Disappointing

Rating: 4/10 (1 May 2013)

It is safe to say that the Iron Man franchise has worsened through each film... this film was truly awful and by far the worst one. The previous two films were solid parts of Marvel's phase 1, but this monstrosity is a weak start to Marvel's phase 2.
The film started off okay, exploring Stark's inner troubles and the increasing disturbances of the mysterious terrorist, The Mandarin. Ever since the implications of The Ten Rings I've been looking forward to The Mandarin appearing in one of the films, as he is Iron Man's arch-nemesis. Even though he looked nothing like The Mandarin, I did enjoy Kingsley's portrayal in the first act of the film, but the character was completely destroyed half-way through. The Mandarin was made up to be a fake and it utterly wasted the character and Kingsley's acting skill. Instead Guy Pearce became The Mandarin and it finalised my thoughts on how they ruined such an interesting character. The reasons behind Tony's capture could have been explored further, but the Ten Rings just became a wasted concept.
The dullness of the Extremis story didn't help the film at all. Extremis allowed plot holes to open, revealing weaknesses and mistakes as it did so. The Extremis soldiers felt just too familiar resulting in forgettable fight scenes, in particular the last battle scene. The uninspired Aldrich Killian was just the same as the previous villains, wanting revenge and power. Plus the mundanely boring Maya Hansen was just an extra character that added nothing, except the excuse for another Extremis scientist other than Killian.
Another disappointing factor was the suit time. Tony Stark was in the suit about three times throughout the film, meaning there was less Iron Man heroics. I felt Tony Stark was weak in this film. He didn't even manage to defeat the villain. It was up to Pepper, who was probably in the suit more than he was. And even when the suit was flying around, I was unsure about whether he was actually in it because of his new unexplained gadgets. This made me feel cheated out of seeing a proper Iron Man film where Stark is out on the field actually bothering to save people. To me, the lazy plot development just reflected onto Tony Stark.
But to be fair, this film does have parts that are worth watching. The relationship between Rhodes and Stark was very strong and consistent throughout the film, but Rhodes' screen time was minimal so their interactions were limited. I also liked the relationship between Stark and Harley as it showed a side to Tony that hasn't been explored in the previous films, a more human side that is forced to live with civilians that know him as Iron Man.
The film was unambitious and the excessive jokes made it into something it wasn't meant to be, where The Mandarin played the laughing stock. This film has also relied too much on the success of The Avengers, with Shane Black under thinking every part of the film whilst not realising how good it could have been even with all the unanswered material he had. Instead, the third film was a mess where the excitement from the previous two had been sucked away and replaced with an everyday superhero movie with no sense of danger or anticipation. Fans might be disappointed and general movie-goers will be entertained, but as a fan I feel there is no hope for an Iron Man resurrection.
I give it a 4 out of 10 because it deserves no more and no less. It does have moments that happily differ from the other two, but there are just too many brainless errors for it to live up to the others.