Iron Man 3 movie review

No spoilers guaranteed. After Marvel's Avengers movie, fans were expecting what happened after the mightiest heroes' first major adventure in Marvel's The Avengers. Now, we are picking up where Tony Stark left off.

Poster photo courtesy of Marvel Studios

It is a good thing that Iron Man has a sequel. It add continuity like a comic book since they started a first movie cross-over. Just like any comic book, each Avenger has their individual concern. I was not that interested in Iron Man until the movie adaptation. Since then, he is now my favorite Avenger.

What makes me Iron Man appealing in the movies is that he is not the superhero you've grown up with. He was more like a neutral character or anti-hero unlike his original comic book counterpart. But to make it more realistic, Tony Stark must be more like a real industrialist with the likes of Carnegie, Rockefeller, J.P. Morgan and Vanderbilt. Visionary and yet vicious.

It is like the movies rebooted the character for newer and modern audience. Iron Man's origin partially change when he created the Mark 1 armor to escape his captors in Middle East. In his first appearance in Tales Of Suspense #39(1963), he was escaping his captors in Vietnam.

In addition to that, Robert Downey, Jr. really made Tony Stark come to life. He made Tony Stark as eccentric and yet interesting. What makes this sequel interesting is that it was also fast phase. There was a time when Tony Stark was replaced by Rhodey as Iron Man way before he became War Machine. But it was a good thing that they skipped all that because it will make it a slow phase.

It was good to see Happy Hogan and James Rhodes again since they never appeared in Avengers unlike Pepper Potts. But there are new characters and developments. Rhodey upgraded from War Machine to Iron Patriot. Most comic book fans knows that this movie version of Iron Patriot is amalgamated since Marvel Studios can't use the real alter ego of the Iron Patriot Norman Osborne because he is licensed to use for Columbia Pictures in Spider-Man movies.

Iron Man 3 also introduces a new villain named Mandarin. The Mandarin is considered the archnemesis of Iron Man in comic books. They are like both sides of the coin. Tony Stark embarks on a quest to make a better advancement of the world while Mandarin is set to see the world in chaos.

The Mandarin is played by Ben Kingsley. Although the Mandarin is expected to be Chinese, it is not the first time for Mr. Kingsley to play Asian although his father is Indian. He played peaceful revolutionary Mahatma Gandhi and Thunderbirds(2004) nemesis The Hood. Mr. Kingsley is a good actor to play a manipulative villain just like in a computer suspense movie Sneakers and a movie adaptation of Prince of Persia: The Sands Of Time.

Another character that came from the comic books is Aldrich Killian. Guy Pearce may not look like his comic book character because he is too suave but it does suit him. I only had mixed emotions about the movies but it turns out well. Director Shane Black did well with the story.

This movie shows another side of Tony Stark. Is he a hero because he wears an armor or the man inside is a hero even without the armor. As expected from a Marvel movie, there is always an extra scene after the credits. For now, I can't say if the 3D is any better since I haven't seen it in 2D yet for comparison. Iron Man 3 is showing in Philippine cinemas nationwide. I viewed Iron Man 3 at Glorietta Cinema on its opening day.