One problem with seeing films after most of your friends is that you tend to have a high expectation of the film you are about to see. Even without all my friends telling me how great it was, I would still have gone into the cinema expecting great things from Iron Man 3, as I’m sure most people were. For those of you who haven’t seen it, I will keep spoilers to a minimum.
The story takes place in the aftermath of Avengers Assemble, and sees Stark go head to head with mysterious but ruthless terrorist The Mandarin. Stark is suffering as a result of his near death in New York City, and his issues are causing friction with girlfriend Pepper Potts. When faces from his past start to reappear, and the Mandarin’s attacks intensify, Stark has to battle his demons to defeat the threat.
This is a basic sum up of the story, which on the surface looks sound. Unfortunately, I find the story tends to leave a lot of questions unanswered, and the motivations behind the primary villain are left almost wholly unresolved, to this day I do not understand why he did what he did, it seems almost to have been forgotten about. It is nice to see an enemy that isn’t in a suit, one that can match Stark without having to resort to using his own technology against him.
The story starts strongly, but fades badly towards the middle of the film, it occasionally gains in strength with some powerful scenes but this are too far between to remedy the problem. Leading on from this, the acting is spot on in many scenes; Robert Downey Jr. and Gwyneth Paltrow once again offer excellent lead performances, and Sir Ben Kingsley does well with what he is given. Some of the supporting cast’s performances are less than impressive, but on the whole they offer solid performances. Guy Pearce in particular is at times disappointing, but it is not a wholly poor performance, just very mixed.
Iron Man 3 had the potential to be a great movie, and in many people’s eyes it undoubtedly is. It is a good movie, but it is let down by an occasionally poor plot, a fading story and some lacklustre acting from some supporting actors. It is too cheesy in places and despite having a dark premise is often too light hearted, which while to be expected, feels out of place at times and takes too much away from the story that had a lot of potential.
Review Score:
7/10
Review by Dan
