A solid addition to the Iron Man franchise

Rating: 7/10 (20 October 2016)

Opening with a flashback to 1999 we see a pre-Iron Man Tony Stark meeting scientist Maya Hansen; she is developing an experimental process that if it works will ultimately help people recover from serious injuries. A test involving a plant is shown to have the possibility of explosive failure. The two of them are approached by Aldrich Killian, another scientist, who wants Tony to work with his company; an offer he rejects.
Cutting forward to the current day a terrorist known as 'The Mandarin' is targeting American interests around the world; the attacks have one strange thing in common; an explosion but no sign of a bomb. Tony is currently working on yet another Iron Man suit while still troubled by the 'events in New York'. He issues a threat to the Mandarin, including telling him where he lives. Soon afterwards Maya visits Tony at home but the building is destroyed by attack helicopters. She and Pepper Potts survive the attack while Tony is reported dead however he has managed to fly to Tennessee where he starts investigating an explosion that matches the pattern of the other attacks but wasn't connected. Here he is helped by a young boy and meets some people with a strange ability; they can raise their bodies to temperatures that can melt metal. Soon afterwards it becomes apparent that Killian is behind the Mandarin and inevitably he has further plans.
This is a solid third instalment In the Iron Man franchise although it follows on from 'The Avengers' with references to 'events in New York' there is no recap of what happened so if, like me, you haven't seen that film you may be a bit confused you just have to accept that something bad happened and now Tony Stark has PTSD or something similar. I've not read the original comics so can't comment on how this handled the characters compared to the source material but I thought they were pretty solid; I particularly liked Ben Kingsley's portrayal of 'The Mandarin' and really enjoyed the twist regarding his character. Guy Pearce was good as Killian although the character was a bit cliché as soon as Tony Stark rejected his approach in the prologue it was obvious that he'd return as the bad guy. Rebecca Hall was also good as Maya, one of the film's most 'normal' characters. The returning cast Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Don Cheadle are as good as one would expect. The story was solid and provided plenty of excuses for some spectacular action which feature top-notch special effects. Inevitably there are some weaker moments and I could have done without Tony getting help from a kid but overall I'd say this is a fun superhero movie that fans of the franchise are likely to enjoy.