IRON MAN 3: An honest review

Finally took in Iron Man3 and I can honestly say it was quite good.

However, I would like to address a few things first. There are a lot of comic book purists who are groaning and moaning over this and that being wrong with Iron Man 3. So, I'm going to solve your issues right now.

1) IT'S NOT THE REAL MANDARIN!!!

Boo hoo. First of all, not everything in the comic world can be adequately translated into the limited time frame of movies/animation/tv. Similarly, not everything in the comic world would actually work in those media either. Honestly, a character the magnitude of Mandarin should be built up to in an Avengers movie, possibly number 2, which I will get to shortly.

Second, the Mandarin in IM3 was actually a brilliant twist. Killian finds this powerful legendary myth in the annals of history that all the world except America has heard of in some fashion or another. He then finds a figure head to allow him to be the 'Mandarin' behind the scenes and manipulate things to his benefit. Killian displays incredible intellect in this plan. To quote Lex Luthor from Superman TAS: "Do you even realize how much power I would have to give up if I became President!?" In the overall IM3 story, this works and plays out incredibly well.

What this also does is puts the concept of the Mandarin in play in the MCU, leaving the door open for, say, the Cult of the Mandarin to begin gathering the real rings to bring their Master back from whatever dimension he may have been banished to by performing some ceremony to set him free on earth once more, perhaps with some Thanos manipulation, for Avengers 2 or 3. Just because Thanos was a teaser at the end of Avengers doesn't mean he will be a direct villain right away.

Back to IM3.

2) WE NEED MORE ARMOR ACTION!!!

Oh golly gosh, there just isn't enough Iron Man and Iron Patriot action in the movie and Tony and Rhodes running around playing with guns is silly and that just ruins it! Please. If you believe that you truly did not understand IM3 at all! IM3 was never about the armors, it was about Iron Man and Iron Patriot. It forced Stark and Rhodey to realize the armor is just a tool and they are Iron Man and Iron Patriot. It was actually quite a refreshing display to see superheroes forced to discover the hero within to truly understand what it really means to be a hero of any kind! Again, brilliant.

3) THAT'S A STUPID SOLUTION!!!

How ridiculous that Tony has these insecurities and issues all through the movie and suddenly he gets over it by blowing up his suits! Really. If that's your take away then you need to learn some psychology. The biggest step and, ultimately, the one that leads to overcoming, not conquering, fears requires ridding ones self of their safety blanket. You never conquer fear because only a fool does not fear. You overcome fear by facing, embracing it, and rising above. Which is exactly what Stark did and, by destroying his armors, he set himself on a new path that will take him to that next level of hero. Again, brilliant.

Now, as to my review of Iron Man, it was a brilliant piece of character refinement balanced with the right amount of action, an enjoyable storyline, a nice tying up of story threads, and excellent cast performances. Guy Pearce does villain quite well.

All in all, I give Iron Man 3 a solid 4 out of 5 stars, better than IM2 but just a tad below IM1. Here's hoping Disney intervenes before Marvel screws up and loses all the stars before they even film Avengers 2.

To the whiner baby comic purists, your issues have been settled now so feel free to pipe down and just enjoy the movies!