Iron Man 3 is damn good.

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2013)

With comic book movies, there is a repeating cycle. The first one has our attention. The sequel, most of the time (in the case of Spider-man 2, The Dark Knight, X2, etc.), outdoes the original. But then we are eventually faced with the third part. In some cases (The Dark Knight Rises), the third part kicks ass. In most cases (Spider-man 3, X-Men: The Last Stand), they are the weakest. Luckily, this is simply not the case for Iron Man 3.
The film takes place after the events of The Avengers, and Tony Stark (the always wonderfully charismatic Robert Downey Jr.) is falling apart. He's losing sleep, he's having anxiety attacks, and he is slowly becoming distant from his faithful girlfriend Pepper (wonderfully played by Gwenyth Paltrow again). But it only gets worse when a terrorist named The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley, putting on a chilling accent) starts wreaking havoc across the globe.
Guy Pearce shows up as a scientist named Aldrich Killian (what a villain name), and if you know anything about Guy Pearce, you can assume Aldrich isn't very nice. Rebecca Hall, who is very underrated might I add, shows up as Maya, a scientist girl that Tony met in the 90s. And Don Cheadle reprises his Iron Man 2 role as Jim Rhoades, Tony's best friend. There are a lot of plot details that I will leave out because I want you to see Iron Man 3 with an empty mind, otherwise it can't be enjoyed.
I was feeling a lot of things throughout Iron Man 3. I was really into it in the first half hour. Then, these weird fire people showed up, and I thought, "Oh God, are we watching Thor?" (I actually love Thor, but I found the blend of fantasy at first off). But as the film went on it all made sense and I accepted it. Then, I was also feeling de ja vu, because I felt like Killian and Mandarin were fairly similar to Justin Hammer and Ivan from the previous. But that is one of the wonderful things about Iron Man 3: It's unpredictable.
Iron Man 3 is damn good. The heart and soul of this trilogy is Downey Jr., and here is is at his best doing what he does best. Iron Man is my favorite of The Avengers, and really, could you blame me? Downey's amazing. What helps this time is the fact that this one is directed and co-written by Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, The Long Kiss Goodnight, Kiss Kiss Bang Bang). Black has a gift with blending action with humor, and this is easily the funniest of the trilogy. It is also the best acted.
I had a total blast here. Is it as good as something like The Dark Knight trilogy? Well, if you know my stance on that trilogy, then that answer is obvious. Is it as good as the first two? Yes, and maybe even better. The film has a great energy, a great sense of humor, some terrific surprises and some terrific action sequences that will leave the inner nerd within jumping for joy.
I find it difficult to give comic book movies a 10/10, mainly because I have such a high standard when it comes to them. Yes, perfect comic book movies exist. Is Iron Man 3 perfect? Not quite, because it doesn't exactly have the themes that the perfect comic book movies acquire. In other words, I wasn't moved by it. But that's okay, because the Iron Man trilogy isn't meant to be taken as seriously as some others, and so they shouldn't. But no comic book movie in a long time has danced this close to perfection in a long time. This could be the end of Iron Man. I hope it isn't, but at least he goes out in style.
A-