Why? Just why? :(

Rating: 3/10 (5 May 2013)

I can't believe what I saw tonight. I went and saw the highly anticipated Iron Man 3 directed by Shane Black. I'll start this review off by saying "Marvel, what was going through your mind when you were making this film?" I was so disappointed by this film, it wasn't even funny. I am just in shock, by this movie. How did something so good, become something so bad?
Story: The story follows Tony Stark after the events of The Avengers. Tony is having issues dealing with what he has been through, and the movie shows him dealing with these issues quite well. Unfortunately this is probably the best part about this story. Now if you're a comic book fan, you probably know of the Extremis story. If not, then this story will seem very fresh and interesting to you. Iron Man 3 has a hard time following this beloved Iron Man story, but I'm actually okay with that. I understand that movies are different from the source material and they must put their own spin of things. The movie goes along and gives some plot twist (one of which I will go into more detail down below). These twists can make the story interesting if you aren't familiar with the source material, but the movie still feels like it has a hard time deciding whether it wants to be funny or be full of action. For me this story was horribly disappointing. There was so much that could have been done with the source material that they just decided not to do, but that isn't where I have an issue with this film.
Acting: Again Robert Downey Jr. does a fantastic job playing Tony Stark. He really brings life into the character, and he is just fit for the part. Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin was a great choice for the role, but the story prevents it from becoming memorable. Guy Pierce was actually very good in this film. He picked up the slack for the other characters who were just okay.
What I have against this film: *SPOILERS* The main villain in this movie in this movie is....not the Mandarin? It's actually Guy Pierce's character. Now this wouldn't bother me, if the Mandarin actually did something in this film. But no. He is a complete joke and Iron Man fans who have read the comics will feel like they were just stabbed in the back by Marvel. I'm not even a big Iron Man fan, but I knew about this story and that the Mandarin is his arch nemesis. Why then does his arch nemesis do nothing in this film?! He is supposed to have all these powers, and is pretty much a super terrorist, but nothing happens. It was so disappointing, I wanted to cry. I have never been so let down by a movie in all my life. Now I didn't have the highest expectations for this movie after seeing Iron Man 2 (which I liked, just not as much as the first one). I was looking forward to seeing what they would do with this villain and story line, and what they did was almost criminal. I really hope Marvel looks at the feedback of these reviews and sees that they messed up. They need to stick closer to the source material so stories like this aren't ruined for their #1 customers. I don't think they need to follow the source material word for word, but they shouldn't have changed it as much as they did.
Conclusion: I came into this movie with some fairly high hopes. The story looked amazing, and they had a great villain, but none of this mattered in the end. I was let down by this film and by Marvel. I don't understand how they could get something like the Avengers so right and get this movie wrong. I am terribly disappointed by this movie, and I really can't recommend it to anyone who has read an Iron Man comic or knows of Iron Man stories. Marvel has a lot of apologizing to do after this. Such a sad night.