I’ve been decompressing “Iron Man 3” since watching the finished product because I’m conflicted as to what to think about it. A big part of me wants to go balls deep into loving this film to death, but there are just too many things wrong with it for me to grant my full devotion. There is a lot to like in this film, but I’m hard pressed to say that there is a lot to love. The writing alone wanted me to give this film a full compliment of five stars, but a few story decisions created a pothole to my enjoyment. There were also some other, more minor, factors that I didn’t enjoy, but one or two major flaws always has a way of highlighting the smaller ones.
Most of the film is very well written and contains a healthy amount of brains, humor, and guts to remind us why we like the Iron Man movies to begin with. The script creates a really strong pace and wastes no time getting down to business. Taking influence from Warren Ellis’s “Extremis” story and the inclusion of A.I.M. made this movie a treat for comic fans, and those aspects are explained well enough to audience members who don’t read. The Mandarin also starts out as a terrifying and intelligent villain, but it is that character that the film most flounders on as the movie unfolds. I won’t spoil it, but there is a plot twist about two-thirds of the way into the film. And it quickly becomes the singular worst scene in the movie. Plot wise it is confusing and the scene itself isn’t executed very well. They try to play it off like a joke, or how the movie “The Sting” ended, but it just falls flat on its face. Maybe if they hadn’t recruited such a great actor like Ben Kingsley I wouldn’t have had such a negative reaction to it. It’s like if you paid three hundred for a really good pie, but then just used it to slap in someone’s face.
The aforementioned plot twist was when IM3 really started to take a downwards turn for me. It never really got bad, but it is when the film lost the flavor for greatness. The film continued to be smart and witty, but never as much as it was before. The pacing and clever splicing of the Mandarin’s tapes was something that was deeply missed by the time the film’s final act ensued. What we end up with is a fairly cliché final battle where most of the action happens off screen because the film is too busy following Tony trying to rescue the princess. And to point out another flaw that really bugged me, the musical score was terrible. It doesn’t have to be Hans Zimmer every time, but they can do much better than this. 
And with this being the second film in a row with horrible music, it is something Marvel really really really really really really needs to work on. Plus, as a personal preference, I really missed the AC/DC. Tony’s love for classic hard rock was not only great acoustically, but it helped define him as a character.
However the big question everyone asks is: How does it rank among the other Marvel movies? If you read my “Avengers” review, you’ll know that I considered the first “Iron Man” to be the best of the franchise up to that point. So is IM3 better than IM1? No. But the problem is that I really wanted to think IM3 was the best so far. It opens so much stronger and has so much going for it that I spent the first hour thinking Marvel had actually outdone themselves. It even has a nice resolution at the end that would leave fans satisfied if this happened to be the last Iron Man film. But treating the Mandarin like a plot device rather than a character in his own right doesn’t do the film justice. It ranks up there with “Avengers,” but the first “Iron Man” is still king.
Also, in a shameless plug to myself, check out Bruce Osborne on Facebook. I post/link all my stuff there, including chapters on a book I’m working on. Feel free to hit the ‘Like’ button as if you’re an addict.
I also write publish works of fiction on my Bruce Osborne Blog. Feel free to read, follow, or even hate my stuff. I don’t care if people like it, only that they read it.
There are too many movies for me to review in full, so I created a twitter account to give brief opinions on the many movies I view. If you wish to read my smart ass remarks, follow M.O.V.I.E. Reviewer @MutantOpossum.
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