Third time is never the charm

Rating: 5/10 (16 May 2013)

Iron Man 3 is the typical loud, pointless third chapter in a superhero trilogy. Why oh why do they throw everything but the kitchen sink at you and expect it to work? Especially galling is the writers borrow from the Dark Knight Rises (phew) putting the superhero's alter ego on camera for 70% of the movie. Then there's the business of everybody gets to wear the Iron Man suit, which dilutes and cheapens the whole premise. As soon as the bad guy or his minions smash the armor to the point of non-operation, another suit flies out of the sky and clamps itself to the hero, or the hero's girlfriend, or his buddy, or the paperboy if he's nearby. Finally, the villain is ...well, I won't spoil it if you haven't seen it. In the early comics the Mandarin was Iron Man's Luthor or Dr. Doom, his main nemesis. This movie portrayal is an outrage. Even the Stan Lee cameo was not good and over in a blink of an eye. On the plus side, Gwyneth Paltrow is gorgeous.