Iron Man 3 - Movie Review

 Iron Man 3 (2013)

Today we start with Phase 2 in the MCU! Iron Man 3 tells the story of Tony Stark suffering from PTSD after the events of The Avengers during a national terrorism campaign on America led by the Mandarin. Iron Man 3 was released in 2013 and was met with mostly positive reviews, but was considered divisive at the time. The film was a major box office success, it was the 2nd highest grossing film of 2013.

THE GOOD

In my honest opinion, Iron Man 3 is just as good as the first film! I think this movie is absolutely fantastic! This movie balances action and character stuff perfectly. This movie has a great tone, this movie has more of a political thriller vibe to it, and I thought it worked beautifully. The action sequences are wonderful, this is the most action packed one out of the 3, and each action sequence works great! I loved the sequence where Tony's house gets destroyed, the final act is a ton of fun, and by far the best action sequence in the movie is where Tony saves all the passengers in a hijacked flight that eventually gets destroyed. This movie's visuals are also quite great! The acting is great all around, this movie has one of the best performances by Robert Downey Jr. in the entire franchise. I bought that Tony Stark had very bad PTSD, the anxiety attacks were convincing, every time he panics, it felt like he was really having those attacks, and he sells the emotional scenes perfectly! In my opinion, Iron Man 3 has one of the most compelling stories in the entire MCU, I loved the terrorism element, I loved the whole personal element of the story from Tony's prospective, everything kept me invested throughout the movie. This movie also moves at a more smooth pace, it's not quite as fast paced as something like The Avengers, Iron Man 1 or The Incredible Hulk, but it's definitely not as slow as Iron Man 2, this movie moves at a smooth pace and it's still never boring. This movie also has for the most part some really great writing! The dialogue is wonderful, and this film is really funny! I know people were pissed with the twist in the movie but it got a HUGE laugh out of me!

THE BAD

I do have one issue with the film, and it's not the Mandarin twist that pissed everyone off, I understand why people were pissed but I actually found that quite hilarious, as I mentioned in the positives section. My issue was the scene where Tony gives the Mandarin his address after this major attack. That was stupid, it's the dumbest Tony Stark moment, well maybe the 2nd dumbest, 2nd only to when Tony pisses himself while he's drunk in Iron Man 2. It's a very stupid moment in an otherwise great movie.

CONCLUSION

Iron Man 3 is a fucking fantastic film! It's a major improvement over Iron Man 2 in every aspect. I loved the story, I loved the action sequences, I loved the performances, I just really love this film! Despite the one really dumb moment in this film, Iron Man 3 is a very well written, fun, action packed film, and is among one of the most underrated films in the MCU.

GRADE:  A

FILM INFO

MPA rating:  PG-13 (for sequences of intense sci-fi action and violence throughout, and brief suggestive content)

Run time:  130 min

Release date:  May 3rd, 2013

Studio:  Disney, Paramount Pictures