In Which I Review Iron Man 3

Okay, okay, okay, sorry this has been so prolonged and whatnot.

I liked this one pretty well over all. It's definitely got a lot  to follow up on considering that it's predecessor was the almighty Avengers.

Tony Stark, the sharp witted, alcoholic, falling appart, genius billionaaire playboy philanthropist, is back along with the  wonderful Pepper Potts and best  bro Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes. Along for the ride here are Ben Kingsley in an, er, interesting hint hint hint role and Guy Pearce in one his best performances to date.

As far as story goes, it's not exactly faithful to comics. The Extremis storyline would have been inconsistent with the tone of the rest of the series as is, seeing as it is pretty dark,  and they fit it to be more consistent with the other films than to be exact, but it still makes for an excellent story. I do wish they'd included some of the Demon in a Bottle storyline however. As much as they clued us in on the toll of New York on Tony's psyche, I still needed more on that. Tony was almost stuck in space forever. Alcoholism has always been implied  with Mr. Stark, but I still felt that this was a tad lacking.

Acting is all great. Robert Downy Jr. truly is Tony Stark, but this time he adds a layer of depth acquired over the course of the Avengers film. Gwenyth Paltrow is on top her game here as the always enjoyable Pepper Potts. Ben Kingsley is also particularly memorable, and of course, Guy Pearce as I have already mentioned, is quite good. There's a little kid in the middle section of the movie whose name escapes me, but this kid is comedy gold. Easily one of the highlights of the film.

It's a bit of a darker take on the material that we're used to., and that's nothing to be ashamed of. A lot of people think Tony Stark is lacking in character development, but I beg to differ. He's come quite a long way since his first movie, and that is even more pronounced here in what might be the final Iron Man movie.

Would I want to see Iron Man 4?  I don't know, but I sure enjoyed the heck out of this one. Good summer blockbuster fun.

-Randi