Review of Iron Man 3 (2013) by Writefilmlive21 — 14 May 2013

"Iron Man 3" is easily as much fun as its predecessors, if not more. Packing all the quick wit and explosive action that's become trademark of this series, this third and highly-anticipated outing sees Tony Stark at his most vulnerable as he fights stoically and sometimes desperately against the will of a mysterious terrorist known as the Mandarin after his home is destroyed.

Featuring some great new side characters and welcome old ones, this film definitely ups the scope of Iron Man while retaining the same charm of the others, and is a great piece of entertainment. The only big flaw it has is in its mid-movie twist, which reveals the Mandarin as nothing more than an actor and facade for the true villain, who is both much less intimidating and far more standardized (especially when being played by Guy Pearce).

This move might not be quite so deflating if it weren't also for the fact that this character quickly becomes not only a shattered echo of the awesome Mandarin we've been expecting to see, but simply a drugged-up comic relief.

It didn't completely ruin the movie for me, but I would have much rather seen a showdown between Stark and Mandarin than Stark and Guy Pearce, particularly since you fully believe beforehand that it was this Mandarin who blew up his house and almost killed Pepper Potts.

But despite this, it's definitely worth seeing and definitely worth the title of "Iron Man". Another solid entry from Marvel.