Shane Black insulted the bad ass Mandarin.

Rating: 6/10 (27 April 2013)

Because its an Iron Man film, I don't want to dishonor it. The first Iron Man film was incredibly well done. Its origins follow the comic very well. They referenced Mandarin here and there and set up the stage for the Mandarin in Iron Man 3. The trailers felt as if an epic fight between Iron Man and Mandarin would break out. I don't hate the film at all seriously. The script was very well done. From the start to the end, the script was pretty good, with comedic one- liners here and there. BUT halfway through, Shane Black decided to give us a kick in the balls. What was the point of all that hype with the trailers if we didn't even get an epic showdown between Iron Man and the Mandarin?
When Iron Man entered Mandarin's room, I was all ready. Ready for the epic battle between Iron Man and Mandarin. The fight that I've been waiting for ever since Iron Man 3 released its trailers. But the only fight I got was Shane Black giving me a kick in the balls. The beginning of the movie showed a bad ass Mandarin. I believe that Ben Kingsley would have been an awesome Mandarin.(As portrayed in the first half of the film). Mandarin is one of Iron Man's most formidable adversaries. Indeed, that twist was a smart one, but it should not have been in an Iron Man movie. I admitted that I laughed at that scene. (Not because I enjoyed it but because it was funny.)Throughout that scene, I was hoping that Mandarin was only putting up a scene and preparing to strike at Iron Man. I was extremely disappointed. I wanted an awesome Mandarin vs Iron Man fight scene. Seriously if they are gonna portray Mandarin but change every aspect of him, they might as well change his name to the British or something.I was really disappointed. All that Mandarin hype led up to nothing!
The Extremis was done interestingly. The plot focused more much on Tony than the suits. Iron Patriot was.. not really necessary in the film. It was basically just an upgraded War Machine suit. I thought Pepper would become Rescue but I guess not. However, there were some scenes which reminded me of other movies. (The airplane rescue scene reminded me of Bane's attack in the beginning The Dark Knight Rises). Also, the ending scene where Iron Man wanted a clean slate. (Just like Batman in TDKR) This will either lead to him changing his mind to appear in Avengers 2, or he gets replaced in Avengers 2. Shane Black tried to make things up by making Guy Pearce say "I am the real Mandarin" It didn't make me feel any better than I already felt. In the comics, Aldrich Killian is just a scientist and NOT the Mandarin. The Mandarin doesn't use Extremis, but uses his ten rings and his henchmen. He screwed up quite a bit there. One bad thing was that they didn't showcase the many suits that he had. When the suits started flying in, only a few prominent ones could be noticed. For example, they only showed the Hulkbuster armor charging forward for a ten seconds. I'll give it fifteen (cos I'm nice). I would love to see the Hulkbuster appear while Tony narrate the names of the suits. Though that might not be exactly possible cause he was busy fighting. So there were many suits with names and abilities that weren't introduced. And all of them got blown up to make fireworks. Quite a waste. However, I did like the action scenes.
I know it may not be fair for me to judge the whole movie based on the portrayal of one character, but what might have become the most epic scene in Iron Man history, or should I say Marvel history became a letdown to all Iron Man fans. I would much rather see a dark movie, without all the comedic elements and see the REAL merciless Mandarin in action against Iron Man. Why isn't comedy under one of Iron Man 3's genres? In conclusion, they should not have put Mandarin in the movie at all or at most, as deleted scenes. If they wanna make up for it, they should do Iron Man 4 where Mandarin breaks out of prison using his Ten Rings and explain that his scene in Iron Man 3 was actually a facade. That would be cool. If not, they really insulted the Mandarin.