Does the latest Iron Man instalment live up to its predecessors? Read City News‘ review!
Released three years after its predecessor (Iron Man 2) and a year after The Avengers, the release of Iron Man 3 certainly gave me—a Marvel fan—much expectation and excitement. However, there was one question lingering in my mind: Would it live up to its name with newcomer director, Shane Black at the helm? After all, director Jon Favreau (who also plays Happy in all three Iron Man movies) had already crafted two highly successful Iron Man movies. Would Black (who had never directed a movie despite being a successful screenwriter with Lethal Weapon 4 and The Long Kiss Goodnight under his belt) carry on the franchise or ruin it?
Still fresh from the battle with Chitauri (Loki’s army) in The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) faces a daily occurrence of panic attacks and an obsessive desire to build Iron suits. An unknown enemy, who introduces himself as the Mandarin (played by Oscar-winning British actor Ben Kingsley) begins terrorizing America through a series of threats on public broadcast. The Mandarin and his organization, who seemingly operate out of the Middle East, carry out a terrifying attack that vaporizes victims, leaving the American government and public in great apprehension.
In what seems a subplot at first, a crippled scientist Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) who invited Stark a long time ago to work for him at his company AIM, resurfaces, looking completely transformed. He now claims to be Stark’s replacement with a revolutionary new drug that can regrow limbs.
Meanwhile, War Machine aka Rhodes (Don Cheadle) is now known to the public as Iron Patriot (I prefer the first moniker) is ordered by the president to eliminate the Mandarin. At the same time, Tony Stark openly challenges the villain on television to a one-to-one battle. It proves to be a mistake as it leads the enemy to launch a surprise attack on his home. His mansion is blown to smithereens and his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) is placed in mortal danger.
Barely surviving the attack, a regretful Stark finds himself alone with his broken damaged suit and trusty AI computer, Jarvis. Picking himself up with whatever he has left, he goes about working to restore his Iron suit, at the same time seeking the Mandarin. Stark discovers that there is more than meets the eye. A much deeper conspiracy lies beneath it all, a dastardly plot of true evil, greed and politics.
With the odds hugely stacked against him (as always), Tony Stark faces his greatest enemy yet—all the while fueled by his desperation to rescue Pepper, who launches a few surprises of her own.
One can be sure to expect nothing less than a brilliant action packed movie with impressive visual effects, coupled with a few good laughs from this production from Marvel Studios and Disney. Moviegoers and Marvel fans alike would no doubt find Iron Man 3 truly satisfying to their souls. For this Marvel fan, the movie was worth the wait and definitely worth the watch.
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