Review: Iron Man 3

MANILA, Philippines - In last year’s “The Avengers”, Captain America brought up an interesting point when he asked Tony Stark what he would be without his suit of armor. Stark’s response made it clear that he knows exactly the man he is perceived to be but in “Iron Man 3”, we get to see that genius aspect to him that brought him to where he is now.

Stripped to his most basic, Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a visionary and his mind is his most powerful weapon. Director Shane Black proves this by having Stark spend most of the film dealing with adversaries using his knowledge and wit, not to mention ordinary household items.

Black and RDJ worked before in “Kiss Kiss Bang Bang” and I had great expectations after finding out that the two would be working together for this film. And it’s safe to say that they were able to make “Iron Man 3” the best out of the franchise so far. Better than “The Avengers”? I still haven’t made up my mind yet as this film definitely needs to be seen a second time.

Coming off “Iron Man 2”, Stark has every reason to believe that he is a super-hero, perhaps the world’s only one until he realizes that there are far more powerful beings out there in “The Avengers.” Knowing this has made him obsessed even more with creating more armors—the latest iteration of which is one that flies piece-by-piece directly to his body—in order to protect the one thing he could not live without, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow).

Potts, meanwhile, as Stark Industries CEO, gets a visit from Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) founder of the privately-funded Advanced Idea Mechanics. Killian, who is shown in a prologue as the antithesis to playboy Stark in 1999, has made great strides since and he hopes to entice Potts into funding AIM’s Extremis project that recodes the human DNA. The initial idea was first brought to Stark’s attention that same year by Dr. Maya Hansen, a brilliant geneticist who was able to test it, albeit with some glitch, on plants.

Fast-forward to the current year, an attack by the ethnically-vague-despite-the-name The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), the terrorist leader of The Ten Rings, leaves Stark’s friend and security chief Happy Hogan comatose. Stark promises to exact revenge and The Mandarin responds by destroying his Malibu home.

This leads to the second act where Stark is partnered up with young Harley (Ty Simpkins) who can easily be described as a Tony Stark in the making. RDJ is at his best acting-wise when he is not in Iron Man mode, or if he is, at least when his face is shown because his snide remarks are more enjoyable to watch. Simpkins makes the most out of his screen time with the veteran actor as he torments Lord Stark with persistent inquiries of New York, wormholes, and the Avengers.

Also growing into his armor and role is Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle), rebranded as the Iron Patriot. In a sequence that can probably be extended into a full buddy cop film, Rhodes shows that minus the armors, he has an edge over Stark.

“Iron Man 3” has everything that a diehard fan would love. The "Barrel of Monkeys" scene will definitely stand out but other than that, they truly went all out in this film by giving us the armors, two villains who may be years separated in the comics but are as current as can be, and the love story between Potts and Stark, which is practically the backbone of the story going forward.

How far though remains to be seen as the end credits of “Iron Man 3” says that “Tony Stark will return” without saying where and when.

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