Iron Man 3 (live action movie), at the movie theater

I've seen most of the Marvel movies when they were showing in theaters - going to see Iron Man 3 was pretty much a no-brainer for me.

This post won't include a synopsis, because I don't particularly feel like taking the time to write one, and it won't include watch-alikes, because I'd just end up listing a bunch of superhero movies anyway.

Review:

I'll start this off by saying that I've never read many of the Iron Man comics. I have a few that my uncle gave me, and that's about it. I barely remember anything about those, and I didn't become interested in Iron Man until I saw Robert Downey Jr. play him. Robert Downey Jr. filled the character with energy and charisma and made him just plain fun to watch, even when Tony/Iron Man was being arrogant, self-destructive, and irresponsible.

Basically, I'm saying that I can't judge this movie in relation to the comics, and if that's what you're looking for, you should look elsewhere. I had no idea, going in, who the Mandarin was. I don't know what he was like in the comics, although, from what I've read online, he wasn't anything like he was in the movie. I did know that, with a name like “the Mandarin,” it would have made more sense to have the character played by an Asian guy, even if you take into account the plot twist featuring him. That bugged me a bit throughout the whole movie. I mean, was Ben Kingsley cast as the Mandarin just to make his lines about fortune cookies an ongoing joke? If so, it didn't really work for me.

Although I enjoyed most of the main characters and the overall story, this movie's villains weren't very exciting. Aldrich Killian basically boiled down to this: a guy who nursed a grudge for years after being stood up by Tony Stark. And the Mandarin could potentially have become interesting, but the plot twist robbed him of that opportunity.

Now, on to the “good guys.” Tony Stark was, as usual, the star – as long as Robert Downey Jr. plays him, I seriously doubt any secondary character will ever be able to steal the show. The beginning of the movie reminded the audience how he used to be – an arrogant playboy. Present day Tony still has to grow up some (that challenge to the Mandarin was utterly stupid, and there were several times Pepper could justifiably have said “You know what? I can't take this anymore. I'm leaving.”), but at least he's no longer drinking himself into incoherency and sleeping with women he barely knows. In this movie, he's also dealing with PTSD as a result of the events in the Avengers movie (which I have to admit I barely remember – I need to do a rewatch). It was interesting to see how the movie balanced that with Tony's usual light, jokey nature.

Pepper was featured quite a bit in this movie and actually got a few action scenes, which worked better than I would have expected. She even got to save Tony a couple times. Rhodes was back too, although he seemed more like a background character, despite his involvement in a few fights. It's kind of sad to say this, but the little kid who popped up in this movie, whose name I can't remember, and who will probably never be featured in any future Iron Man/Avengers movies was more interesting and fun to watch than Rhodes. Actually, that's not just kind of sad, that's really sad.

So, that's pretty much it. If you liked Tony Stark/Iron Man in the other movies, you'll still like him in this one. Pepper gets some good scenes, Rhodes fans will probably be disappointed, I'm still on the fence about the ending (wasn't that surgery not possible? and I wonder if Pepper's twist will still be in effect the next time we see her), and, if you haven't seen the Avengers movie, parts of this movie will likely be a little confusing.