Iron Man 3 - Noodles Review

Rating: 6/10 (19 December 2013)

8 out of 10 as a movie; 5 out of 10 as an Iron Man movie
You might've noticed my scoring of the movie and that's because it's a very awesome summer movie. But if you're a fan of comics and superheros (which I hugely am), you might feel a little different about it. If you're a die hard Iron Man fan, you'll probably be disappointed. I'm not saying it's a bad movie because it DEFINITELY is not. However, there are some points in the movie that could alter the enjoyment of the film. Iron Man 3 was my 4th most anticipated movie of 2013 (after Man of Steel, The Hobbit 2, and Elysium) and I wouldn't blame anyone for really looking forward to this movie. The trailers were insanely incredible. While the movie doesn't pull through as well as the trailers, it's still somewhat of a treat.
The premise of Iron Man 3 is actually quite interesting. It ties back to The Avengers in which Iron Man practically saved the whole world in the end. He gets anxiety and can't sleep at night because of his post-traumatic stress. The stuff really affected him big time. Then, The Mandarin has to come about and just bring him even more hell. I really liked the idea and where they were going with it. Tony Stark sort of has to use his wits and go on without the Iron Man suit for a bit. I liked that idea but it was a bit drawn out at times. However, the dialogue is quite on point (from the writer of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Lethal Weapon so I would imagine so). Sometimes I felt the humor was a little overdone but, oh well, it's a summer movie, I'll deal with it. The humor does kind of have a purpose though. That's who Tony Stark is. He's a narcissist who throws in one liners whenever he wants. Robert Downey Jr. obviously owns the role; he was born to play Tony Stark. Guy Pearce is an awesome actor and he pretty much owns his role but we'll talk about his character a little later. Don Cheadle was great and I was happy to see how much more developed his character was in this movie. However, I didn't really care about Pepper Potts in this movie as much as I did in previous movies, even though the movie tries to make you care about her. One character the movie did good at making you care about early on was The Mandarin. Ben Kingsley pretty much owns the role and I was expecting him to be awesome. If you don't get the gist of The Mandarin; he's the archnemesis of Iron Man, his most important villain. Joker to Batman, Lex Luthor to Superman, Green Goblin to Spiderman, Mandarin to Iron Man. You gotta do him well. However something happens that just completely splits the decision of whether or not you can enjoy the rest of the film. But I won't say it since this is a spoiler-free review; I'll only do a spoiler filled review if enough of you guys ask for it. Anyways, it's a pretty pivotal sequence in the movie. When you watch the movie, I guarantee you'll know what I'm talking about. It was a great move as a film. But as an Iron Man film, it just wasn't the way it should've been done.
A lot of what I didn't like about the movie are spoilers, so I can't really elaborate big on them in detail. I'll say this: a lot of what happened was really cheesy and cartoony, while other things were cliché. That's the most I can say without spoiling anything. Additionally, there were some flaws in the conveyance of emotion, where I sort of felt for the characters but then something would happen that would completely change that. But still, the action is pretty sweet in this movie. Whenever the suit just latches itself onto Tony Stark, I feel like I've seen some of the coolest things in the world. And the final battle is awesome! And that's something we didn't get with the first two Iron Man movies. It was really entertaining and I was totally amazed until the end of it... another totally cliché scene occurred. However, I rolled with it and watched the rest of the movie, which ended up being a lot of important scenes, going through unnoticeably in about a minute or two.
All in all, Iron Man 3 is definitely better than Iron Man 2 but can't quite get up to the level that the first Iron Man did. I'd say it's the most entertaining of the series for casual movie goers though. It has some awesome action and insanely cool special effects. There's subtle humor pretty much everywhere in the movie and Tony Stark is still a very lovable character. However, it does get kinda drawn out at some points, and cartoony at other times. As a regular movie, I give it 8 out of 10 Noodles. But, I can't deny my own feelings of the directions taken in this movie that really detracted from the experience for me, big time. It really doesn't compare to the level of emotion and amazement of the first movie, or the level of epicness that The Avengers reached. If adding the disappointing aspects of the movie as an Iron Man film, it's 5 out of 10 Noodles. I guess that averages it out at a 6.5, but in spite of that, I wouldn't really have a problem watching it again