Dark but Necessary

Rating: 7/10 (8 May 2014)

This is (and will be) the darkest of the Iron Man films. If it gets any darker, they will probably lose their audience. But, this was necessary. Stark comes thru the Battle of New York with PTSD; the Mandarin goes big on a terrorist campaign and the Tony-Pepper relationship hits a rough spot. The perennial teenager has trouble dealing like an adult. Downey really shows his chops as an actor, probably drawing on his own troubled past as source material -- he's got a lot and he needs it for this role. Paltrow really steps up for this one. We have seen her as the tough business woman, now we see her as the survivor. The writing isn't great. The effects are overdone. It might have been better if it was just 5 minutes shorter. Still, you really can't miss it, it's part of the saga and you will enjoy seeing Downey at his acting best