Not what i was expecting, but still pretty good!

Rating: 7/10 (25 April 2013)

Let it first be said that I am a huge fan of the Marvel movies, everything from Marvel: phase one leading to the Avengers was by far some of the best blockbusters I've ever watched. So to say my expectations for Iron Man 3 (Marvels first movie of phase2) were high is somewhat an understatement.
This movie starts at what I'm guessing is a few months after the events in New York in 'Avengers Assemble' although they never actually address how much time has passed. Tony Stark (RDJ) is still tinkering away in his basement creating new suits and tech to add to his armour and doing anything to avoid sleeping (Stark still suffers horrible nightmares from the events in Avengers) He is still as loved and famous as before and protecting the world as Iron Man. Although, in the East a terrorist by the name of The Mandarin has taken claim to many bombings around the globe and vowed America will be next and will 'never see me coming'. Curious as to how these bombings were committed and left no trace of a weapon, cue some investigative work from Stark and a welcome introduction to the new Iron Patriot (War Machine from IM2 with a paint job) and the movie finally gets going.
Some of the story is shown through many flashbacks, and we are introduced to both Maya Hansen (Rebecca Hall) and Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) and the origins of something called the 'Extremis virus', which develops into the main focus of this movie.
What is very different about this film compared to the previous outings is that this instalment takes Tony Stark and completely strips him of the Iron Man image for much of the film. After his house (and many suits) are destroyed Stark must rely of his wits and intelligence to find out what exactly is the Extremis Virus and who is The Mandarin. While RDJ is a fine actor and easily holds the screen, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that there wasn't more in- suit action. I also wasn't overly keen on the relationship banter between Stark and Pepper (Paltrow) I think I preferred the boss-employee relationship from the previous movies. There was always sexual tension and an inkling that Tony loved her, but now its all out in the open it seems dull and Pepper comes across as a nagging wife for much of the film!
The performances in this film are all solid. RDJ is as good as ever, both Hall and Paltrow do a fine job as female leads and Kingsley as The Mandarin is a shocking performance in more ways than one! I was not expecting what he did with the character at all! The standout for me though was Guy Pearce as Killian. I thought he was great, and gave a smooth performance as the head of AIM, and aggressive in the action scenes. This is the first time as a viewer that I believed the 'villain' was a true match both intellectually and physically for Stark.
All in all, Iron Man 3 is a fun, if sometimes dark outing for the armoured avenger. There were a few plot holes, and some of the edits at times looked a little messy but with good performances from the cast, and some great VFX it made up for it. I would've liked to have seen a few more action scenes and the villains could have been given more back-story. but otherwise a nice start to Phase 2