A lackluster, disappointing, cliché-ridden experience

Rating: 4/10 (29 April 2013)

I'm writing this review in the hope that you read it before you see this film, and that you do NOT see this film. As such, I won't spoil the plot for you.
I am not a comic book fan, so I had no expectations going into this movie, except what was promised by the trailers, and of course the previous Iron Man movies. I enjoy good movies of any genre equally, so I was really not prejudiced in any way. I thought the movie was pretty terrible, and very underwhelming and disappointing overall.
Let's start with the good.
Acting. Robert Downey Jr. is excellent as always. Sir Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce are both predictably solid as well. The rest of the cast does not stand out, but overall the acting was a high point of the movie.
That's it. The acting (particularly RDJ) was the redeeming feature of the film. It's for that, and the good production value, that I rated this a 4/10.
Now, onto the bad.
The plot. It's convoluted, uninspired, and just plain boring. The movie is not about Iron Man being awesome, it's about the drama in Tony Stark's life as he tries to get over his near-death experience in The Avengers. The film plays out like a drama, with a bunch of weak sub- plots pulling at it from all directions. It's predictable at every step of the way, and it never really gets anywhere.
The dialogue. This movie strives hard to be funny. Tony Stark in particular is throwing one liners left and right throughout the movie. It works a few times, but more often than not it just falls flat. In any case, you've got a lot clichés again, especially when it comes to how Tony's inner struggle unfolds. Weak and very boring.
The action. There is little more action in this movie than there is in the trailer. In fact, I'd say the trailer makes the action look a lot better than it does in the movie itself. The action scenes themselves are OK, but very few for an "action" movie.
The trailers are selling this as a dark, almost Nolanesque look at Iron Man, but it's not that at all. It's just a pitiful mess that doesn't know what it wants to be. There's very little Iron Man in this movie. Whenever Tony gets into a suit, it breaks down or malfunctions right away, and it suddenly feels like his tech is being manufactured on a boat somewhere.
It's also worth noting that whereas Iron Man suit(s) were few and unique, in this movie he goes through perhaps 15 of them, making them feel more akin to pairs of sneakers.
To wrap this up, I would say that if you found what the trailers are presenting to be interesting, you will probably be disappointed. If you liked Iron Man 1, you will be disappointed. If you enjoy action, you will be disappointed.
This overly long movie will present you with seemingly hours of exposition. What's worse is that it's so predictable, that you feel like you've seen it all before even after the first few frames. Given another chance, I would never go to see this in the cinema again. It's just not worth the money.