I am Iron Man!… or maybe not? Or my review of Iron Man 3 ***1/2

Peter Travers of Rolling Stone says,that he’s  “…getting Robert Downey'ed-out” and subsequently gave Iron Man 3 a less than favorable review. Well I guess I haven’t gotten there yet and when Robert Downey Jr.’s alter-ego Tony Stark says to the bi-spectacled little tote head, “I loved you in ‘Christmas Story’..” I had a real laugh. So for me, his wise-cracking loose cannon hubris can still carry the movie. Tons of well done action and mega-destruction do help though, and shows just why Michael Bay movies are such turds.

Ben Kingsley

Robert Downey Jr.

One thing I would be curious to know is how much screen time out of the suit Mr. Downey had in previous incarnations. Because it seemed to me that this movie he wanted to be out of the suit as much as possible even ending with him no longer even need the suit’s power coil to keep him alive. This apparent strive to be a Tony Stark movie and not and Iron Man movie did seem to rub me a bit the wrong way. The self assembling suit that he may or may not even need to be in, was certainly used to its full extreme as he could get in and out of the suit with lightening ease, thusly more screen time for good ol’ Robert.

Guy Pearce

But that’s really the extent of my complaints. I wasn't a big comic book fan growing up, I was too busy at the movie matinees or reading actual books if that not too snobbish to say), anyway…Iron Man was one of the few I actually followed on a very limited basis so much so I couldn't follow some people’s outrage that Mandrake was just a front in the movie. I guess the fact he was more of a stooge in the movie had some villain fans upset, which I guess I could understand but it made for one of the more enjoyable surprises for me. I thought at first there was going to be another Alan Rickman pretends-to-be-a-sniveling-coward- to-get the-upper-hand Die Hard moment, but instead Ben Kingsley/Mandrake is the stooge he appears to be, and Robert Downey’s Tony is enjoyably perplexed, giving the more scenery for Guy Pearce to chew as the formerly shunned nerd, turned super villain.

Gwyneth Paltrow

Jon Favreau

One other thing I really like was the expansion of Gwyneth Paltrow’s Pepper Potts character. And while she eventually does become the damsel in distress required in comic book movies, her seemingly effortless ease of building a three dimensional character that is able to handle the egomania of the Stark character creating a real chemistry that is a joy to watch and generates a genuine emotional investment that is a cheering point when Iron Man comes to the rescue.

So from the mystery movie elements of solving the unexplained explosions including putting into a coma the franchise’s former director Jon Favreau, who I think wisely gave up the reigns to ShaneBlack and was able to concentrate on the over protective friend  Happy Hogan, to the action packed duel between the genetically altered villain Aldrich Killian and his army and Iron Man and his army of suits and DonCheadle’s alternate Iron Man atop the gigantic barge, the choreography was exciting and easy to follow, and made the whole movie a nice roller-coaster ride.