When you think about all the third films in a series, they usually inspire more laughs than appreciation. Think about it. Godfather III, Jaws 3, Rambo III, let's take a good concept and beat it to creative death, right?
So that's what makes IRON MAN 3 such a rarity, as for me, it's by far the best film in the series.
Robert Downey Jr digs deeper into Tony Stark's psyche as he deals with the aftermath of the near destruction of New York in "The Avengers", suffering increasing panic attacks over the magnitude of that battle.
Since the events of "The Avengers",Don Cheadle's War Machine has been given a more politically correct Patriotic title, Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Pots has become Tony's partner at home and at work and the world has been fairly quiet.
Suddenly a series of escalating terrorist attacks start rocking the USA, masterminded by a mysterious evildoer called The Mandarin, in a terrific and unexpected performance by Sir Ben Kingsley, a very long way from Gandhi here....
After Stark challenges The Mandarin one-on-one, Tony finds his entire world rocked with the ramifications and he must rebuild mentally and physically to mount a battle against The Mandarin and his genetically enhanced forces.
Guy Pearce adds terrific presence as Aldrich Killian & William Sadler makes an admirable President.
Shane Black (Lethal Weapon, Kiss Kiss bang Bang) has written a terrific story filled with plenty of laugh out loud humor, fantastic action set pieces, character growth and an ever escalating pace that tells the best story of all three films.
It's loud, it's visually fantastic and it's rather telling that some of the best moments in the film are its quietest conversations.
For sheer fun at the movies, the sequence aboard Air Force One, the Mandarin's forces at Tony's hillside house and the conclusion at the docks are hard to beat.
The final scenes are unexpected, powerful and creative. What more can you ask from the third film in a series than that?
Iron Man 3 soars to an A.
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