Iron Man 3 manages to drag the franchise out of the mud after it's inferior predecessor and revitalises it to be the best one yet.

Rating: 9/10 (4 May 2013)

After the watchable enough, but disappointing Iron Man sequel, this third one in the franchise had a lot to live up and to revert my opinion on the franchise, which had hit a rough patch. My expectations were exceedingly low, even with the good reviews.
However in a way that worked massively to the film's advantage and after 130 minutes I came out convinced that I had just seen one of the best third films of any franchise (whatever the genre, I shudder at the number 3 sometimes with movies like Rush Hour 3, Spiderman 3 and Shrek The Third) and the greatest Iron Man up to date.
One asset of the franchise, which has never failed in all three movies is it's most bankable star Robert Downey Jr (who is just a fantastic actor in any film) who always plays the part with a smarmy, sarcastic twinkle in his eyes with the undercurrent notion of a man burdened by so much, which is certainly the case in the third film.
Set after The Avengers Assemble movie (nicely referenced throughout the movie) Stark is struggling with day to day life, staying up for days at a time, (by throwing himself into his work) and struggling to sleep and having nightmares of what Loki did. We also see him suffer anxiety attacks. He is also pushing away his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow - who gets a meatier role in this and more to do instead of being the typical damsel in distress). But a threat to America from the fearsome adversary The Mandarin (Ben Kinglsey) aided by Killian (Guy Pearce) forces Stark to pick himself up and protect the people and everyone he loves. Throughout he is supported by his friend Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and when Iron Man crashes in the snow aided by a kid Harley Keener (TY Simpkins - there's always a kid isn't there!?)
The cast give wonderful performances, with Downey Jr obviously being the best one with his flippant attitude and witty wisecracks (thanks to a well observed script by Shane Black whose credits include Lethal Weapon). Paltrow gives her best performance yet and humanises the whole film with her worry for Stark and her best moment comes at the end where she becomes all bad-ass and then comes up with the best one liner after the carnage she causes (I won't tell you, you'll have to see if for yourself). Kingsley and Pearce gives terrific performances as the bad guys, with a nice, unexpected twist with The Mandarin, though some other reviewers say they feel cheated and it brunts the impact felt of The Mandarin being a fearsome adversary for Iron Man (which is fair enough as everyone has their own interpretations). I have to disagree and if anything for me it elevated his mystique. Downey Jr works wonderfully with Cheadle and the kid Simpkins as they have great buddy chemistry as those two gives solid performances.
Though Iron Man 3 may start off a bit slow and not have as much action as it's predecessor, on balance I prefer as it builds up the story and the character development (of Stark), which is rare in a third movie. It takes the time to not just wow us with the great special effects and exciting action sequences (the best being the last sequence at the docks), but also get to know and care about the new characters and the old ones too. The music was also great and the cameo right at the end of the credits by a certain actor (no not Robert Downey Jr) from The Avengers movie was brilliant.
The only criticism I have for Iron Man 3 is the 3D, which was awful. Very little of it is in 3D and was just a wasted gimmick that was not necessary for an already great film. Overall Iron Man 3 for me elevates the franchise to a whole new level and becomes the best of the lot. Not everyone will agree, but see it for yourself and make up your own mind.