Iron Man 3

Our Review

Shane Black came in and made a Shane Black movie that happens to wear the armor: Christmas settings, deadpan voiceover, a broken hero, and a buddy structure that pairs Tony with a kid from Tennessee for the middle stretch. After The Avengers, sending Tony into a panic attack and out of his suit for an hour was a bold swerve, and it works because Robert Downey Jr. is more fun talking his way out of rooms than blasting them.

The Mandarin twist is the famous swing: the terrifying terrorist of the trailers turns out to be a sloshed British actor played by Ben Kingsley having the time of his life. Half the fandom called it the balliest joke in the series and half called it a betrayal, and both halves remember it, which is more than most mid entries manage. Guy Pearce’s Aldrich Killian, the actual villain, is a wet noodle of corporate resentment who never rises to the occasion.

The action is inventive when it is personal, the freefall airplane rescue especially, and noisy when it is not, the finale’s army of remote suits turning the climax into fireworks. As a character piece about a man wondering if he is the suit or the person in it, it overdelivers.

Our score: 7/10. Divisive on release, better regarded now.