Having been a massive fan of Iron Man, Iron Man 2 (I admit, slightly less so) and Avengers Assemble, I couldn’t wait to see Downey Jr take to the big screen again as the ridiculously cool titular hero in Iron Man 3. But I had some reservations, following the massive super-hero team up blockbuster Avengers, could Iron Man make it on his own again?
Half an hour into the masterpiece I’d already forgotten about Tony Stark’s suped-up buddies as we followed him fight his personal demons, uncover a plot that the trailers hid perfectly and fight to rescue his one and only someone. Having said this, with such a huge Marvel universe unfolding around these films, we go the entire film (not including the 10 seconds after the credits) without a single mention of any other heroes. You’d think when a terrorist threatens America, Captain America would want to get involved…or maybe Stark’s partner in science Bruce Banner would make an appearance after Iron Man is presumed dead…
This being said, the film did an amazing job of keeping the attention on Iron Man and by the end had me begging to speed up these next few years so I could get neck-deep in Marvel Phase 2.
Now using my flawless reviewing system:
Explosions We didn’t go 5 seconds in this film without something or someone blowing up, whether it was all of his suits, his amazing house or bad-guys receiving a repulsor to the face. 10/10
Super-Powers It was a film by Marvel, what do you expect?! And whilst Iron Man doesn’t have any actual powers, flying around and shooting lasers out of his chest is good enough for me. 10/10
Attractive People Robert Downey Jr (aka the guy with the beard I’ve failed to match on several occations), Gwyneth Paltrow (who has been doing crunches since Avengers it seems). Guy Pearce (seen as though the last film I saw him in was Prometheus, it’s hard not to look attractive compared to an 100 year old version of yourself) and Ben Kingsley (what can I say, bling looks good on this guy!) 8/10
Story Oh yeah I always forget about this one, the story was good and I was completely thrown off by the trailers which meant the film surprised me again and again. It made it on it’s own without needing to name-drop the Avengers (but I wish they did!). 7/10
Overall I thought the film was great, but to be honest, I’d have said that if it was just 2 hours of staring at the Iron Man suit. I’d recommend it to anyone who enjoys being thoroughly entertained and sat on the edge of their seat. I’d definitely watch it again. 8.75/10
theultimatecritique 