So IM3 debuted this weekend to a staggering $175 million. Does it live up to the hype? In my opinion, not really.

Don't get me wrong, it's an impressive film. In fact, I would highly recommend seeing it in theater...for the action scenes and the action scenes alone. They're downright astonishing, slick, and actually pretty innovating. It's cool to see what Stark comes up with next while in the heat of battle.

But the whole film feels like an empty Iron Man suit. Slick on the outside, but hollow on the inside.

My biggest problem with the film was the editing. My f ucking god, does the editing suck. The cuts are awkward and confusing. With each cut, I wasn't sure if 2 hours had passed in the story or 2 weeks. They're problematic to say the least. Furthermore, the film feels like it's catering to 12 year old boys suffering from ADHD. It's all over the place.

Downey and Paltrow shine in their respective roles (as expected). But the writers might have gone too far with Stark's "d ick factor."

I must say, I loved the Mandarin's reveal. It definitely plays on audience expectation and is unlike any other superhero film I've seen. However, they blow their wad a bit too early.

As for the humor, 90% of the jokes fall completely flat. Jon Favreau jumps on Tony at the beginning of the movie and it's just embarrassing for everyone. Not funny.

Another problem for me were the "fire soldiers." They're cheesy, nonsensical, and just too silly. The filmmakers don't explore why they do what they do or how they do what they do. I didn't buy it for one second and they make up a good portion of the film. Sure, it's cool to see them fight but when one of them spits fire from his mouth, I'm checking out. I'll say it again, ONE SPITS F UCKING FIRE FROM HIS G ODDAMN MOUTH. By far, the worst bit of the movie.

In the end, the film's ambitions are ultimately its undoing. There's simply too many balls in the air and it can't juggle them all. This conclusion should be "epic." Instead, it feels a bit impersonal and bland.

Then again, it's better than Iron Man 2. F uck, you could film Stark on the shitter for 2 hours and it would still be better than Iron Man 2.

Overall, go see it in theater (preferable in Imax). Maybe sneak a few beers in. Enjoy the actions scenes and tune out the rest.

C+

SPOILERS. ALWAYS...

Saw this Friday and was a tad underwhelmed. Agree with most of albinos review. I didn't even know who Shane Black was. Had to pull him up on IMDB. Impressive résumé to say the least.

I liked that he stripped Tony of his armor for a good portion of the film. I hated the fire breathing soldiers. I know the human body has more potential than we've ever unlocked, but were not mini nuclear power plants. So I admit to checking out of the story a bit there.

I was surprised in the ending battle that tony needed to go through at least three different suits to fight these guys. Whereas, in Avengers, he stood toe to toe with Thor in just one.

The Mandarin was genius, though. And Ben Kingsley steals the show. I would also recommend for a theater viewing. I don't have an IMAX within 30 miles of me. We need one for films like this.

James

Saw it a few days ago in theaters and was disappointed. In fact, I thought it was quite possibly one of the most disappointing super hero films ever.

I'm a big fan of Shane Black, mostly for his screenwriting. He wrote Lethal Weapon when he was 23, wrote Long Kiss Goodnight and of course underrated Kiss Kiss Bang Bang.

But with IM3, he was in way over his head. The direction was flimsy as was the editing. The live air broadcasts with Kingsley as Mandarin were horrible. The acting was laughable at times despite the great cast (Robert Downey Jr.'s panic attacks were terrible along with Guy Pierce's intro as the science geek). Way over the top, even for a comic book movie. The little kid was super annoying. The villain was forgettable and the twist with Ben Kingsley was stupid for this kind of film. I'm sure on paper, it seemed great, but it didn't translate well to the screen.

The characters were also dumbed down greatly. Tony Stark is supposed to be this genius, but (I guess due to arrogance), he gives the villain his home address on air! Endangering the most important thing in his life, the one thing he can't do without (so he proclaims in the film) -- Pepper (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Also, he has all these suits (which I thought were destroyed in the attack on his home), yet he insists on using the original prototype - the suit that has a ton of defects. Why, especially protecting his precious Pepper, would he use this suit that he knows is having problems?

There is never a point where we feel the hero is in any kind of danger, especially at the end when he's jumping from suit to suit. And the film lacks emotional involvement and conflict.

The only positive I took from the film was some of the snappy back-and-forth dialogue (vintage Shane Black) and the way the dialogue was delivered by the characters.

I contributed to their $175 mill. opening weekend.

I liked it. I liked it a lot more than the previous reviews but I was irritated by a couple of things not mentioned here.

On the positive, the whole thing was great fun. This had a bigger, larger vision than Iron Man 2. I liked that this played out as a little bit of a political thriller and Stark had to piece things together without armor.

My comic book of choice as a little kid was Captain America so I reacted with glee with the appearance of Advanced Idea Mechanics. Cap fought AIM bad guys a lot including MODOK who freaked me out as kid; hopefully we haven't seen the last of AIM even though it appears the scientists we see are their only employees and their relationship with HYDRA isn't mentioned.

Anyway, Robert Downey, Jr. IS Tony Stark. It's hard to imagine anyone else in the role.

The bad- the PTSD could have been explored more. It could have added more depth to the story. Instead, it's sort of conveniently brushed aside (until the post-credit scene?).

SPOILER
The ending wrapped up a major loose end WAY too conveniently. I guess those were some really talented doctors who performed a never-been-done-before procedure on Pepper with ease...in two minutes we went from the aftermath of the climatic scene to: ...and everything was fixed up just like it was before. That bothered me a little but the cool 70's-vibe credits kicked in and only later when I thought about how the movie concluded did I think that it was kind of bogus.

Still...I had a blast. And I'm looking forward to what's next.

I'm a bit confused once again by some of my peers. I thought the film was outstanding. Yes, we agree on the twist, but I also had another reaction to it. There is another comics villain nicknamed 'The Actor' and while it isn't this character, I thought it was fair game. Besides, what I think bugs some folks is that the twist was one, if not the, best kept poker bluffs when it comes to online media. I bet it made M. Night Shamayhan drop his jaw.

Heck, I would have accepted it even if it wasn't a dupe - any good villian must have his wine and harem close to him at all times, dont ya think?  

Anyway, about Killian, AIM and spontateous combustion...the film does follow The Avengers where a Norse God leads an alien invasion, and aside from Iron Man, we got another Norse God, a guy recently thawed from suspended animation and a Hulk so....in the film that follows is firebug soldiers that out of place?

I actually liked the jokes, and pleased that some of it was buddy banter.
Does Stark really need a suit if he can concoct spare parts from Home Depot?
I actually thought the writing and direction was well thought out.
I had no problem with the editing.

It was more satisfying than the second film.
But it's not up there with 2008's kickoff MCU film.


I give it an A.

Actually DJS, I've been thinking about this some. I've now read about 6 or 8 reviews, some from actual critics and others from posts here that have pretty much had the same reaction - nitpick to the point where most of the copy is negative but then conclude to say "ultimately, though, it was a really good movie."

Weird. I don't know if Avengers set the bar too high or what.

I wouldn't say this was a really good movie. I'd say it was above average.

And that's a fair point about the supernatural elements of the film. But that's from Thor's universe (who I've always hated). Now granted, the Iron Man comics have always delved into the supernatural. And that's what always made them so weak. Their villians are campy and silly. They fell trap to the "anything goes" mentality. So when Marvel made the films, I'm glad they stayed away from those things. Tony Stark is a brilliant engineer. He operates within the spectrum of plausibility. He doesn't have any unnatural super powers, he wasn't bitten by a radio active spider, etc. It's just him and his brain. And that's awesome.

The fire soldiers are too reminiscent of the power rangers. Furthermore, if SPOILER Killian could chop an iron suit in half, why couldn't his minions? Where did he get his martial arts training from? Heck, where did Pepper get her martial arts training from? And why did Killian breath fire once and never do it again? There were too many elements of IM3 that come out of left field...for the sake of being "cool."

I will say that they blended in the Avengers seemlessly with IM3. The writers had to write two sequels into one movie. And they did the right thing by addressing the issue head on.

I think this movie will fall to harsher criticism over time (once the hype wears off).

It was a good film but in truth it really didn't live up to the hype.

Things I liked:


The fact that Tony was Tony and not Iron Man for most of the movie.  His character definitely developed post-avengers and the fact that he was dealing with that portal thing from the Avengers really made him a good character.


The final battle.  In all words:  Epic.  Definitely worthy of action moment of the year.  I loved the battle, and it was pretty long, like 6 minutes (beats the final battle in Spider-Man that lasted what, 3 minutes?).

Things I didn't like:


First off, the Extremis plot.  In truth, I don't think it translates that well from comic to movie.  It feels a bit off-putting and is somewhat unresolved by the end.


Mandarin.  I'll save the spoilers, but they had the potential to make the Mandarin one of the most intimidating movie villains ever and... they fluffed it.


This one translates to what I like.  Tony never really confronted his fear.  It was unresolved again.  It seemed as though his suits were a way for him to get away from what happened in the Avengers but it went nowhere.


Mark 42.  Near the end of the movie, Mark 42, which is Tony's achilles heel of an Iron Man suit makes a stunning returning only for it to add a bit of comic relief when it fails... again.  This came at the wrong time.  It could've been an epic moment, but instead it was sacrificed for a cheap laugh at possibly the worst time in the movie after SPOILER SPOILER happens.


Mandarin again.  What exactly was his motive?  Oh, you turned me down so I'm going to turn evil and create evil soldiers that blow FIRE FROM THEIR MOUTHS!  It was like Peter Petrelli, ala Heroes season 1 when they go all glowy and go boom.  


Lastly, this one is the kicker.  It feels too much like TDKR.  More Stark than Iron Man, more Wayne than Batman.  


Although this one isn't as fumbled as Iron Man 2 was.  Iron Man 3 had the potential to be an outstanding comic book adaptation, unfortunately it was fumbled for some cheap laughs and ruined moments that spoiled the film.


Iron Man 3 - 7/10  "Action was nice, but the plot got all mixed up and went awry."