Worst MARVEL movie to date, absolutely terrible

Rating: 1/10 (22 February 2017)

Iron man 3 is the 7th installment in the marvel cinematic universe, directed by Shane Black (Kiss kiss bang bang). The film follows Tony Stark being torn apart mentally while facing a terrorist, the mandarin. He starts an odyssey of rebuilding and retribution. When you read it like this, it can come as a powerful, dramatic conflict that can leap the boundaries of comic book movies to a whole new level. Sadly it doesn't. The biggest problem that people seem to have with this movie is the mandarin (We will get to that later). People seem to be very mixed about the way the mandarin was represented in the film. My two cents is that it is utter stupidity. Tony Stark in the film is a completely unlikable asshole. He has no charm, no charisma or any weight. The character is supposed to face a deep, mental conflict which is PTSD due to the events of the avengers, but that is embarrassingly downplayed. This conflict gives no emotional substance or levity. The way it is handled is completely superficial. In other films, such conflicts can be presented and supported by other elements of film making, such as camera movements, sound editing, crazy visuals and great acting. Unfortunately none of these elements are used in the film. They simply use a close-up shot and rely entirely on Robert Downey Jr.'s acting skills, which are terrible and hold no emotional value. All he does is staring and throw quips. The PTSD is also there as a plot device, appearing only when it is needed to, but never really doing anything to the character. Tony gets a nightmare, makes foolish decisions that almost cost his life and his loved ones, but it is all presented in a very dull way. It doesn't also help with RDJ's one note acting who can't do any dramatic performances. Another poor aspect of the film is the tone. The tone ranges from pretentious edginess to a Mel Brooks action spy comedy by the end. The movie has no idea what kind of theme or layer it wants to represent. The tone is inconsistent and that damages the movie. The writing in this film is absolutely stilled, the dialogue is awful, and the delivery is bland and poor.
Now to the main complaint of the film, the mandarin. Yes, the mandarin is completely ruined. Not just as an adaptation from the comic, but as a standout film character in general. Both of the characters, the terrorist and Aldrich Killian, are some of the worst film characters. The terrorist has no reason to attack America or give it lessons. What possible conflict does this terrorist has with America? Or at least what reasons does he has to do such acts? The film gives us no explanation or any reason at all. Just a random villain thrown there, with no backstory, no motivation, and no clever themes behind this. The second idiotic character, Aldrich Killian, has a laughably terrible origin story that you can't take seriously. His entire reason for hating Tony and wanting revenge is because Tony left him on the roof at a new year's eve in 1999 while wanting to present a new project to Stark. Just, stupid. And finally, to the twist. For some unknown reasons to me, some people claim that this twist is clever because it was unexpected and because it tells us not to trust the government. Now that can be a good idea, except for one thing:it is terribly executed. There is not smart writing, no build-up, no thematic elements, just a forced twist for a cheap laugh. And as always, marvel can never really create a soundtrack that can give a powerful, emotional impact for the viewer and to serve the movie from a dramatic standpoint. The musical score is dull, forgettable and serves no purpose. The visuals are also dull, giving no memorable moments or imaginative scenes to give a bigger experience of the film. It really saddens me that such awful movies can break such huge box office numbers and gain critical success. It is one of the worst blockbuster movies i have ever seen.