Iron Man 3
Director: Shane Black
Writer: Drew Pearce, Shane Black
Based on: Stan Lee, Larry Lieber, Don Heck and Jack Kirby‘s comic
Sequel to: Iron Man, Iron Man 2 [here are all my Iron Man reviews]
Cast: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Paul Bettany, Jon Favreau, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, Ben Kingsley, James Badge Dale, William Sadler, Miguel Ferrer and [SPOILER] Mark Ruffalo
Part of: Marvel movies
Plot:
After the events in The Avengers, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is at least as shook up as his entire worldview. He tries to deal with things by tinkering around with his Iron Man suits but he doesn’t really get anywhere with it. In the meantime, a terrorist keeps setting off bombs and they aren’t close to finding him yet. In a bad mood, Tony challenges him and gives him his home address. And suddenly things get very personal indeed.
Iron Man 3 was very enjoyable and entertaining and far from being as dark as the trailer made it seem. I did have a couple of issues with it, but mostly it’s a wonderful continuation of the series.
There has been much buzz about the way The Mandarin was handled in the film. I have to admit that I really enjoyed their take on the character and I was surprised by the reveal. I thought it was great storytelling. (Then again, I never read the comics, so I have no attachment to the character in general which might make a difference.) And Ben Kingsley was brilliant.
What I didn’t like, though, was Pepper’s storyline. [SPOILER] I expected a lot from the shot where she’s in Tony’s suit when in fact she is only wearing it because Tony threw it on her to protect her. Then she disappears for a large part of the film into damsel-in-distressdom, but at least gets a superpower for it, only to have it immediately removed without any further complications, which just goes completely against any kind of superhero logic. But I guess we couldn’t have Pepper having superpowers. Might have taken attention away from Tony. [/SPOILER]
But that’s my only real big compaint about the film, basically. That and that I missed Nick Fury. There were some minor things, too [like the unnecessary fireworks at the end of the film] but they were generally outweighed by the sense of humor and the fast pace and the awesome cast.
Also, I really want Jarvis in my cranberries.
Summarising: fun.
kalafudra's Stuff 
I’m a huge fan of Shane Black and loved “Kiss Kiss Band Bang”. So I had high hopes for this one, and it didn’t disappoint. Like you, I have no prior history with the character(s) apart from the previous movies, so I also didn’t care about their take on the Mandarin, and actually quite liked it (however, I’m afraid that I already saw it coming when they first brought him to Guy Pearce’s character). Also, the humor was right up my alley. And I loved that after the mess that was Iron Man 2, they concentrated on him again. My only complaint: Would have loved it if he would have said “I am Tony Stark” at the end. Other than that, very enjoyable.
Yes! I actually discussed that last line with a friend after the film and we both agreed that it would have been so much better if they had gone for Tony Stark instead of Iron Man.
I haven’t actually seen Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, though it’s been on my watchlist for ages. I might have to bump it up.
To be honest, even though reading your reviews from the last couple of months and talking with you about movies, I’m not exactly sure if/how much you’re going to like it. I found it hilarious :-).
I’ll let you know when I’ve seen it. :)