Tony Stark 3 is the best Iron Man movie so far!

Rating: 9/10 (3 May 2013)

As I said earlier, this is the best Iron Movie yet, but I should clarify, this is more of a Tony Stark movie. First of all, it's not better than "The Avengers", which is by far the best Marvel movie to date. "The Avengers", in my opinion, is also still the best Iron Man movie. It has some great Tony Stark dialogue and the best Iron Man action by far. Secondly, I would classify this as a Tony Stark movie as we see Tony Stark in action as a flawed desperate man much more than we see Iron Man. This is a different vehicle than we've seen before with the Iron Man trilogy. Shane Black takes this film in a different direction that Jon Favreau has in the past, and it is a welcome, albeit different direction.
I'm not one who will usually complain about longer run times of movies. I like more bang for your buck in most cases, I will usually watch deleted scenes on DVD's, even if they are probably best deleted. This would be a case where although the first half hour of the movie was not bad, it did make the movie a bit too long. The movie starts with the Stark compound exploding, and then we revert back to 1999 and get an elaborate back story to catch us up to current events. We then eventually get to the Stark home getting obliterated, and this is where I feel the movie should have begun. After this, there wasn't really a lull or any down time.
This is a Tony Stark movie. He invents, loses people he cares about, has issues, and gets damaged. The audience then gets to root for a mortal man on the path to possible redemption. This works pretty well for me. I will say it was a bit frustrating to not have him in the Iron Man suit more in the movie, just as it annoyed me that in "Dark Knight Rises"; Batman was only present in it for about 30 minutes. If I had to guess, I would say Stark is in an actual Iron Man suit for less than five minutes of the movie. There were plenty of Iron Men and action scenes, and Cheadle as Iron Patriot, but Stark as Iron Man in action didn't happen until way too long in my opinion. This however may be something that helped the movie in ways as well. I loved the scenes with Stark. Downey Jr. fits this character like a glove, and while he may be replaced in the Marvel universe one day, I don't think anyone will play Tony Stark's cynical, snide character with any more finesse or perfection. There is more humor in this film than any Marvel film previously, and it's all pretty much Stark's witty dialogue and banter. We basically go with Stark on a manhunt for the bad guys after an explosion and attack hit too close to home. It is entertaining to see a mortal, vulnerable Stark who has to use wits and ingenuity (like Macgyver) to out gun the bad guys.
I did not have a problem with any of the villains in this film. I won't spoil the specifics of the enemies, but the genetic issues some of them have make them extra human and work pretty well and make quite an adversary for Iron Man. I was glad he didn't end up fighting against more Iron Men. While the film isn't as dark or desperate as I thought it would be, and the villains aren't as ruthless as seen in the previews, it's pretty entertaining. The tone reminded me more of "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" which was directed by Black. The protagonist was in often in trouble but many times the viewer doesn't feel the weight or danger of the situation. While I didn't see this one in 3D or IMAX yet, I'm thinking I will have to. Good times.
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