What's it about? After the dramatic events of The Avengers, Tony Stark is suffering. He can't sleep and he experiences regular panic attacks. He has been tinkering as well, producing dozens of new suits. Meanwhile, a scientist by the name of Killian has been developing new technology to enhance the strength and healing powers of human test subjects and a new terrorist by the name of The Mandarin is unleashing attacks on America.
What's it like? Shane Black, the writer and director, is new to the superhero genre but has worked with Robert Downey Jr on Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and the same flippant tone finds its way into IM3 too. As with all of Marvel's output these days, there is plenty of spectacle, plenty of witty lines, lots of fun, a reasonable amount of peril and a 12A certificate as standard. The presentation of Stark as a fragile man, suffering and insecure is an excellent and realistically handled direction to take the character in and returning him to some of the simplicity that characterised the first act of the first film in this franchise is a sensible move.
The grand finale (as shown in the trailer) is a little bit too crash bang wallop and although it is exciting, there is the usual loss of character for the sake of spectacle and as with the worst excesses of the Transformers franchise, it can become a little difficult to see exactly what is going on. Having said that, the earlier sequences, especially the character-oriented segments involving Stark striking up a friendship with a kid in the small town he crash lands in and the unveiling of The Mandarin are really engaging, with excellent script work from Black and Drew Pearce. The cast deliver the goods across the board, especially RDJ, who has made the character his own and newcomers Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley give good villain.
The pacing and the story development are great and random jokes about Croydon and Downton Abbey will please UK audiences in particular. There is a creeping tendency for films to get longer and longer these days and although 130 minutes is a bit much here, it could be worse. There isn't too much loose flab and we are kept well entertained throughout.
The grand finale (as shown in the trailer) is a little bit too crash bang wallop and although it is exciting, there is the usual loss of character for the sake of spectacle and as with the worst excesses of the Transformers franchise, it can become a little difficult to see exactly what is going on. Having said that, the earlier sequences, especially the character-oriented segments involving Stark striking up a friendship with a kid in the small town he crash lands in and the unveiling of The Mandarin are really engaging, with excellent script work from Black and Drew Pearce. The cast deliver the goods across the board, especially RDJ, who has made the character his own and newcomers Guy Pearce and Ben Kingsley give good villain.
The pacing and the story development are great and random jokes about Croydon and Downton Abbey will please UK audiences in particular. There is a creeping tendency for films to get longer and longer these days and although 130 minutes is a bit much here, it could be worse. There isn't too much loose flab and we are kept well entertained throughout.
Should I see it? I saw it twice, returning the second time with my three children. It was a bit much for my daughter, who didn't enjoy some of the scarier scenes and eventually went off with my wife to do something else. My 12 and 7 year olds loved it and although 12A's these days can carry a certain amount of bad language, there was relatively little of that here (no f-words, just one fairly light-hearted use of p***y). There are some interesting themes being explored here in relation to fear, anxiety and the fragility of our emotions and if you are able to take the time, it can be good to discuss those with your kids.
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