Good, but not good enough.

Rating: 6/10 (25 April 2013)

This threequel is undoubtedly one of the most anticipated cinematic events of 2013, what with The Avengers blowing everyone's mind last year. So it shouldn't come as a surprise that it doesn't live up to those lofty expectations, but it doesn't make it any less disappointing. Let me clarify straight away, IM3 is not a bad movie, it's still enjoyable and has patches of genuine awesomeness, but when judged within the recent Marvel canon, it sadly sits at the lower end of the scale.
On board for the first time is writer-director Shane Black, and although he largely fails to improve on the last Iron Man outing, he certainly makes some daring choices. For starters the story goes much, much darker. This franchise has never shied away from tackling tough content - alcoholism, manufacturing weapons for war, daddy issues - but the PTSD-centric plot here is the most serious yet, occasionally to its own detriment. There's plenty of well-timed (and at times hilariously inappropriate) humour sprinkled throughout, but there's still a feeling that Marvel's trademark light touch is completely missing from Black's effort. He doesn't go full Nolan, but the tone is definitely in a different, and for me unwanted, ballpark to the original Iron Man.
Being a superhero flick there are of course many action sequences and swathes of CGI coolness, both largely pulled off with aplomb despite a flawed employment of 3D. An opening scene featuring Tony fiddling around with a new suit has some startling subpar visual effects, however this is thankfully a standalone mistake in the CGI department with the remainder of the film boasting top notch computer trickery. The picture's first real set piece, the destruction of Tony's Malibu pad, is decent without being great, but by the time we've had a vertiginous attack on Air Force One and reached the climactic showdown boasting dozens of varying Iron Man suits, Black finally nails it.
Also nailing it, Robert Downey Jr embodies the conflicted, haunted genius with such confident and charismatic ease he has now reached a point where he simply is Tony Stark. Alongside him in what is her biggest role in the series, Gwyenth Paltrow clearly relishes the opportunity to not only sink her teeth into a meatier Pepper arc, but to also get among the action - stealing the single most awesome moment in the movie in the process. Don Cheadle is solid as Stark's besty Col Rhodes, aka Iron Patriot, in an underwritten part, whilst Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce are on usual fine form as, respectively, the mysterious terrorist Mandarin and the megalomaniac scientist Aldrich Killian. Although it must be said that I found the Mandarin's character twist utterly stupid.
This trilogy closer is a good movie, but by Marvel's standards, also not good enough.