Finally - a real Iron Man

Rating: 9/10 (29 April 2013)

I must say I went reluctantly to see this movie. The first two parts were in my opinion nothing special but for the sake of completism I did see Iron Man 3 and I am very glad that I did. It is a spectacular movie with a superb, almost epic music, composed by Brian Tyler. This time we have a very different Tony Stark then in the first two parts. In the past he was all show, a playboy who wants to attract attention. Now we see him suffer from anxiety attacks and fear after the trauma he experienced in the movie The Avengers". He lives alone with his girlfriend Pepper in his mansion and he has become a quieter personality, obsessed with his power-suits which give him sense of security. The problem with the first two parts was lack of suspense. We knew that his suits will protect him from harm, and to be honest his enemies were not stronger than he. Now we have an interesting enemy for him, an illusive terrorist named the Mandarin who wants to punish USA and at the same time educate" US president. He is a mixture between Bin Laden and Fu Manchu. He represents a blending of all western prejudices and fears regarding the eastern civilizations from the middle to the far east. He is a shadowy figure, surrounded by his fanatical followers, philosophical, honourless and extremely cruel. In this movie we also have a contemporary aspect concerning the war on terror and the connection between the US politicians and the oil industry. But not everything is as it seems, and that would be a major spoiler which I will not mention here. There are some other villains with superpowers which are very dangerous indeed. This time Tony Stark does not have much of his hi-tech gadgets at his disposal, only a single malfunctioning power-suit, which is a very good thing story-wise because it creates suspense. Everything is more difficult for him this time and finally we see him in action using his brains instead of power-suits. With this limitations, we see Tony Stark make a transition from superhero to hero, something the audience can relate to more easily. All in all, this is excellent action movie, with clever story, interesting twists and explosive ending. Highly recommended.