Marvel's Avengers Phase Two starts in style, as Iron Man's trilogy draws to a satisfying close

Rating: 9/10 (4 September 2013)

Right off the bat, Iron Man 3 has a very different feel to it than the previous feel.even tony Stark himself reflects this in his narration that opens the film, where he says something along the lines of, "things are different now, and I'm a different man". Even the tone is different, and very unique. It isn't like the first two at all, even- this is reflected by Brian Tyler's score. Whereas the first two movies feel more polished, this film feels more raw and personal.
Tony Stark suffers from PTSD as a result of the events in "The Avengers", and furthermore, said events have made him realize that he's more vulnerable than ever now. Tony has to protect Pepper Potts, and his entire city. As a means of twiddling thumbs, Tony keeps adding upgrades to his Iron Suits. In one upgrade, he can signal them over piece by piece so he can begin wearing it from afar, and another upgrade is that he can move the suits himself. But even these won't stop Stark from suffering from nightmares and panic attacks about the New York events. He feels like he's in greater danger than ever before. This is even so much that he has the suits guard them while he sleeps.
For the first part of the film, the plot centers around this and two others: The Mandarin, a mysterious villain who commits acts of terrorism and transmits disturbing images warning people about his full potential. And then there's Aldridge Kyllian, a handsome but mysterious and brilliant scientist who has a cure for all weakness: Extremis, an addictive drug that helps people regenerate through body heat. Admittedly, the latter seems ridiculous given the context of the first two films, taking Iron Man in a more sci-fi direction that is admittedly very unexpected, but it works, in a way you wouldn't expect either.
What's really interesting about this film though is the sheer irony of Tony Stark spending at least 90% of the movie out of the iron suit. Yes, even more so than Iron Man 2, which was similarly light on iron, but heavy on stark. Don't let that worry you, though; in fact, by the time the final battle comes along, you won't have even cared about the fact that he spends so much of the movie out of the suit. He even goes so far as to make a stealth break-in in one scene using store-bought materials. And the use of the self-moving suit (controlled by Tony from an external source) is used brilliantly in the airplane scene. I don't have a fear flying, but I do have a fear of falling and the cinematography, even in IMAX, had me suffering intense bouts of vertigo. The plane scene is one of the more well-done action scenes in the movie, and is executed very cleverly. The final battle does cost the film some points in that there's too many suits used in the scene, making it very hard to follow at times, but it's a fun scene to watch, and some very clever twists and cliffhangers are used.
Also, stay around for the bonus scene after the credits. I guarantee, you won't be disappointed.
In short, Iron Man 3 is the worst of the film and it does have some flaws, but it's still tons of fun to watch. It's both a blazingly exciting action epic and a character study that deconstructs Tony Stark's character very cleverly. Even if you find tons of things wrong with the sooty, you'll still enjoy it for the fun it offers.