I might be in the minority, but I didn’t like Iron Man 3 as much as I’d hoped to. And the main reason being, there simply wasn’t enough Iron Man in it.
Warning: Spoilers ahead.
Sure, the theme of the movie might delve into Tony’s identity crisis with the tagline (“Does the suit make the man? Or the man the suit?”), but I feel this came at too great a cost as there are fewer awesome scenes where he dons the titular suit and blows shit up. Perhaps Tony Stark 3 feat. Iron Man would be a better description for the movie?
The trilogy has typically sandbagged Tony Stark to hell and back, and Iron Man 3 is no exception. From the get go, Tony is put on the back foot by the Mandarin, having his house destroyed and only the prototype Mk-42 suit to work with. For the rest of the movie, I was longing for the moment where he would finally power up and kick ass – only that never really happens.
Like the two movies before it, the final battle just doesn’t feel particularly satisfying. Whereas Iron Man 2 at least has a brief scene where Rhodey and Tony go to town on the drones, the Iron Patriot doesn’t really see ANY action during the movie, and most of Tony’s custom suits (the Iron Legion) feel like cheap toys as they go toe-to-toe with the Extremis enhanced villains. It all feels a bit weak after the action scenes from the Avengers.
And finally, on a somewhat unrelated note, the Mandarin, who was shaping up to be a really awesome villain, but totally jumps the shark about 2/3s through the movie. Sure getting the comic’s version of the Mandarin into the movie was always going to be a long shot, but I feel like the way they handled it was a bit of a letdown and a wasted opportunity, given that they can’t reuse the character for a later movie. I’m sure that most people who are somewhat familiar with the Iron Man lore would agree too.
My final ranking for the trilogy goes IM1 = IM2 > IM3.
