He still is Iron Man

Rating: 7/10 (28 April 2013)

We've all seen the trailers. And we've all probably built up a certain vibe about the movie - that its taking the dark route a.l.a. DC movies. So, if it doesn't end up living up to that vibe that its built around itself, its bound to disappoint viewers, mildly or hugely. Because in this case, the dark route actually seemed like a perfect fit for the third installment.
Sample this: After the events of The Avengers, Tony Stark suddenly realizes that there are other supremely powerful beings in existence, that he's not alone, and that when compared with the others, he's certainly not the strongest of the bunch. So he develops post-traumatic stress, starts getting anxiety attacks, and in the process has built himself an army of suits - an Iron Legion - all because he just doesn't feel safe anymore. This causes friction between him and everyone else he knows - between him and Pepper and their romance, between him and Rhodey and their friendship, and between him and Happy affecting their bonding. Lots of room for exploration there right ??? Add to that, an emerging terrorist threat in the form of The Mandarin whose organization, The Ten Rings was alluded to in the first movie and you have an opportunity to bring things a full circle. The Mandarin being Iron Man's most prominent foe in comic book legacy only helps.
But sadly, it looks like the movie doesn't care to exploit all of these to their fullest. I'm not saying it doesn't use these issues at all, Tony's vulnerabilities are played out brilliantly. Its just that they could have done so much more with this material and the trailers gave us reason after reason to expect that they have that we end up a tad bit dissatisfied or should I say even mildly frustrated. And the pacing of the movie is quite feverish which isn't a problem if the characters are involving enough. But when they keep spurting out one-liners after another with a comic intent, it gets a bit irritating. Again, I'm saying a bit and not hugely irritating.
There's no reason to scoff at the movie's production values. In fact, being a Marvel movie, I shouldn't even be commenting on how amazing the visuals are, or with Black at the helm, the action is top-notch. It would simply be wasting characters in this review if details are described. But yes, the airplane crash and the subsequent fall sequence deserves mention - its the only sequence in the movie that gave me real goosebumps. I'd say that sequence makes up for some of the movie's flaws never mind the brief duration that it last's for.
Downey is at the top of his game here. He plays a more mature, sensible and disturbed Stark unlike the jolly good alcoholic of the previous movies. However he does retain his sense of humor which is good in a way but not so good when done excessively. The girls get little screen time but give in their best. As for the bad guys, they're all effective and any further comments on their performance would mean spoiling a big twist in the movie.
With Iron Man 3, Marvel's Phase II has begun. And while this may not be the best of starts, its certainly not a bad one by any means. A little bit of fine tuning and even sticking to the vibe the trailers projected would have made this movie a serious force to bicker or reckon with. As it is though, Iron Man 3 is a pretty decent summer flick. Just don't expect anything extraordinary out of it.
I was about to give it a 7, but I'll raise the score by 0.5 for Downey's performance and for the airplane sequence.
Score: 7.5 / 10