Oversized, overstuffed,
and occasionally overwhelming, Iron Man 3
plays out like a collage of impressive, explosive set pieces, special
effects, and sardonic one-liners. The third installment of the series, this is
a mega blockbuster at the crossroads of two hugely successful franchises of the
Disney-Marvel massive entertainment empire. Already a hulking box-office
behemoth, Shane Black’s movie is unique in an often sullen summer
superhero-packed cinematic climate for its brilliant, self-aware, self-effacing
humor.
Iron Man 3 offers an astute
study of a relationship, wrapped up in images of red hot fire people and armies of iron
knights, molten steel and heaps of burning rubble in a computer-generated
fantasy in which the laws of physics are merely theoretical. The film at times
seems like a screwball comedy trapped in the body of a superhero action movie.
Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) trades barbs with Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow),
his former assistant turned girlfriend and CEO of his company, with a kind of
old-school Hollywood wise-cracking chemistry.
