Iron Man 3   Starring: Robert Downey Jr, Gwyneth Paltrow, Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Rebecca Hall and Ben Kingsley Director: Shane Black Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures Certificate: 12A Running time: 130 mins Opens 25 April 2013 (UK), 03 May 2013 (US)

Still reeling from the aftermath of the recent alien invasion, Tony Stark faces powerful new adversaries, in the guise of a terrorist called the Mandarin and a squad of soldiers powered by a super-serum known as Extremis. When his personal world is shattered at his enemies’ hands, Stark embarks upon a harrowing quest to find those responsible, in spite of potentially crippling panic attacks. He is forced to survive by his own devices, relying on his instincts and intelligence to protect those dearest to him. As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him – does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man...?

As well as being the sequel to the first two Iron Man movies, Iron Man 3 is the seventh instalment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe saga, being the first film in the franchise since 2012’s Marvel Avengers Assemble. The challenge facing writer / director Shane Black (Lethal Weapon) and co-writer Drew Pearce (No Heroics) was: how to possibly follow that.

Realising that any attempt to be bigger or more spectacular than that epic crossover movie would probably be doomed to failure, Black and Pearce have instead gone for a more intimate and personal approach. The plot focuses upon the personal demons of Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr), who is suffering from panic attacks following the events of Marvel Avengers Assemble. He spends much of the film out of his famous armour after his home is attacked, leaving him with just one badly damaged suit. A suitable subtitle for this story might therefore have been Stark Naked.

The latest upgrade to his suit makes it capable of being operated by remote control, guided by either Stark himself or his AI system JARVIS (voiced by Paul Bettany). In effect, the suit can move by itself, arguably putting its human occupant out of a job (though let us not forget that the first Iron Man pointed out the tactical advantages of a living, thinking pilot over drone aircraft). There’s also a creepy moment in which the armour moves about while Stark is having a nightmare. Later, Rhodey’s (Don Cheadle) own suit works against him in an even more tangible way, when it is taken from him and donned by an impersonator.

Thus Stark and eventually Rhodey must rely upon their wits and ingenuity in order to take on their enemies. I was reminded of the less tooled-up 007 of recent Bond movies, especially when Stark slips into a villain’s base to the accompaniment of some rather Bond-style music by composer Brian Tyler. (Perhaps coincidentally, the movie’s closing caption is also decidedly 007.)

Despite power-suit problems, however, there is still plenty of action. A particular highlight is the seemingly impossible midair rescue of several people who get blown out of an aircraft. The story’s theme of a stripped-down Stark is slightly undone during the final battle, in which he calls upon technological resources that the audience was led to believe had been destroyed. Presumably he couldn’t call upon them before because they were undergoing repairs, but this could have been made more explicit.

The plot lacks the clarity of structure of the first Iron Man movie. The new film opens with a cumbersome voice-over delivered by Downey, which tells us little that could not have been gleaned from on-screen evidence, but this is made more forgivable by the humour of the post-credits sequence at the end.

As we have come to expect from this series (and indeed from Downey’s movies in general), there are lots of lighter moments, including Stark’s interaction with a young boy, Harley (Ty Simpkins). Probably thanks to the input of the British co-writer Drew Pearce, UK audiences will particularly enjoy references to Downton Abbey, football and Croydon – “wherever that is”, as Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) puts it!

By far the greatest audience reaction at the screening I attended was provoked by a scene featuring the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Without giving too much away, I doubt that any other actor could have nailed the dual aspects of this character so expertly – a brilliant performance.

All in all, it’s a bumpy ride for Tony Stark, but he manages to iron things out eventually.

7

Richard McGinlay