Is this movie good action entertainment? Yes, sure! Is it a great movie as well? No, definitely not!
To be frank, this movie never lives up to expectations. That of course doesn't mean that the movie is a bad one as well but it nevertheless was disappointing to see how little this movie actually did that was new, or differs from any of the previous Iron Man movies and superhero movies in general.
This movie promised to be a somewhat darker and more serious in tone Iron Man movie, in which Tony Stark gets truly tested, falls and has to rise up again as Iron Man. But really, all of the villains and situations Stark gets himself involved in this movie aren't necessarily all that different and more threatening or dangerous than any of the situations and characters Iron Man had to face before, in any of the previous Iron Man movies and lets count in "The Avengers" as well. As a matter of fact, the movie pretty much has the same tone as the other previous Iron Man movies and isn't really that much darker or less silly, both story-wise and comedy-wise.
I have to say that in some regards this even is a somewhat poor movie. Especially story-wise it's lacking. The pacing is off and the story feels somewhat messy for the first half of the movie and also please don't watch this movie expecting to get any depth or decent enough background to anything. It's shallow, big, action entertainment, that constantly pushes its characters to the background and rather wants to focus on- and show you the next big action set-piece.
This definitely goes at the expense of the whole Tony Stark and Pepper Potts relationship but also at the expense of the Stark and James Rhodes friendship. It's hard to detect any emotions or heartfelt moments in this movie and it's therefore also hard to truly feel involved with the story and characters at times.
The whole villainous plot is also somewhat disappointing. It's just too simple really. They are terrorist and they are evil and that's it really. There is no big plan to conquer to world, get rich, or anything along those lines. It's also 'annoying' how little screen time the main hero and main villain of this movie get to share on the screen. I never like it when a movie its villain and hero basically are miles away from each other and hardly have any form of interaction.
It shows you how lazy and simplistic the writing can get at times for this movie. But this actually also goes for its action moments. I lost count the moments that Tony Stark got saved, at the very last moment, by his suit. Tony Stark falls off something? Don't worry, his suit will save him! Somebody throws/fires something at Tony Stark or holds him hostage? Don't worry, his suit will fly in again to save him! It just isn't very creative and too easy really. Especially of course when the movie starts repeating the same patterns over and over again.
But oh well, this movie still remains pretty much up to par with the other Iron Man movies, as weird as that may sound after all my criticism. This is not any better but also most definitely not any worse than any of the previous two Iron Man movies. It just never does anything new or special with its concept or characters, which is the reason why this third movie mostly feels like a disappointing one. Some more creativity and originality would have been nice!
But Robert Downey Jr. is still in great form and all of the right action and special effects are still there, to turn this movie into an enjoyable, silly, overblown, action spectacle. Action-wise this movie doesn't disappoint and it's the main thing that keeps this movie going and entertaining to watch.
So it's all still good and fun to watch! Just don't expect the ultimate Iron Man movie or one that does things completely different from any of the other Iron Man movies.
7/10
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