Iron Man 3

Iron Man 3 (2013)

Runtime: 130 minutes

Directed by: Shane Black

Starring: Well, you know who's in this, along with who made the film

Yes, I am now just seeing this in 2018. Find out the circumstances as to why below: 

As I've seen the first two, might as well finally watch 3, right? As many IMAX screens are showing all the MCU movies for the week and I had last night free, this is why I am five years late in experiencing this film theatrically... and in 3D, no less. Even with my opinions on the genre and my distaste of 2, because the director was Shane Black I really should have seen this at the time.

I am sure everyone knows the story to this so no need to dwell on that; I was glad that this alluded to The Avengers and yet I was not lost because I am one of the few people online who hasn't watched the film. Whatever happened to Tony Stark there, I am sure it was traumatic so thus the anxiety attacks and the nightmares. Those themes are presented rather bluntly here but the general idea does make sense. No complaints about the idea of Stark spending a lot of time out of his suit and he has to do other things to thwart the bad guys. The character not being so annoying to me was also an asset.

Of course, it's an MCU movie so there's humor and of course it doesn't always work, even with Black's involvement. There's the general silliness that at least I expect in the genre, and I am not just talking about “Where are the rest of The Avengers here? Why isn't Captain America or The Hulk going after The Mandarin or trying to stop the big threat in the final act?” I know nothing about The Mandarin yet all the criticism about how the longtime comic character was used here... it was remembered by me and it is not a surprise that many would be up in arms about it. It was also a source of tonal issues and humor which usually landed with a thud.

At least the final act has action that I thought was a blast, although that had some real dopey moments also. At least this was far better than Iron Man 2 and the movie was not something I regret checking out five years after the fact.