It is no exaggeration to say that the reviews are spot-on - pretty much everything you may have heard about the movie or seen in trailers says you won't be disappointed, so in the case of someone like me, who enjoys the occasional Owen Wilson film, one would think I was easily pleased (not so: Shanghai Knights should never have been made).
Iron Man 3 sees Tony Stark in crisis - subject to anxiety attacks and insomnia following the events in New York, he throws himself into redesign after redesign of the armour before finally arriving at Prototype 42. Then, when a terrorist calling himself The Mandarin launches attacks on US interests, broadcasting his intent (like the old Batman villains used to do) by hijacking TV network frequencies, Stark challenges him, more or less, to a showdown...
Having seen the other instalments, plus (obviously) Joss Whedon's Avengers Assemble, I was wondering how Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) would treat the characters. I wasn't disappointed, and Mr. Black's approach seems to have been well-informed by the previous episodes.
Ben Kingsley, never slow to play a villain, does a chilling turn here as one of Iron Man's greatest nemeses, stealing pretty much every scene in which he appears. The bit where he (oops, almost a spoiler there) drew an amazing reaction from the audience.
All in all, Iron Man 3 was well worth the wait - I hope RDJ doesn't decide to hang up the repulsors just yet; he's got a few more thousand miles in the suit and I know I'd like to see another adventure, whether as a standalone or as part of an Avengers story.
In the meantime, I have to go and see it again.
In case something happens after the credits...
