Iron Man 3 - The Verdict

IRON MAN 3
- A good bit of fun!

Rating: ***

26th April 2013

Cast: Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Ben Kingsley, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Jon Favreau, James Badge Dale

Director: Shane Black

Comic book fans kept their eyes peeled to the Internet for any scrap of news since the first announcement of Iron Man 3. It is the third installment in the Iron Man series, this time directed by the ‘Kiss Kiss Bang Bang’ director, Shane Black instead of Jon Favreau who directed the first two movies of the series.

Iron Man 3 opens up with an insomniac and anxiety-stricken Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr.) struggling with his experiences of the alien invasion we saw in The Avengers. He is haunted and compulsively makes a dozen Iron Man suits to protect Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and himself. Meanwhile, a terrorist named the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) is triggering a string of bombings via an experimental drug Extremis across America promising its people days of chaos. After Happy Hogan (Jon Favreau), Stark Industries security chief is caught in one such event, Tony issues a televised threat to Mandarin to which Mandarin responds with helicopter gunships, blowing Stark mansion to dust. Stark survives the attack and embarks on finding the Mandarin and getting his revenge!

Don Cheadle as War Machine and Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, the scientist behind Extremis were impressive in their roles. Pepper Potts finally got some importance and It’s great to see Gwyneth kick some butts too. But it’s Robert Downey in the shoes of Tony Stark who steals the show again. Yes, you may miss the self-obsessed, prima donnas feel a bit that Robert brought in previous films but you’ll be contented to see the thoughtful and considerate side of him.

Iron Man 3 suffers from loose script and sloppy direction. Mandarin, the greatest foe of Iron Man has been truly wasted and many Iron Man fans would be greatly disappointed by the way he’s been portrayed. Although, the visual effects and sound mixing is marvelous, Iron Man 3 doesn’t quite match the bar set by other superhero trilogies. In Fact, it’s far from it.

So, I’m going with 3 out of 5 stars for Shane Black’s Iron Man 3. It’s funny, entertaining and a good bit of fun for the first half and a lot less of that in the second. Expectations….Keep them low.

Varun Charan