Iron Man 3 #IronMan3

New Marvel’s Iron Man 3 Movie Review…

It’s been no secret that I’ve been anxious to see Iron Man 3. Tuesday night, my husband and I had the chance to see a prescreening of the newest Marvel movie and I have to say that this film is my favorite of the three! That’s a huge statement given the scale of popularity and overall awesomeness of the first two. Iron Man 3 has just the right balance of action, emotion, and humor. Below is a screenshot from one of the best scenes, in my opinion:

From the opening until the very last scene, my eyes were glued to the screen. It was non-stop action with each bit of dialogue impacting the storyline. I was so focused that I couldn’t even eat one piece of popcorn throughout! My husband just wished there was subtitling because he felt there was so much he missed. All the more reason for us to see it again 🙂

Iron Man 3 was all about fleshing out the characters, helping them to find their strengths and weaknesses when all the fluff is stripped away. After everything happened in New York (see The Avengers), Tony Stark had a lot on his mind. So much so that he can’t sleep and is suffering from anxiety attacks. He constantly ponders whether the suit makes the man or the man makes the suit.

Tony Stark (played by Robert Downey Jr.) is forced to face his inner struggles head on when a mysterious terrorist, known as The Mandarin, threatens those he loves most. With his last suit out of commission, Tony must rely on his own ingenuity to take this maniac down. This becomes extremely difficult when his home base is a garage shed in Snowy Tennessee and his sidekick mechanic is a precocious 11-year-old who feels they are ‘connected’ but like to push Tony’s buttons.

Pepper and Rhodey get some nice screen time here as well. We get to see different sides of them, especially Pepper. You’ll be rooting for her by the end of the movie. Having the young Harley paired with Stark also allows for some great interaction.

It turns out that Tony’s past is finally catching up to him. A forgotten theory and a desperate dreamer are intertwined with the mysterious  bombings. With the recent real life tragedies, this might be a sensitive issue for some. To me, the way it was depicted in the film had hardly any similarities and felt unrelated.

The ‘enemy’ they are against is quite brutal and many are attacked and do die. That means a lot of rough and tough action but none of it is gory or bloody. So, expect some violence. It’s WAY tamer than what you see on prime time television or even the news though. When I first found out the cause of the attacks, I was afraid it’d be creepy. Fortunately it wasn’t and was kind of funny in a way. Speaking of funny, humorous bits were placed perfectly to keep the action from getting to overwhelming or serious. In the below photo, Tony tells Pepper that he just stole a sweater off a “wooden Indian man” which diffuses the tension of what happened just previous to this.

Family-wise, I will be taking my daughter to see this. She likes action movies and this really didn’t have much I objected to. In fact, I don’t think I’ll have to cover her ears or eyes during any parts during the movie. Very little swearing, no on-screen sex, no innuendo, and  and I can’t think of any disturbing images that will burn in little minds. If your kids can handle other films like Star Wars, The Avengers, Indiana Jones, etc. this movie should be more than fine for them.

Iron Man 3 was really well-made in so many ways. From the storyline to the character plots to the makeup and effects. We don’t tend to keep to many action movies in our house but this one is joining our DVD/Blu-ray collection when it comes out. I’ll probably have all the dialogue memorized by then since we’ll be seeing it at least one more time while in theaters – the 3D works great in this!

Have you seen Iron Man 3 or will you be seeing it? Let me know what your thoughts on it are!

Social / Online links:

• “Like” IRON MAN 3 on Facebook: www.facebook.com/ironman
• “Follow” IRON MAN 3 on Twitter: @Iron_Man
• Visit the website: http://marvel.com/ironman3

My husband and I attended a complimentary pre-screening. All opinions are 100% my own.