Iron Man 3- review

Iron Man 3 is the sequel to the blockbuster hit Iron Man 2 and the first movie to revisit the characters after The Avengers crossover.  This time the director is Shane Black, who had a hit with Robert Downey Jr. with the film Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang.  The movie is fairly dull and predictable.  Sadly, the tone of it is so mismanaged that it should have been called Tony Stark Adventures rather than Iron Man 3.

Tony Stark/Iron Man, played by Robert Downey Jr., is having panic attacks and is having trouble sleeping.  He has built many new Iron Man suits and is trying to build a new life with his girlfriend Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow.  When a terrorist hurts one of Tony’s former bodyguards he makes a threat that effectively puts him in the crosshairs.  Can he find out who this new threat is and save himself as well as those that he has sworn to protect?

For a movie called Iron Man 3 there is a not nearly enough Iron Man in this movie.   Tony spends a great deal of time running around like he was in a spy movie.  The times he does get in the suit he is climbing out of it just as fast or showing us that he is controlling it remotely- so there is no real danger.  The movie does not even seem to care that the focus for movie is all over the place, not allowing for real character development.

The movie does not have a strong sense of threat.  A very predictable twist comes about halfway through the movie and contains such a colossal hole that the writers should have discarded it the second it was brought up.  The movie barely even touches on the events of The Avengers movie save for the fact that Tony now has panic attacks on occasion.  Even when Tony’s loved ones are threatened you know they are going to be okay.  There is no reason to care if the filmmakers won’t make situations that create risk for the characters.

Iron Man 3 is a mediocre movie; a feature that no longer resembles the last two films.  The movie is fairly dull and involves too much dialogue that unfortunately does not seem to include character development.  If you are desperate for a superhero movie there are much better ones coming in the future.  I would wait for this to come out on video if you are a fan of the series. This film seems to be a swing and a miss for the Marvel Universe.