Reviews of Movies, TV shows & metro Detroit Restaurants

Short movie & TV show reviews and metro Detroit restaurant reviews

Friday, May 30, 2014

Movie Review: "Iron Man 3" (2013)


I watched Iron Man 3 (directed by Shane Black and of course starring Robert Downey Jr.) last year sometime, thus this review is really tardy. I remember enough of the movie to know that I thought it was just OK and not nearly as good as the first two Iron Man movies, most notably the first movie. It has a lot of action and smart-ass remarks by Downey Jr., but it had a lot of "WTF" moments that I just thought were a little over the top.

Iron Man 3 occurs shortly after The Avengers (My review of The Avengers) and New York City is still recovering from Loki's attack on the city and the ensuing Battle of New York. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is also recovering from those events as he is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and is having panic attacks...he's a bit of a mess. But terrorist attacks by the Mandarin (I can't say who he is played by as it'd be too much of a spoiler!) get his attention, especially when one of the victims is his security chief Happy Hogan (played by Jon Favreau) and also when the Mandarin takes down Stark's home. After an unexpected flight to Tennessee, Stark employs the help of 10-yr. old Harley Keener (played by Ty Simpkins) to hunt down the Mandarin. The Mandarin has also infiltrated the American intelligence agencies making Stark's attempts to thwart him even more imperative. But he IS Iron Man after all...

This is an OK movie with a decent story and great action sequences. It just got a little overblown at times and some of the action was just a little too over the top for me. Downey continues to shine in his role as the superhero as he always brings humor & attitude to the role. The Star Ledger review of the movie contained a quote that I thought was quite accurate: "[T]here's something empty about the film. Like Tony's suits, it's shiny and polished."


I did like this movie, but I thought it could have been much better...6.5/10 stars

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