Review: Iron Man 3

After his third outing in the Iron Man suit, Robert Downey Jr. has shown once again that he was born to play Tony Stark.

Downey Jr. has consistently shined as Tony Stark, and it’s easy to pinpoint how and why. It’s hard to imagine any other actor playing the smug and sassy billionaire playboy philanthropist and being able to succeed in the part nearly as well as Downey Jr. does., because it feels like he IS Tony Stark.  I’ve heard it said that Robert Downey Jr. is just playing himself in the Tony Stark role, but I applaud the filmmakers for finding an actor who echoes the character so perfectly.

While Downey Jr. is certainly a seasoned veteran to the franchise, and continues to be excellent in the role of Tony Stark, Iron Man 3 ushers in the work of a new director into the world of Iron Man in Shane Black, writer of Lethal Weapon and Lethal Weapon 2, and writer/director of Kiss, Kiss, Bang, Bang, also starring Downey Jr. Black vision of the Iron Man universe that is good, but not great. Black is a quality director of action and it surely shows in this movie.  One of the absolute highlights of Iron Man 3 is a collection of remarkable and exciting action sequences. From an assault on Tony Starks home to a daring rescue of white house officials plummeting through the air after being sucked out of Air Force 1, to an explosive shootout at the films climax, every action sequence feels like the best part of the movie, and in those moments, it’s definitely a whole lot of fun. 

Essential to the formula of a completely successful comic book movie is an interesting villain. I feel that is an area where Iron Man 3 doesn’t really work.  Oh, the Mandarin is interesting enough, and Ben Kingsley is predictably great in the role he has to play, but let’s just say his character goes into a strange direction that might anger hardcore fans of the comic

This is a good place to address the more comedic elements of the movie.  As I pointed to earlier with my assessment of Downey Jr. as Stark, he maintains his sense of humor in this movie, delivering some great comedic lines, some of which, admittedly, do work better than others. Even Ben Kingsley gets to flex his comedy muscle a bit to great results.

As much as I enjoyed Downey Jr. and Kingsley, I am not a fan of Guy Pierce. Frankly, where his character goes is bland and boring, but I don’t think I can say much more than that.

This movie is the first in the “phase 2” portion of Marvel’s stable of films, and the first to appear after the enormous success that was The Avengers. That is a tough act to follow, but how this movie handles previous events works well. There are a few references to The Avengers, most notably in the form of sleepless nights, nightmares and panic attacks experienced by Tony Stark and an anxiety that pervades him throughout the movie over what happened with the space worms in The Avengers. These moments felt welcome in the film, and it’s great that they didn’t try to shoehorn in an excessive amount of references to the point of going overboard. In fact, Iron Man 3 provides an enjoyable continuation of the Marvel universe. One that still makes me want to see where things are going as they lead up to The Avengers 2, with the next two stops being Thor: The Dark World and Captain America: The Winter Soldier.

While I do feel sucked in enough to want to see where things are going, the fact is Iron Man 3 is a good movie that falls short of being great.  However, while it may not be the best installment in the series, it’s a marked improvement over the previous installment, and it’s likely to be some of the most fun you’ll have at a theater all summer.