Iron Man Three

Phase two in the Marvel universe has begun, and it's starting out with a solid start. Robert Downey Jr is great as ever as Tony Stark, who takes a turn for the worse this time round as he has panic attacks from his past experiences in the movie The Avengers. There are some nice references in this film to The Avengers, and it gives the film a nice continuation in the overall Marvel Universal Arc. Gwyneth Paltrow returns as the head of Stark industries and love interest to Tony Stark Pepper Potts. Her character gets into the action in this chapter and its excellent development for her character. Her character is not the only one who gets some satisfying development. Jon Favreau's Happy Hogan gets upgraded to head of security at Stark industries and Tony's relationship with Col. Rhodes is developed further. New cast members Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley and Rebecca Hall brought some refreshing talent to the franchise and crafted some of the most interesting characters seen yet in this series. Ty Simpkins, from Insidious, has an interesting role in this as well. He plays the role of a kid who helps Tony get out of his shell and face the world head on. What was also fantastic was the surprise cameos of some characters from Tony's past making an appearance here. I won't tell you which but I'm sure you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As far as the story goes Tony gets pushed harder here as the film for a good portion focuses on Tony doing the dirty work without the suit. This was a nice touch cause it got us to see how the real Tony handles the action stuff. A neat upgrade in the film was him enhancing his ability to control his machines mentally. Rhodes gets a name change this time out, from War Machine to Iron Patriot, though he prefers the latter of the two names. The over all feel I got from this third chapter was a more grounded sense of environment and a great balance of humour and dark elements. The film is loosely based off the Extremis storyline from the comics and bringing those elements to the screen gives Iron Man 3 a great refreshing feel. It's also the first in the series to be set around christmas time, which was both interesting and weird (seeing as it is a summer tentpole release)

Brian Tyler, of Fast and the Furious fame, takes over scoring duties from previous helmer John Debney. He does a great job as usual at bringing forth both an action packed and epic sounding score. He crafts new motifs for both Pepper and War Machine and gives Iron Man 3 it's overall darker tone.

I enjoyed Iron Man 3 and I consider it to be a strong lead into Marvel's cinematic phase 2. I did have an issue with the ending, feeling that moments that could of lasted longer seemed to go by at a more brisker pace. It did not hinder the film in the least, characters are pushed farther, the action is darker, grittier and more intense and the final battle in the film is the best in the Iron Man franchise and makes Iron Man 3 the one film to top the previous instalments.

Now the big question, is it better than The Avengers. Truth? no. And why should it be, it's a great instalment in its own franchise and shouldn't be compared to the cross over film. Iron Man 3 is a solid blockbuster film with interesting characters, a great nemesis, excellent visuals and terrific action.

Iron Man 3 gets a 4 1/2 out of 5.