Iron Man 3  The Man in the Can confronts his demons & more importantly his emotions

Rating: 8/10 (27 April 2013)

Iron Man 3 as the name suggests thought is the third Iron Man movie, we've already seen him in 3 movies before including Avengers. The movie starts with Tony Stark in the flashback remembering how he created some personal demons due to his egoistic and brash personality, without realizing it at that particular moment. Of course the build-up is quite obvious, leading us to the present day where Iron Man is back from his encounter with the Aliens in New York (the movie The Avengers) and as usual spending most of his time in his laboratory at his Malibu mansion playing with his toys, the Iron man suits. Enter the Mandarin leader of an international terrorist organization called Ten Rings, hell-bent on teaching the United States of America a lesson, nothing original about that, controlled by a suave scientist Aldrich Killian, who can manipulate the brain cells and use it as a deadly weapon literally turning a person into a bomb.
But behind this plot this movie is different from all the earlier ones. It is about Tony Stark's emotional ride experiencing friendship, love, anger, fear and most importantly anxiety. There is in fact a scene in the movie when a kid asks him a question and he feels weak. Jarvis (the voice behind the suit) tells him that he is perfectly fine besides just feeling anxiety and his reaction is of complete disbelief. Seeing his world being destroyed in front of his eyes, the cool Tony Stark succumbs to the emotion of vendetta and sets out to seek the Mandarin. Robert Downey Jr. was meant to be Tony Stark, period. The skill with which has interwoven the complexities and eccentricities of Stark along with the responsibility of Iron Man is a treat to watch. As a man he has no superhuman powers or strength, just his intelligence and money and this side of him has been exploited to the hilt in this outing of his. In the previous 2 movies he was building Iron Man, but this one is more about the development of both Stark and his Iron Man Suit. As he rightly remarks, at the end of it "I am just a Man in the Can". Gwyneth Paltrow, as Pepper Potts has transformed into a strong personality and like all husbands/ boyfriends, even the Iron Man listens to her and pays attention. The chemistry between them forms the underlying basis of the movie and for me the whole plot is interwoven around relationship of Tony Stark and Pepper Potts.
Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Tony's bodyguard and now security manager of Stark Industries is awkwardly brilliant and funny, albeit in a small role. Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, the brilliant scientist using his intelligence for devious means, is menacing as well as good looking. The woman would love the shirtless scenes of the man and his suave style. With her assistant Maya Hansen played by Rebecca Hall the form a formidable team of villains. Ben Kingsley (our very own Mahatma Gandhi) is a great actor and shows it in his performance as the Mandarin, especially when his secret is revealed. Don Cheadle as Col. James Rhodes and the Iron Patriot (a blue and red Iron Man which was seriously cheesy) lends complete support in the fight against the band of villains.
The surprise package in this one though is the young actor Ty Simpkins playing Harley, a young kid in a small town with a knack for technology bordering on the lines of a whiz kid. His chemistry and the scenes with Tony Stark are the best in the movie (more like a badly behaved dad and a mature son) and we see a promising actor in the making. Maybe Iron Man might have a protégé in the future.
Shane Black's direction is surreal and the screenplay adds a lot of wit and humour to an action movie. The Airforce One crash scene and when Tony's mansion is attacked are one of the best action sequences I have witnessed using technology. You do come out humming the background music out of the cinema.
Iron Man 3 is full of one liner's, puns, emotions and some wild twisted humour besides over the top action. Tony Stark has detached himself from the suit and at the same time emphatically stated that no one can take away the fact that "He is Iron Man". This movie is a must watch for all Tony Stark lovers and of course the Iron Man fans.