Review of Iron Man 3 (2013) by Joakim O — 09 Jan 2019

Solid MCU film that after distancing it from it's infamous plot twist, holds up as the best in the "Iron Man" franchise, along with being a fun holiday film. Downey is his usual excellence as Tony Stark, bringing his usual humor & charisma to the role while also portraying him with PTSD after the events in "The Avengers".

He gets nice support from the rest of the cast, especially Ben Kingsley as the Mandarin (get past the twist, he's fun to watch) and Guy Pearce is nicely slimy as Killian. Behind the screen, Shane Black brings his trademark humor & one-liners to the MCU while also showing he's a darn good action director (the final action sequence is a showstopper).

While the big twist on who the villain is jarring at first, it does work on repeat viewings, commenting on the theatrically of superheroes & their villains. However, one still wishes it was a bit more polished, thus maybe it wouldn't have affected the viewers so much originally.

Overall, an entertaining film from beginning to end, and thanks to another Shane Black trademark setting it during Christmas, a great addition to the holiday movie rotation.