Just about as good an action movie as you will get

Rating: 8/10 (2 May 2013)

First, the disclaimer. I used to read Iron Man comics regularly in the 1970s. He was one of my favourite super-heroes, because he relied on technology, not silly radiation-induced changes or other impossible super-powers. However, it has been years since I read a comic, and I don't remember any particular villain.
That said, this is possibly the best Iron Man movie in the sequence so far, a bit ahead of the first movie, and waaaaaayyyyyy better than the pile of manure that was Iron Man 2 (which is so bad that I have only seen it once). However, I'm not sure this is the science-fiction film I wanted to see, but it is the Die Hard movie that we didn't get earlier in the year. Yes, I know that Iron Man isn't just the man in the suit - it was always the man, but this film spent a bit too long with Downey out of the suit.
That said, in terms of pace, construction, internal consistency and cleverly different uses of memes (a child in a movie that wasn't irritating!), this was a cracking adventure movie! Lots of well-filmed set-pieces, appropriate humour, and just enough intelligence to keep me thinking. Robert Downey Jr once again shows what a good actor he is (I wonder if he ever thought he'd be *this* big during the bad prison/rehab years?), and his co-stars were equally solid, with the exception of Ben Kingsley. I've always thought him to be overrated, and his impression of Johnny Depp impersonating Keith Richards was ... well, not very good.
I know that there are folks out there that are having hissy-fits because this film doesn't conform to their idea of how it should have gone, but the idea of a really nasty villain actually being a front for a money-making organisation for its own profit fits well with the world today. Yes, super-heroes need super-villains in order to exist, but Killian was a super-enough villain for these purposes.
Will I add this one to the DVD collection? Yes. Do I look forward to any further films in the series? Yes, as long as they don't mess with the central cast.
A great 8-star movie.