An Improvement Over the Previous Entry

Rating: 6/10 (26 April 2013)

Film-wise, 2008 will be remembered as the year of The Dark Knight. The movie that made critics and audiences alike go wild. But about two months before the Caped Crusader swept the Box Office, came the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Iron Man. A movie that also got good reaction from critics and made over 500 million at the Box Office. The movie had humor, a good villain and a charismatic lead in Robert Downey Jr. who was great at being a less than heroic super hero.
The movie also planted the seed for the Avengers and Tony Stark had a cameo in Hulk just a month later. But then the sequel. That was a really big miss. Trying too hard with the humor and failing while also spending too much time trying to set up the Avengers. It was a big disappointment after an enjoyable first movie. However this was all forgiven and forgotten after 2012 saw a very entertaining Avengers adaptation.
Now comes Iron Man 3. While 2008 was the year that Downey Jr. became mainstream again with Tropic Thunder and Iron Man, he had been lead in some good smaller films like Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang directed by Shane Black whom he is now reunited with as Black takers over directing duties from Jon Favreau. The former director is Executive Producer this time but stays on camera as Happy Hogan.
The movie tries to do more with the character. Something that had not been done in the previous two. This time we see Stark struggling with anxiety which was a great touch. The talent of Downey Jr. is remarkable as he goes from light-hearted wit-master to serious in a matter of seconds and it does not come off as one bit phony. Quite the contrary it seems very genuine. Below all the humor is a real person with real problems.
While that was a nice exploration of the character, other things in the movie were not as well done. There was waste of talented actors, the action scenes while providing us with some good visuals, were not as good as the first Iron Man, the plot was not as compelling outside of Tony Stark and there were some shocking deviations from the source material. Not just artistic license but major deviations.
The pacing of the movie was also shockingly slow considering that something was always happening. Every scene had something and still, the two hours felt like two hours.
All in all, this was a great improvement over the previous entry but that is not saying much. The exploring of the character was nice and this is an Iron Man movie. Not a set up, but an Iron Man movie. My disappointment is with the waste of other actors, the action and some script decisions but it's an inoffensive movie. The audience seems to be liking it but if you are expecting to go to the theater and cheer, clap and laugh hysterically like last year with the Avengers, you will be surprised. Perhaps pleasantly if you like characterization, perhaps unpleasantly if you don't like change.