Worthwhile, but a bit of a letdown compared to the snappy "Iron Man 2"

Rating: 5/10 (14 May 2016)

Released in 2013, "Iron Man 3" stars Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark in this third installment where Shellhead takes on the so-called Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) and A.I.M. (Advanced Idea Mechanics), led by Killian (Guy Pearce). After Stark's personal world is destroyed, he is left to survive by relying on his ingenuity and instincts to rise from the ashes and protect those closest to him, like Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow). In the process Tony seeks to answer a question that has haunted him: Does the suit of armor make the man or does the man make the suit of armor? Don Cheadle and Jon Favreau are on hand as James Rhodes (War Machine) and Happy Hogan respectively while Rebecca Hall plays an agent of A.I.M.
After the absolutely kinetic (and inexplicably criticized) "Iron Man 2" this third part of the trilogy is a bit of a letdown. It's a quality superhero movie, but the first act is lethargic compared to the dynamic initial reel of the previous movie. Things pick up in the second act as Stark is separated from his loved ones and presumed dead, forced to team up with a brainiac kid. While some claim that the movie's "more serious" than "Iron Man 2," it has the same tone and the same main characters/cast; the amount of "more seriousness" is marginal.
People say "Iron Man 3" plays better on repeat viewings, so I'll update this review after future viewings. But I was letdown by the lame representation of the Mandarin, the ambiguous powers of the A.I.M. operatives, the myriad Iron Man suits functioning without a person in them and the fact that everyone and their brother dons the Iron Man armor or parts of it. For instance, Pepper morphs into a veritable superheroine at one point. Nevertheless, it's not bad at all and the cast is great with Rebecca Hall and Guy Pearce effective in their roles.
The movie runs 130 minutes and was shot North Carolina, Southern California and Miami.
GRADE: C+