With Extremis & the Mandarin, this SHOULD have been better. Thoroughly disappointed!

Rating: 5/10 (1 May 2013)

I've just returned from the cinema after watching, what was, one of my most anticipated movies of the year. I'm actually still confused as to how i feel about this movie - Iron Man 3 threw me off completely!
Firstly, I love the character, I love Iron Man, I'm a huge RDJ fan. So, walking into this movie, having followed the press, media hype, studio comments, etc. I expected a dark ("more grounded") story as we were all promised with a storyline working off of the Extremis storyline (which was absolutely brilliant) and pitting our favourite billionaire playboy against his greatest arch-enemy and (as Marvel studios said) "an ending bigger than The Avengers".
Walking out of the cinema I realised I had watched a pseudo-comedy with not a whole lot of coherent action and a fake baddie!!!! Most of the action is so watered down with one-liners and comedic interludes that it does not gain any traction. Don't get me wrong, there's great spectacle and some very cleverly put together set pieces which really are awesome, however, they live like islands in the bigger picture.
The 2 greatest disappointments, however, are the way in which the Extremis storyline was adapted and even worse, the Mandarin's re- invention. If you're familiar with the Extremis storyline, then you know that Tony gets injected with the Extremis virus and this, basically, allows him to raise the stakes with his suits. What IM3 eventually sells us is Tony's post-Avengers anxiety causing him to build his Iron Legion to fight off super soldiers. The whole selling point of Tony's next generation suits was nothing more than clever studio marketing, and that actually angers me. I kept wondering when Tony himself was going to get given a viral upgrade, something that never happened.
As for the Mandarin...Firstly, Sir Ben Kingsley puts in a masterful performance, a truly terrific piece of acting. However, that's where the Mandarin's accolades end. I can understand that Marvel would have to adapt their screen version of the character for film. I can even swallow (and did) that the ten rings were symbolic (and not actual mystical rings) and that there was a necessity to tie him back to IM1's villains. I can even accept that he's not oriental and that his tactics and background are a mish-mash of global warfare types. What I cannot accept is that his ENTIRE existence in the movie is that of a farce, that there is no full circle in Tony's enemies (by way of the Ten rings mentioned in the first film) and neither can I accept that really has no place in the movie! It is with the greatest disappointment that the "real" Mandarin was revealed in the movie, I think my heart sank and it was over for me.
As usual, RDJ puts in a classy performance, filling the shoes of Mr Stark like nobody else in Hollywood possibly could. His back and forth with Don Cheadle provides some of the more authentic moments in the movie.
Overall, i'm disappointed. I feel as though i've been completely duped by the Marvel marketing machine and that i've been robbed of the chance to see my FAVOURITE Marvel character being pitted against his nemesis or Tony receiving his nanotech upgrade and the next generation of suits that could have been. This one was definitely a big miss by Marvel.