Iron Man Three

Let Phase Two begin.
I had very high expectations when going to see this film. Obviously there was the fact that it is an Iron Man film but it is the film's co-writer and director that was the biggest factor for my excitement. One of my all time favourite films is 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' written and directed by Shane Black. So I got really excited when he signed on for 'Iron Man 3'. And I was not disappointed. I have seen the film twice now and I thought it was better the second time around. Shane and his co-writer Drew Pearce have crafted an excellent story that takes the events of 'The Avengers' and sees how Tony Stark deals with them. I liked how the story had a nice emotional element to it, largely from the fact that his friends are more involved in the story. There is also the story sending up the recent War on Terror as well. Shane has a long career of making great action films and he has brought that lengthy experience to this film. The action scenes are well choreographed and quite thrilling. My favourite being Iron Man's rescue of people who fall out of Air Force One. The biggest pleasure though was how funny the film is. There are many clever and witty lines in the film as well as some hilarious situations. The sequence where Tony teams up with a young kid reminded me a lot of 'Kiss Kiss Bang Bang' except Robert was playing the Val Kilmer role. It also sets up what I think maybe an Iron Man replacement.
With word that this maybe the last Iron Man film that Robert Downey Jnr. is in I pity who ever has to follow him up. Robert has definitely made his mark on the character. You really feel like he is Tony Stark. Shane has certainly been kind to Robert by giving him some hilarious lines to say as well. Shane has also beefed up Gwyneth Paltrow's role too. Gwyneth also gets to be involved in the action more as well. She does an excellent job of it and hopefully we get to see her in more action roles in the future. Sadly the same cannot be said of Don Cheadle. While he does play an important role in the film I would like to have him more involved in the story. Guy Pearce is another one of those actors that can do any role he is given. My only problem here is that he is playing a bad guy again. I'd like to see him play a good guy for a change. Rebecca Hall is very sweet as one of Tony's former girlfriends. Jon Favreau also has a nice plot as Tony's former bodyguard. The best performance though, as you would expect, is Ben Kingsley. I cannot say much more but he is incredibly funny.
I think this might be my favourite film of the series. An excellent action film that is also incredibly funny. Shane Black firmly cements himself as not only one of my favourite writers but directors as well.