating in an almost relentless final 40 minutes. Be sure to stay ‘til the VERY end for the now-mandatory post-credits scene.

Iron Man 3 is the best of the standalone-Stark tales to date, but falls just short of the giddy highs of Avenger's Assemble. Bring on Thor 2 this November!

Review by Rory Cashin | 12:19 | Friday 26th April 2013 | Movie Review

Comments

Oran Ryan

I am Tony Stark. I really enjoy my job of looking great in an excellent reinforced steel suit. Recently my girlfriend has been bored with her enjoyable job of being a frail appendage to my narcissistic ego. Luckily there are other megalomaniacs out there who really want to take the limelight from me. They too have interesting outfits and like to sound portentous. I of course am perenially in the right, so even though I might have a battle on my hands, those other guys are lunatics, and bent on world destruction, so my way of keeping my image and keeping the world just the way I like it is to kill the baddies. I am Tony Stark. I am cool. I am Iron man

Posted 11:16 | Wed 24th Apr 2013
Nigel

I'm really looking forward to this one. Will be a nice way to start the Summer blockbuster season.

Posted 13:25 | Wed 24th Apr 2013
jack brown

This is definitely the WORSE episode of Iron man , The aim was to make a quick buck , the script was lazy and very implausible , the acting was not great and zombies were a joke . It is NOT a good movie , even though I don't like Tom cruise , oblivion is a much better movie , 3 stars at best here and I am being generous

Posted 18:56 | Sat 27th Apr 2013
DoubleLetter

So much fun. A great piece of escapism. Very funny too. Would be more suited to a Christmas release though, was it pushed back?

Posted 20:48 | Mon 29th Apr 2013
The Viewer

I saw this in 3D Imax, so I got to see how really awful it was. I at least expected to be wow weed with some great special effects. Instead I felt it was as impressive as an episode of Bosco, except that Bosco is more intellectually challenging. I find scenes where the bad guy gets an unmerciful flaking and we all think he is dead but he pops up again really tedious. Those 3D glasses are a torture to wear as well, I was cross eyed when I took them off and stumbled out of the cinema. These mainstream Hollywood movies have more resources than true creativity to deal with. The review above says this cost $200 million, that 66% of Croke Park II. (I think I might see Pilgrim Hill after all.)

Posted 00:09 | Sun 28th Apr 2013
Dara elaine Sheelan

looks good. cant wait to see it

Posted 21:24 | Thu 25th Apr 2013
movielover

I dont care what any of you say, I thought this was brilliant. The fact that the baddie breaths fire is a little crazy but keep in mind that your watching a film about a flying IRON MAN!!

Posted 12:40 | Sat 11th May 2013
Spidey2

SPOILER ALLERT,,,,, After the mediocre Iron Man 2 i was expecting a really good return to form,what i got from Shane Black is a better film tan Iron man 2 by far,the whole interaction with the kid worked very well,showed heart.As an action film it was great fun,my complaint is The Mandarin???either Shane Black has another card to play in Avengers 2/Iron Man 4 or he totally treated the Mandarin with total disrespect...Mandarin is one of the best Marvel Villians,please give him respect he deserves. otherwise dont use him at all

Posted 23:31 | Wed 15th May 2013
mikecoughlan

The best Iron Man by far. It has all the usual excitement and humour that you would expect from Iron Man, but this time around you also have a great story, which is what I think is going to make this a block buster.

Posted 18:05 | Mon 6th May 2013
john

This is absolute drivel. I loved the first Iron Man movie,not so crazy about the second-but this is a complete waste of time. Its lazy,crass, and written with a complete disregard for the mythos of the Marvel comics. To treat The Mandarin -a major villain in the comics- this way is a disgrace. The story line is sloppily put together. Things are touched on ,such as Tony s panic attacks, but never properly followed up. The final showdown is vapid,noisy and at times even confusing. Bring back Jon Favreau as director for the inevitable reboot.

Posted 20:18 | Wed 8th May 2013
john

nn

Posted 12:50 | Thu 9th May 2013
john

nn

Posted 12:50 | Thu 9th May 2013

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