Save your money for Redbox.

Rating: 2/10 (3 May 2013)

I have been a big fan of the Marvel films since the first X-Men came out years ago and have eagerly anticipated when a new Marvel film comes out. On top of that Iron Man was and will always be my favorite super hero since I was a little kid. With that being said I can't tell you how completely disappointed I was in this film. Not even the special effects were able to save this horrifically poor movie. Between a terrible plot, lazy acting, horrible directing, and bad special effects decisions, this was a bad movie.
1. Other than Gwenth Paltrow nobody seemed to care much about their characters. I was quite impressed with Paltow in this film. She seemed to finally get a chance to be a major player and she stepped up into the role. Downey Jr just mailed it in like he knew this was the last standalone Iron Man and was just tired of the role. Jon Favreau seemed as if he was angry that he didn't get to direct and came off as a total buffoon as Happy. Ben Kingsley was their for the paycheck plain and simple. Won't even go into any of the other characters because it's not worth it.
2. Mandarin. Yes this is a spoiler so if you don't want to know don't read. Why bring in such a powerful villain and then choose to make him a phony. He's a burned out drug addict pretending to be a master terrorist. WTF??? The potential for an all out awesome villain vs hero was just thrown in the trash. He's not even a terrorist, he's an actor playing the part of a terrorist. What a waste of an opportunity here for a climatic event. He's working for the so called bad guy who's working with the VP of the US to take over the country. To many pointless plot twists to even bother.
3. Shane Black. Please do not allow this moron to ever direct, produce, or ever touch a film again. Sure he had Lethal Weapon, but that's it. Seemed like he had some political agenda for this movie. It comes off very anti-American and not sure why he wanted it to go that way. Had a very liberal spin on it. Now I know why it's doing so good oversees. Choppy film cuts and the flash back scenes were just bad.
4. Special effects and 3D. I'm not a fan of 3D, but someone else bought the tickets so I didn't really care, but the 3D was just bad. Nothing came off the page and made me feel like I was really there. Saw the Avengers in 3D and was very impressed. This had no 3D value at all. The overall special effects were good, but just not used appropriately. So many new suits Tony built, but you rarely get to see them up close and in detail. The epic end battle you hardly see what makes one suit that different for the others. Just randomly flying Iron Man suits everywhere. The fact you get almost no time with Stark in a suit doing what he does best made no sense.
I'm a Marvel fan for life so this review isn't from some DC fan boy trying to kill a Marvel film. I really hate DC movies. Saw the superman preview and knew I wouldn't even bother watching that for free. Sad thing is I would have probably enjoyed that film more than Iron Man 3. Glad to know the days of Iron Man are quickly coming to and end. Don't waste your time or money. This was just a terrible film from start to finish.