I've been in theater this afternoon to watch Iron Man 3 and here is my review - with no scene spoilers. So, what do i think of the film? Well, if you're looking for an entertaining super-heroe movie - which Iron Man 3 is supposed to be, finally - i suppose that you'll have a good time. But if you're looking for a real good movie, i mean something which also transcend the genre, then forget about it.
Let's say it, the first 20 minutes of Iron Man 3 are dreadful, incredibly bad and uninteresting at a point i couldn't believed my eyes. The movie starts to be more interesting from the Chinese Theater sequence but i've found that the script, although not too badly written with some good ideas and a surprise twist that i will not reveal, is also weak in the non action scenes. In two words, action scenes are as good as you can expect but don't expect any genius in-between.
The other problem that i had was with the non-esthetic filming of it. It's not badly filmed, and the editing is perfectly done, but the movie is not stylized at all. Avengers had a much better filming - always esthetically speaking - and Captain America too, with real stylized sequences. You don't have this here, the framing is never interesting, it's just filmed as good as a good TV episode can be but not more. I suppose that most of the spectators won't mind about this as they will mostly expect a thrilling movie and there is plenty of thrilling scenes in Iron Man 3 that kids will love.
Because Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow and Sir Ben Kingsley are such good actors Iron Man 3 acting is good, with a special mention to Guy Pearce - the real bad guy of the movie, you'll see why - but since the first Iron Man, i don't know why, but i always have the feeling that Robert Downey Jr is not "totally" in the role. Don't get me wrong, he plays Iron Man and Tony Stark perfectly because he is extremely talented - when Downey started his career he was acclaimed as the best actor of his generation - but i always have the feeling that he is not duped of what the character is, i.e a super hero character who doesn't really exist in real life. Wrong or right i've always feel a kind of "distance" in the way he plays Iron Man and i wouldn't be surprised if he was happy that the three films contract he had on Iron Man was finally finished. Gwyneth Paltrow, by the way, probably agree with him as she said recently that "there won't be an Iron Man 4", at least with her as her three films contract has ended too with Iron Man 3. The problem is that Iron Man 3 is highly successful, is probably on its way to make one billion dollars at the box office and execs in Burbank will probably want a fourth one. I don't know if Marvel and Disney will succeed to get on board Robert Downey Jr and Gwyneth Paltrow for a fourth movie but i have the feeling that it's gonna cost them quite a lot of money to convince them.
As i've said, Iron Man 3 is exactly what it is supposed to be: a super-hero movie, with all the limits of the genre. You'll have probably a good time watching it, specially if you don't ask more than it can deliver.
Picture and video: copyright Disney - Marvel
