No spoilers...

When a film opens with the song Blue by Eiffel 65 over the Marvel logo - you know you are in for a quirky superhero film. Its quite WTF for a Marvel film but the very next scene and title card lets us know we are in 1999 (NYE to be exact) and it is put into context somewhat.

We are then treated to a fun superhero film - much more in the vain of the first IM film. We know Shane Black and RDJ work well together - and its shows here. The film has a confident swagger thanks to the director and star - but perhaps it also highlights Marvel's confidence as they progress to Phase 2.

I mention confidence - Marvel have balls with some of the decisions they make. And audiences will be divided on whether some of these decisions work or not.

The film has the benefit of not being burdened by Avengers set-up that the 2nd got lost in. This is also intentionally a whole lot funnier which again may turn off some purists. Personally I like it. RDJ is at his witty best and all support cast are all fine. I do like both Rebecca Hall and Guy Pierce (the latter chewing up the scenery quite well. The highlight however is Kingsley as The Mandarin - which will be the talk of audiences and most people here for a number of reasons.

Stick around for an end credits scene - though it isnt a must see.

Grade: A/A- (its has its faults but its a blast).


Mild Spoilers ahead....

I'm keen to see everyone's reaction to The Mandarin. For the first half of the film - he's probably one of the best villains in any superhero film - even though we dont see a whole lot of him. The scene with the hostage is chilling. In light of recent events like Boston - its all the more chilling.

However, when we are delivered a swift kick to the head half way through I wasnt sure if i loved or hated it. It kind of works - even though I would have preferred to see more of the Mandarin (who should have remained as master to Aldridge). Some fans will see this as a massive fuck you from Marvel and I can understand it. But I also like how Marvel approached the character as a front man and their motivation behind his use in the current climate of terror.

Importantly - Kingsley kills its the Mandarin/actor before and after the reveal.

Man, Kingsley really kills it, but some purists will hate that.

Far less glum and depressing then the trailers suggested. I enjoyed it. Has a definite Black touch.

That's right quite the opposite of the trailer fr the most part. And agree regarding te repeat viewing!

I needed some time to fully digest the plot...

Spoilers
To start with, the environment in the first minutes of the film is pretty interesting and scheming: music, scenes, Dr. Yinsen cameo (from the first film) and...... Tony!; however it turns out to be into a real disappointment when the annoying twist kicks on in the middle of the movie, why the fuck they did that to the Mandarin???, they made him look like a moron, the flick really missed the chance to show a great and menacing villain, a lot of things which I was hoping to watch on screen just vanished; I expected to see any reference from the first movie due to the rings but they are not even mentioned on the other hand, Pearce rises his acting as a bad guy at the end.
One thing is sure, Downey's performance is great and saved the whole plot.I would be a liar if I said it's a bad film 'cause it's not, but the shitty twist??, why ???

General audiences will likely enjoy the film because it is fun and entertaining, specially the last 20 minutes, and the resurgence of Pepper, but it's really sad that they will never know how the real menacing Mandarin in the comics and cartoons is (and for some people I would like to tell you that Aldrich Killian is not the real Mandarin as he states in the film )

Finally, I can say that Iron Man 3 is a decent sequel and an average improvement from its predecessor (IM2), however the first film is still the best of the series

PS: The end credits were quite enjoyable to watch and the music on it was pretty amazing, though the after credits scene was boring and uninteresting 'cause there wasn't any preview or reference to any upcoming avenger solo film.... at least Ruffalo was spotted....

B-

I'm sure this is not my definite grade, I'm gonna have to watch it again to give it a final verdict

Its a complete crowd pleaser. Mandarin sucked big time but Guy Pierce did a solid job much better than previous IM villians. and the movie was all about RDJ and he was brilliant as usual. 1st half is ok but 2nd half was fantastic and climax/action scenes were much better than Avengers. Overall its much better than IM2 and I liked it more than Avengers. Shane Black does a fantastic job and dialogues were top notch.

My Rating is A just for RDJ. I think IM3 is winning the year domestic and WW.

Any long action sequence on this film tops the NY battle in TA

To me except couple of hulk scenes Im3 climax is way better than Avengers. Some cool stuff around the way new suit is used. Plus Pierce was good and looked a credible threat.

No doubt about IM 3 having a better and more elaborated plot than TA, but how it gets in the middle with the twist is pretty frustrating for me, however climax and action sequences are good in both but TA had a massive 30min long of an epic scene battle

And yes, I came liking Pearce at the end, but at first I thought the cgi on him looked like a bad terminator film; the scene where he threw fire from his mouth looked really lame (that part remind me of charizard using a flamethrower )

The so-called big twist was predictable. Especially when they telegraphed it in the very first minute.

Other than that, it was a top notch film. Better than IM1 and way better than IM2 and The Avengers. Action, acting, plot were all extremely well done. 9/10 (A-)

Did anyone else wonder how Pepper was able to control her newfound powers? No doubt that scene was badass but I found it to be slightly odd.

Also, was Phase 1, Phase 2 ever explained in the movie? The bad guy was talking about how Pepper was only in phase 2. Does it mean that Pepper's able to control her powers but there might be some sort of glitch during that phase?

Iron Man 3

I thought Iron Man was ok, Iron Man 2 was bad, The Avengers was average, but Iron Man 3 is pretty damn good. It is just a well-made superhero movie, and what you see in the trailer is very little compared to the content of the movie.

Stark was without his costume for most of the movie, including most of the final fight, but it didn't annoy me too much because we get to see a lot of other Iron Men, including Iron Patriot/War Machine, kick some ass. The effects were well done, the story and script were fine too, and Tony Stark wasn't an annoying little prick in this one like he was previously. He was comical and it was all very appropriate.

The Mandarin being an actor, a fake, a phoney (and not the real villain of the movie) was wow ... pretty interesting that they'd take this route (especially considering the false advertising). I was slightly disappointed, but then Guy Pearce's villain is so much more! He was the best part of the movie for me. Just a great actor and with great powers. Kingsley acted really well, and was kind of funny too. I mean, I would have preferred for Mandarin to be the main bad guy, but the way it worked out was also cool. The whole Pearce back story was very fitting. But I didn't understand one thing; Stark exploded the mk.42 suit on Pearce yet he still survived, so why did he then die when Pepper Potts threw a bomb at him? Surely the suit exploding would be more dangerous. I kind of didn't like how Potts saved Stark in the end - she was like Wonder Woman with magical powers, it was weird, and Stark wasn't Iron Man for most of the action scenes in the movie. There are also some minor plotholes and things that are overlooked or rushed, but it doesn't detract from the overall enjoyment of the movie.

The extra Chinese scenes were COMPLETELY USELESS. It just featured about 5 minutes of extra footage. It was completely detached from the story and feel of the rest of the movie, and it featured a Chinese old guy with Fan Bingbing just talking crap. Totally unneeded.

Oh, and Potts should have died when she fell into the fire. Her coming back was eye-rolling. It's the same in all American movies; they're frightened to make the big decisions and take the big risks. It could have made Iron Man 4 a completely different, more serious, revenge-fueled movie, but now Stark will be his cocky self for yet another movie.

B+

Exactly what I thought. The big reveal was shocking in that I wanted the Mandirin as the bad guy but the way they handled it was perfect (as was Pearce).



Yeah I thought she and that would have led to a revenge filled Stark and perhaps even the demon in a bottle storyline. They did afterall show his fridge full of alcohol.

Yeah, that would have been an excellent way for Stark to go, especially since the next time we see him will be in The Avengers 2. Him being a drunk and gaining his self respect and motivation back again to fight Thanos with the rest of the group...would be excellent.

It always seems like Iron Man is never prepared for battle. He always has difficulty in beating opponents. Like here, in Iron Man 3, he's never ready. Why make the threat to "Mandarin" when you've not even perfected your Iron Man suit? It's still a damn prototype!

I watched it again, same impressions, though my final grade is B

btw, the end credits score is fucking amazing, I really like it

http://www.youtube.com/watch?nomobile=1&v=wNXx9WcXBB0

I stayed until the end. Right until the credits were almost over and ... the cinema manager comes in and turns it off.

FUCK YOU CHINA!!!!!

It was the first showing of the day, so perhaps they didn't realise there was extra footage, but any fool knows by now that all these Marvel movies have extra scenes after the credits.

I supposed the great thing about it is Mandarin says "you'll never see me coming", and it was damn right. We (the viewer) didn't expect Guy Pearce to be the villain controlling the Mandarin strings, and they (Iron Man) couldn't stop him from attacking places because it wasn't Mandarin doing the attacks.

That's irritating. But you didnt miss all that much in terms of the after credits scene.

Its funny - I remember when Iron Man came out in 2008 probably about 10 people remained to the end to see the after credits scene. Now I'd say 40% of the theater remained. Its now expected with these Marvel films.

Yeah, the after credits scenes in marvel films have become in a must see, however the one from IM3 is the least interesting of all.

Nowadays, more and more blockbusters are coming with extra scenes after the credits, I remember this happening since Pirates The Curse of the Black Pearl

Oh, and the INTRO SONG of the film was pretty awesome, A lot of nostalgia

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElU7gLPKGuE

One of the best intro songs in a long time

The intro song, well, I didn't expect that. It was ok.

This was balls.

B-/C+

Its 100% a Shane Black movie and its clearly the best of this Marvel stuff. It plays like a sequel to Kiss Kiss Bang Bang; speaking of, Val Kilmer obviously should have played Killian

Best of the Marvel flicks, not that that is saying much, but hey, this was a very good movie.