Mediocrity abounds.

Rating: 6/10 (11 May 2013)

This movie has lots of special effects and lots of noise and lots of excellent actors, but it forgot to include one thing: a story. Well, actually, there is a story, of sorts, but it is so superficial as to render it moot. This movie is proof that special effects alone do not make for a good movie, or for even a fair movie. When Miss Penny has to bail out Iron Man, that's a sure sign that the script department is desperate. But that aside, the story is so shallow and the bad guys so predictable that the movie loses dramatic power, rendering it stale. Of course, this can happen when a comic book story is transposed onto the screen. If not portrayed correctly, the story will not be taken seriously, and the movie tanks. Iron Man 1 and 2 managed to avoid that problem; this movie does not. As a result, we have an Iron Man who offers nothing new and is dealing with bad guys who are laughable. Ben Kingsley's performance is a joke. Robert Downey Jr. is, as usual, excellent as Iron Man, but without a viable script, his presence cannot save this movie from its mediocrity, and who wants to watch mediocrity?