Iron Man 3

Having felt that Iron Man 2 was mediocre at best (review can be found on this blog) and having seen that the critics didn’t think much of Iron Man 3, I missed this film at the theatres. But with Marvel superhero films coming out every few months, we thought we should do some catch-up, so I finally broke down and watched Iron Man 3 on blu-ray.

The bottom line is that I like number three much more than number two. It is funnier, the acting is better (Ben Kingsley is terrific), the score is better, the cinematography and special effects are outstanding and the writing is much sharper (even sharper than in the first Iron Man film, which was one of those super-mixed-messages films, no doubted exacerbated by having three writers). There are even comments about violence and some anti-government satire, as we saw in the first film (the plot concerns an American conspiracy, involving at least one government leader, to blame the explosive side effects of an American scientific experiment on Middle-Eastern terrorists).

The second installment of the Iron Man series felt like a waste of time, whereas the third, like the first and The Avengers, at least felt like it was making an effort to be intelligent. The last half hour was full of predictable mindless action and there are no serious attempts to redeem the villain (dare I hope for better from the upcoming Spider-Man?), but that is to be expected in superhero films. Iron Man 3 gets a very solid ***. My mug is up.

Now it’s off to Winter Soldier next week to see our favourite American super-patriot: the super-wholesome Captain America.