Not bad for a third installment

Rating: 6/10 (25 December 2013)

Superhero movies go through a cycle: In the first, we learn about the formation of the hero; this one is usually my favorite (Darkman or Unbreakable come to mind, both better films because they knew to "stop when you're on top"). The second installment usually descends into mindless action, with no character development to speak of. Then in the third, the hero is beginning to have self-doubts, making it more interesting again.
Iron Man 3 is no exception to this loose rule, better than 2, not as good as 1. It pits our cynical and flippant hero against a cynical and flippant evil mastermind, who uses an Osama-bin-laden look-alike actor as his face to the world to rev up business for human fighting machines he has created.
The film is filled with plot holes (for example, an Iron Man costume with unidentified occupant is allowed onto Air Force One without a check, hello), and physically impossible action (Iron Man catches a dozen people falling from a plane, and the two hanging on from him, from whose hands hang six more each, don't lose their grip under a > 1000 pound force as Iron Man brakes just before they hit the ground). The surrealism is about at the level of another fairly successful action movie from summer '13, Olympus is Down. In neither movie does it matter, it's about the action. In both films the main actor manages enough charisma to move things along despite glaring script inadequacies.
Iron Man 3 is surprisingly introspective, with plenty of action but also quieter passages between Tony and Pepper, Tony and a kid who helps him out, Tony dealing with anxiety attacks from his Avenger stint, even Tony and the Osama-bin-laden stand-in. It gets a plus for that. It gets a minus for being so self-conscious about its one-liners that it has to comment on them! Might as well face it: nobody beats Bond or Arnold at that game.
The movie is certainly worth the while for Marvel fans, and everyone else, see #1, skip #2 and go straight to #3. You'll be better entertained that way.