Does Downey Jr. deserve over ten times the pay of any other 'AVENGERS' cast member?!

Rating: 9/10 (8 May 2013)

'IRON MAN 3': Four and a Half Stars (Out of Five)
Robert Downey Jr. returns to his most popular and iconic movie role (based on the Marvel comics superhero) 'Iron Man' (a.k.a. Tony Stark) for the fourth time (after playing the role in two other 'IRON MAN' films and 2012's 'THE AVENGERS', for which he was paid a whopping $50 to $70 million). Returning to their roles for the third time are Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's girlfriend Pepper Potts, Jon Favreau as security guard Happy Hogan and Paul Bettany as the voice of Stark's robotic companion Jarvis (it's actually the fourth time for Paltrow and Bettany if you count their cameos in 'THE AVENGERS'). Don Cheadle returns to play Stark's buddy Colonel James Rhodes for the second time (after replacing Terrence Howard from the first film). Joining the cast this time around are Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, Rebecca Hall, James Badge Dale, Stephanie Szostak, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer and Ty Simpkins (as the first kid sidekick in any 'Avengers' film). Favreau handed off directing duties to Downey Jr.'s pal Shane Black, who directed Downey in the 2005 action buddy film 'KISS KISS BANG BANG' (which he also wrote). Black penned an assortment of other popular 80s and 90s action buddy films as well like the original 'LETHAL WEAPON', 'THE LAST BOYSCOUT' and 'THE LONG KISS GOODNIGHT'. He co-wrote 'IRON MAN 3' with Drew Pearce. The movie doesn't quite live up to the original two 'IRON MAN' films or 'THE AVENGERS' but it's still an excellent inclusion in the popular franchise.
After the events of the alien invasion in 'THE AVENGERS' film Stark (Downey Jr.) now suffers from PTSD and spends most of his time making obsessive improvements to his 'Iron Man' suit (as well as building many others). As a result he's been neglecting Pepper (Paltrow) as she's visited by a man from both their pasts, scientist Aldrich Killian (Pearce), who works in regenerative healing research. A new terrorist, going by the name of 'The Mandarin' (Kingsley), has been bombing innocent civilians and harms Starks security chief Happy Hogan (Favreau). This pisses Stark off causing him to threaten the terrorist on TV as well as give him his address. 'The Mandarin' retaliates by attacking Stark at his home and putting both Pepper and an old fling of Stark's (Hall) in danger. Stark's suit is severely damaged as he's forced to battle his enemy with only his ingenuity and the help of a 10-year-old boy (Simpkins). When Pepper is kidnapped and put in grave danger as well Stark is forced to overcome all his inner demons in order to save the day.
The story is based loosely on six-issues of the comic from 2005 and 2006 involving the "Extremis" story arc. 'Extremis' is the regenerative technology Killian's character is working on in the film. I didn't like this element of the movie so much but I did like the PTSD storyline and it was very interesting to see the otherwise super confident superhero suffering from panic attacks throughout the film. This is where the film's greatest strength lies. Of course the Tony Stark character is always one of the greatest comic superheroes to watch and Downey Jr. is perfectly cast as him. Does he deserve over ten times the pay as any other 'AVENGERS' cast member? I don't know but he is a joy to watch here once again and he does help make the film. Black was the perfect director to replace Favreau and the other additions to the cast are good as well. Pearce and Kingsley aren't nearly as memorable or powerful villains as the ones in the first two films though and Black's screenplay isn't quite as clever or well written as those other movies either. Still it is a good addition to the series; flawed but still about as much as you can expect from the third installment in a blockbuster action series like this.
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