Just coming off the large scale film The Avengers people had huge expectations as Marvel enters its next phase of its ever-expanding cinematic universe. Robert Downey Jr. and Shane Black’s Iron Man 3 makes for a charismatic, witty, and grounded blockbuster that was ultimately short of greatness due to certain inadequacies.
Continuing the journey of Tony Stark, Iron Man 3 follows the events preceding Tony’s involvement in The Avengers (2012) and ultimately how he is handling the trauma it caused him.
Robert Downey Jr once again shines as Tony Stark as he is perfectly suited for this screenplay penned by Shane Black. Iron Man 3 offers up a strong taste of the human aspect of being a superhero, as you see Tony Stark struggle with the events from The Avengers (2012). Delving into the human condition is something I always appreciate, unfortunately the film loses that focus halfway through as it leads into one of the most divisive comic-book twists. The only problem I have with this sudden twist is that it has no pay-off. The dialogue is flooded with wit, self-referential humour and playful banter that flow through the characters innately in a way the previous two Iron Man films could not capture. The loss of focus towards its early themes of PTSD and anxiety is what lets this film down, as it leads into a wacky buddy-cop movie that doesn’t have many themes to grasp on.
The visual effects are near seamless in this film besides some issues with the use of Extremis (such as metal melting) that looked a bit odd. Any Iron-Man sequences worked superbly well that still hold-up today. The wardrobe sets the overall tone of the film as the costumes compliment the production sets and locations utilised within the film. Unfortunately, the score just rehashes many elements of the previous Iron Man films and doesn’t really establish itself inside the film besides some unique moments.
With Robert Downey Jr immersing himself more into the character of Tony Stark and delivering cleverly written wit and banter with such charm, while encapsulating the inner-struggle of himself creates for a satisfying viewing. If Iron Man 3 had embraced the human struggle to the likes of Spider-Man 2, The Dark Knight Rises or Logan, this may have achieved a higher status as the conclusion to Downey’s trilogy.
6.2/10
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