THE IRON MAN Christmas SPECIAL

Rating: 10/10 (3 May 2013)

I was actually surprised that this film took place around the holiday season, similar to Batman Returns before it. But if you think the yuletide setting is enough to spoil this film, think again. Iron Man 3 is the best of the Iron Man trilogy and had a lot of elements that were even better than The Avengers. The first Iron Man was great, the second was a tad better (at least in my opinion), but the third just drove the nail further into the wood and not only gave us amazing action and suspense, but profound character development and soul as well. This is the darkest Iron Man flick and it's even a little jarring at times, but at the end of the day, Iron Man 3 is the perfect balance of humor, horror, suspense and overall excitement. It's a film any superhero buff would like, despite the tweaks and changes that were made to some characters that may get under hardcore comic gurus' skin.
Robert Downey Jr. gives his best performance as Tony Stark in this film. He is still just as sarcastic and hilarious as ever, but in this film, we see his character go to a level we've never seen him at before. At the film's start, we see him torn apart and reclusive after the events of The Avengers and obsessed with building suit after suit. He has some of his best moments and some of the film's best lines, but his character is much more serious and dramatized this time around and he comes off as a tragic hero in many ways. He's a lot like Christian Bale's Batman, a determined, yet tortured hero that is deeply effected by the terrible events that unfold. Luckily, his character comes out of his shell towards the end of the film and, you guessed it, he saves the day. Big surprise.
Gwyneth Paltrow returns as Pepper Potts, but instead of being the clueless damsel she was in the previous films, she contributes to the action and even takes part in the film's climax. I liked seeing the feisty and rough side of her character and the fact that she takes out the main villain at the end makes her character as solid as a statue. Don Cheadle comes back as James Rhodes from Iron Man 2, this time around sporting red, white and blue armor instead of the classic War Machine silver and black. I'm not the biggest fan of Don Cheadle, but he's a decent actor and really shows his acting capabilities in this flick. He also delivers one of the film's best lines ("That's your department"). But the actor who steals the show, at least in my opinion is Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin. Holy cow, what a great adversary this is! I won't give too much away about his character, but let's just say that your jaw will drop once you discover a pivotal twist about him. One minute, he can be as terrifying as the Devil in The Exorcist, the next minute, he's a cheerful, quirky jokester with a love of soccer games on the television. Ben Kingsley really let it all out as the Mandarin, and he's one of the movie's most memorable players.
But the movie really shines in the action department. This had the best action out of any other Iron Man film and in some areas, it had better action than The Avengers. I really liked the scenes where Tony went up against the explosive Extremis Soldiers and rescued all the senators from a desecrated aircraft in his Mark 47 armor. And the final scene involving all of Tony's different suits was one of the best scenes ever executed in a Marvel movie. Seeing Tony constantly switching suits and at one point, leaping into one as it soared through the sky, it really puts gas in your stomach and you really wish you could go out there and jump into a suit of armor yourself. The final fight against the Mandarin was also dazzling as you see the villain use his Extremis abilities to the fullest. It's also worth mentioning that Guy Pearce gives a slick, yet malevolent performance as Aldrich Killian and a brief appearance from a fellow Avenger in the after credits scene really makes the film come full circle.
Iron Man 3 is one of the best films of the year. Hopefully, with upcoming films like Thor: The Dark World, Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man, Marvel and Disney continue to give us high quality adventures that take us into alternate realms and send us on thrilling, chilling rides of exhilaration.