Could have been way, way better, but was not thanks to Disney

Rating: 3/10 (17 June 2013)

Iron Man 3. It should have been the final chapter - the big one - the one that makes people say "wow, that was a satisfying series!" To be honest, this movie was like a mini-movie. It didn't feel like an Iron Man movie. There was no climax. This movie could have been the second film, but it wasn't a good conclusion to the hero we've come to know and love. Tony Stark is a fantastic character, but he didn't get his deserved justice in this final film.
Let me elaborate. The characters in this movie strayed away from the realism in the first two movies. Now yes, the first two movies were comic book material. But at least all the things that happened in the movie were scientifically or simply realistically possible. The third got into superpowers. Iron Man isn't really a superhero. He's a man in a suit, much like Batman. As soon as Disney mixed all the heroes together in The Avengers, it was free license to do whatever the heck they wanted to. They no longer had to adhere to realism - something that hurt the films ultimately. But this is not the main point.
My primary gripe with the movie is that the Mandarin was nothing like his comic book counterpart. The Mandarin was an epic character with charisma. He was dangerous and powerful. He could have been done well. But instead they ruined it by making Ben Kingsley play a fall guy. A cheesy mandarin double that would fit well into an Austin Powers movie. In fact, the portrayal of the flabbergasted actor revealed in the film felt like Sacha Baron Cohen's character, Aladeen in "The Dictator".
Guy Pearce is a great actor. He is one of my absolute favorites. But Disney's portrayal of the Mandarin was not true to the comics. Come on, it's not like the realism thing was present anyway. They already had Tony Stark fight aliens from another dimension when they mixed Thor into it. So why couldn't the Mandarin be the same character as in the comic books? The Marvel universe is already becoming cheesy. Why not go full out and present the characters as they were written?
Iron Man 3 could have been done better. They should have stayed on track with the Iron Man saga. But the movie felt like "The Avengers - Iron Man", a spin off of the Avengers. This is not the way to go. I don't blame Marvel. I blame Disney.