Iron-Man done right

Rating: 8/10 (26 May 2013)

First of all, I would like to make clear that I have watched the first two Iron Man movies and the Avengers, so I'm in good stead when seeing this movie. I thought the first Iron-Man was great and the second good, but more of a run-up to the Avengers than Iron-Man. So upon seeing Iron- Man 3, I expected good things, especially after the Avengers which was incredible, and I'm glad to say I wasn't disappointed.
We start with Tony Stark giving an opening Monologue as we see his legacy as Iron-Man blown to pieces, from this moment the viewers attention is grabbed. Then we are thrown into a flashback, which details how all of this madness came about. During this flashback, it is made pretty obvious Aldrich Killian is going to be problematic for Iron-Man as Tony Stark stands him up. So we get to present day where we see Tony, and I was very impressed by the characterisation of Tony Stark in this movie particularly. His anxiety attacks as a result of the Avengers can be related to by the viewers- I'm sure none of us could fight off alien hordes, fly a nuke into space then survive the whole ordeal and just walk it off. It reminds us that behind the suit is a man, who still feels and is maybe beginning to realise that he's plunged right into the deep end. Another interesting idea, is his obsession with his suits, of which he has many. This obsession endangers his relationship with Pepper and it really shows the audience that Tony Stark has lost sight of the things most important in his life, in some ways.
After dealing with our protagonist, I feel it's only right now to deal with the films antagonist, the Mandarin. The movie took an interesting slant on the mandarin which personally, I loved. The important thing to remember however is the The Mandarin is a comic book character, so while those of us who just watch the films may enjoy the twist, some comic book readers may be left slightly annoyed at the wasted opportunity to use such a great villain. Looking at what he stands for is certainly interesting though, the point it gets across by the Mandarin just as a name, an image for which the real villains can shield themselves with shows that all is not as we see in today's world, some things are not quite as they seem. So now, with the Mandarin out of the way, it's just Aldrich Killian who is played exceptionally well by Guy Pearce. Killian comes across as a sly and devious man who can so easily sneak around doing what he pleases as he is hidden by the Mandarin, which makes the audience feel a stronger dislike towards him as he is never pulled up for causing carnage and lets the Mandarin take all the blame.
I loved this movie, but if there is one reason it's marked down it's because of the premise of the plot, Xtremis. Even for a movie series which included alien invaders it seems far fetched and silly to me. By this I mean, not the idea of it, but how inconsistent and 'unbeatable' it is. One minute it only takes a little explosion to kill those corrupt by it, the next Iron-Man has to blow about nine holes into Killian to eventually kill him (an overstatement, but my point is clear). This little thing is why it has been marked down because lets be fair, it is a major plot point, however should I hear a reasonable explanation for it's inconsistency I would re-consider my rating.
To sum up, the film exceeded my already high expectations through it's excellent characterisation, brilliant emotional connection and clever quirks. I would have to say this is the defining Iron-Man of the series, which leaves the audience wondering, what part will Tony Stark play in Avengers 2?