What we know about "Iron Man 3" before we walk into the theater is that the explosions will be loud and frequent, the special effects omnipresent, and the Tony Stark one-liners fast and furious. What we don't know is whether or not there will be a story worth investing in, as every once in a while a superhero movie just falls off a cliff into a boringly bland mess of action clichés, laughable reaction shots and head-scratching plot developments that seem lifted from the archives of Ed Wood Jr.
But this time around, writer/director Shane Black digs deep into Stark's persona and finds a way to make our hero interesting again - something that is a bit surprising after "Iron Man 2" felt like it was on autopilot. We may not be talking about the next cinematic masterpiece, or even the equal of last year's nearly pitch-perfect "The Avengers," but "Iron Man 3" has enough fun twists, turns and villainous scheming to make it a worthy kick-off to the summer movie season. And anytime Sir Ben Kingsley gets a chance to channel his dark side is worth the price of admission on its own.
In the old days, you could just unveil a superhero, let him mess about a bit for a couple hours and eventually topple the bad guy in a hail of either bullets or explosions - or perhaps a combination of both. These days, we need a little depression in our superheroes to get the story ticking, and Tony Stark finds himself going through one of those superhero slumps at the beginning of "Iron Man 3." He may have the beautiful girl, the coolest house in the world and an endless array of futuristic gadgets at his disposal, but sometimes it's rough being Tony Stark.
It's not great timing either, as soon he's being tested by a vicious terrorist named The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), a wholly evil madman who has a bad habit of blowing things up in public places. These days, particularly after the chaos of the Boston Marathon bombings, terrorism seems as real as ever, and our hero Tony Stark rashly calls out The Mandarin in an effort to stand up for what's right.
While this is a gallant approach, it leads directly to The Mandarin blowing up Stark's mansion and scattering his life in the process. But while he can handle being attacked, what Stark can't handle is his loved ones getting pulled into the mess. Following the lead of other recent superhero movies, we see our hero get humbled as his life completely implodes, forcing him to dig himself out of the rubble. When you're fighting for Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), though, there is plenty of built-in motivation.
And it's in stripping Stark to the bone that "Iron Man 3" breathes new life into a story that, at least on the surface, is pretty much your same superhero versus mega-villain dynamic. Forced to recognize that he's partially at fault, Stark's intellect is tested when he has to figure out how to combat a villain who seems to be beyond the scope of conventional methods. Like he showed when he was forced to build the original Iron Man suit in the first movie, Stark is at his best when his back is against the wall and he doesn't have the billionaire lifestyle to fall back on.
Even this theme of having our hero starting from scratch is nothing new, especially following Christopher Nolan's famed "Dark Knight" trilogy, but writer/director Black keeps the focus on Stark's character arc instead of just getting on with the explosions and action pieces. When we finally do get to the big showdown between Stark and The Mandarin, who turns out to be something much different than we originally thought, we actually have something invested in Stark and his companions. Black also works in a subplot about The Mandarin going after the President of the United States, satisfying the rule that all big-budget summer movies have to either threaten national security or bring about a potential apocalypse. Though this little dance could have been done without, it's also not nearly as distracting as it is in many of the other movies that typically hit the big screen.
But a superhero movie is also only as good as its villain. You can have all the twists and turns you want, but if you don't have a worthy counterpoint to the story, all you get is a superhero movie that coasts through its complicated plot to the inevitable finale. Here, "Iron Man 3" finds a worthy opponent in Sir Ben Kingsley's Mandarin, a frightening sociopath who seems like he's been studying at a villain vocational school in order to master the sinister persona.
Yet even here Black sets up the audience for a twist that feels just right, sending "Iron Man 3" off into unexpected territory as it reveals the deeper motives hiding beneath the surface. It's also nice to see Pepper Potts be more than just a bland love interest, and Guy Pearce is back to being effectively sinister after his disastrous turn as the villain in "Lawless." Don Cheadle's Colonel Rhodes has always seemed a little bit beside the point, but he is still a likable sidekick who, if nothing else, gives Stark someone else to confide in.
"Iron Man 3" isn't a great superhero movie, but it's a focused and entertaining action film that hits its target without letting the special effects take over the story. Movie lovers come into a movie like "Iron Man 3" hoping for a rip-roaring escapist fantasy, one that delivers state-of-the-art action and a plot worth caring about. Thanks to some lively dialog from Black and co-writer Drew Pearce and a well-crafted villain, "Iron Man 3" ends up a fun little popcorn flick that succeeds in spite of being limited by convention.
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June 05, 2026 16:18 ET A busy week for economic news flow saw a slew of reports being released that reflected the trends in the U.S. labor market. In Europe, economic growth and inflation data gained attention as the European Central Bank and Bank of England head for policy session later in the month. In Asia, the monetary policy session of the Indian central bank was in focus as the country, a major oil importer, reels under the pressures of a weaker rupee and rising inflation.