Smooth.
In short, I liked Iron Man 3. It had problems, but most movies seem to be riddled with those now-a-days. My wife, who isn’t usually overly enthusiastic about these kinds of movies liked it too (bonus).
So, if you’re lookin’ for a good time, Iron Man 3 is a safe bet. If you’re looking for something that adheres strictly to either it’s own established reality or reality in general, you probably want to look elsewhere.
Spoilers after the break!
First, let me get the major plot hole out of the way. There are several times throughout the movie an entire army of Iron Man suits would have been damn handy. As it turns out, Tony Stark could have called them from his ruined home the whole time. Instead, he only does so when it’s dramatically appropriate, which seems forced (because it is).
Now, aside from that, there are lots of little problems like, what was powering all those extra suits? Where did they keep the fuel to travel so far? Where was the fuel for the flying cod-piece? Why could Pepper pilot the Iron Man suit Tony was wearing so well? Had she been practicing? Why can one dude breathe fire, but none of his similarly engineered minions seem to have the talent? When is War Machine going to start acting like War Machine?
I could go on, but I think you get the idea. Now, there’s one thing that the movie did both very well and fairly poorly: Tony Stark’s mental breakdowns.
See, Tony has something like PSD in this movie, and it’s an awesome idea. A shell shocked Iron Man? Yes, please. Heck Mr. Downy Jr. pulled it off pretty well too. It added depth to an otherwise cardboard-cutout character, and it allowed the audience to empathize a bit with him (made him more human, and less super-human).
So, what’s the problem? These breaks only happen during breaks. What I mean is, they didn’t happen in the heat of combat. They didn’t happen when he was trying to make a crucial decision. Instead, they happened as sort of filler between the action, and this is tragic, because they could have been so much more . . . well, awesome.
Now, onto what this movie did well.
The kid was freaking priceless. Tony’s interaction with him, the role he played–all awesome. I’m still not sure how he managed to free his arm from the grip of Mr. Supersoldier, but hey, that kid can do anything in my book.
Pepper got more screen time and character development, which was awesome. That helped to flesh out her relationship with Tony, and that was also awesome. It invested us a little more in the characters, which is always a good plan.
There was also a giant stuffed bunny with boobs. It was both weird and funny.
Tony’s one-liners are great (even if there are too many of them), and the scenes that are trying to be funny pull it off pretty well–especially when Tony is tied to a bed frame.
To sum up, the movie was a sincerely good time. Don’t take it too seriously, and you’ll have a blast. I’ll buy it on BluRay when it comes out, but I’m finding myself wanting to go back to the Iron Man cartoon from the 90’s and some comic books more and more.