An Iron Man film without Iron Man

Rating: 3/10 (28 August 2013)

Tony Stark's past comes back to destroy him in Iron Man 3. When a terrorist known as The Mandarin emerges and almost kills Stark's ex-bodyguard in a bombing, Tony swears to get vengeance by killing The Mandarin himself. This time Tony Stark's ego might have lead him to go too far as his actions put more than just his own life in jeopardy.
Iron Man was a surprise hit and one of the three best super-hero films next to Christopher Nolan's Batman Begins and Sam Raimi's Spider-Man 2. It began introducing us to Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark, a role he seemed born to play. Like in all super-hero films, it had some far-fetched ideas yet it was able to keep a level of believability due to some key ingredients that more of these films need to be using in order to keep from embarrassing themselves. The first ingredient was to not just explain but to show how the technology worked, like in Batman Begins. The other key ingredient was to keep a tongue-in-cheek sense of humor, making everything light and fun, never taking itself too seriously. Some great laugh-out-loud moments were provided thanks to Robert Downey, Jr. in his performance. Add a twisted villain and an adrenaline-fueled hard rock soundtrack and you've got a lovable super-hero that balances comedy with explosive action.
While Iron Man 2 made the mistake of under-using what could have been better villains with Mickey Rourke and Sam Rockwell, the few action scenes there were showed Jon Favreau had become a master at directing edge-of-your-seat sequences. And while it was held back with a subplot setting up The Avengers, it contained some cleverly written, witty dialogue that delivered the same humor that made the first one so much fun.
Iron Man 3 takes a storyline from the Extremis mini-series with a new director, Shane Black. The first sign that Black was taking Iron Man in the wrong direction was the use of the most over-played song of 1999 and what could be considered one of the most annoying excuses for music of all time. Forget classic rock themes from AC/DC or Audioslave, this time we are burdened with having to be reminded of the worse thing that came out of 1999, Blue (Da Ba Dee) by Eiffel 65. Some things should be left in the past, buried in shame and hopefully forgotten, never be played or heard again for the rest of our lives.
Music aside, there's an unnecessary voice-over and the witty dialogue we've come to expect has been replaced with slapstick comedy. This includes Tony being hit in the groin with a piece of his new prototype suit, which is left unexplained as to how it is suppose to work, and toilet humor involving the villain. Guy Peace is a good choice for a new bad guy behind the Extremis technology, yet this is also left unexplained as to how it works or what it's purpose is. Ben Kingsley is a great addition but the film is as guilty as the last sequel with under-using such a great actor.
Iron Man 3 suffers from trying to do too much. In the beginning it seems Shane Black wants to make a serious character study of Tony Stark, this could have proved interesting but then, as the film moves forward, it is clear he is also trying to appease the younger fans of The Avengers with out-of-place, cartoon antics including a fire-breathing villain. All believability is thrown out the window causing any excitement or suspense to be lost. What made Iron Man work so well was it didn't take itself too seriously, as this one does. The fun is lost.