[6]

I wasn't a huge fan of the first two Iron Man movies. A little snarky Robert Downy Jr. goes a long way with me. I like him better when he's part of an ensemble (like in The Avengers). So while it may be faint praise, I did enjoy this third film in the series most of all.

On a popcorn entertainment level, it has a number of nice action set-pieces — especially the spectacular climax, in which Tony Stark summons a whole of army of Iron Man robots to help him fight the film’s big baddie and rescue Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). I also have to give the movie credit for giving Pepper more to do than ever before. She even gets to pilot her own Iron Man suit and save Tony’s ass for a change. I know a lot of comic book purists are upset about the way Ben Kingsley’s Mandarin character is being portrayed, but personally, I thought he was a hoot.

So while Iron Man 3 adds nothing new or exciting to the tiresome superhero canon, at least it works as more of the same.

Oscar Nomination: Best Visual Effects