Iron Man 3 is the MCU entry that offered a positive upgrade from the unbearable predecessor Iron Man 2 yet still fell short of the magic that the first Iron Man movie gave. Though, it did carry a fresh energy and had a refreshing vibe to it, mostly because of having a new director.

 

The movie continued the story of Tony Stark who’s recovering from post-traumatic stress caused by the events of The Avengers. Unable to sleep and genuinely fearing to lose the things he loves, Stark’s life gets turned upside down after he issued a threat to a radical terrorist who retaliated by destroying his personal world, which left him even more vulnerable than ever before as well as forced him to rebuild from the scratch.

 

Co-written and directed by Shane Black, Iron Man 3 benefited from a fresh perspective and was an enjoyable ride for the most part. Though, it was also flawed in attempting to try out way too much stuff at once. Only a few worked out in a considerable way. The technical aspects are well executed. The Cinematography favored a slightly darker tone, which is always welcome by someone like me. Editing steadily paced its narrative as well.  

 

As for the performances, I think by now everyone agreed with the fact that Robert Downey Jr. was born to play this role. He gave another amazing performance. The best thing in this movie was the situation it put Tony Stark in and he did a great job in conveying that vulnerability on the screen. Guy Pearce, Ben Kingsley, and Rebecca Hall joined the rest of the cast and capably filled up their given roles. 

 

The thing that I didn’t like the most was the attempt to mix the dark and light approach as one. The movie’s commitment to focus its darker subjects at hand at the same time trying to keep itself light-hearted was a mixture that didn’t cream together cohesively. It brings the movie at friction numerous times and will surely divide the different sets of viewers.

 

Overall, Iron Man 3 was a solid follow-up to the first movie and you can completely ignore the crap which was Iron Man 2 to watch this. It was an enhancement from its predecessor in many ways. Though not great and nowhere near the standards of the first movie, it was still an enjoyable entry in the MCU.