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Iron Man 3

Starring: Robert Downey Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall, and Ben Kingsley
Directed by: Shane Black
Screenplay by: Drew Pearce and Shane Black

     Let me begin by simply stating if you haven't yet seen The Avengers:
1)  Turn off your computer and go see it NOW!!!!!!  Only then should you read further!!!!
2)  What on earth are you waiting for?  That movie came out a whole year ago!!!
     Ok, now for my review:
     Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is having a sleeping problem.  He's deeply troubled by something he experienced at the end of The Avengers when he went through the portal.  But this is a new story, and Tony has new problems.
     There's a terrorist going around causing chaos around the world, known as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley).  The battle begins when Tony threatens the Mandarin.  It's now up to Tony to destroy the Mandarin and protect everything he loves as old memories come back to haunt him, and old friends become new enemies.  In short, it will be Iron Man's biggest test yet.
      It's not Tony Stark without Robert Downey Jr.  He's totally awesome and gives an amazing performance, reaffirming the notion that Tony Stark is synonymous with Robert Downey Jr.  Gwyneth Paltrow delivers her best performance of the trilogy.  She has a bigger and more important role in this film than she has had in the first two films, and she truly shines in Iron Man 3.  My only complaint about Don Cheadle's performance is that he doesn't get enough screen time.  But for the short amount of screen time he has compared to everyone else, he's excellent.  Guy Pearce is also great as Aldrich Killian, the man who teams up with the Mandarin to create chaos.  And speaking of the Mandarin, Ben Kingsley delivers a truly formidable performance, making the Mandarin seem just as scary and crazy as he sounds in his video clips that are played around the world.
      It wouldn't be a very good superhero movie without good special effects, and with that said, the special effects are incredible.  The effects are every bit as good as they were in The Avengers and make for a really beautiful movie.
      Normally, I'm not a big fan of director changes in a trilogy, but this is one director change that turned out to be really good.  Jon Favreau was the director of the first two films in the Iron Man series and made both of them really well.  He's an executive producer on Iron Man 3 and has a small role in it as well.  Shane Black has taken the story to a whole new, darker level.  He depicts Tony Stark as a man who must conduct his mission mainly out of desperation, in order to protect everything he loves.  All of these elements come together to create a fantastic storyline that takes the series to new places and creates a whole new tone for the films in the Marvel universe that are to come.  I don't know if and I hope there will not be a fourth film in the Iron Man series, but I do know there is to be a sequel to The Avengers.  I am intrigued to see where the series will go, with major changes to the character of Tony Stark.  But for now, I can say that Iron Man 3 is a truly fabulous film, and if you're a fan of the Marvel universe and a fan of superhero movies, this is the movie for you so long as you have seen the rest of the Iron Man series and The Avengers.  This is a story that does an okay job of standing alone, but references past events in the series a lot, so you will definitely want to see these films first if you haven't already.
      I give Iron Man 3 an A.

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