Do we really want to see Robert Downey Jr's Tony Stark again after Iron Man 1 and 2, to say nothing of The Avengers? Clearly a lot of people do, and director Shane Black contributes a no-holds-barred if uneven epic that should satisfy most diehard fans.
He is aided by a cast that inhabits the Marvel cinematic universe with style — even though some have paid their dues before and might be forgiven for contributing so-so performances. Apart from Downey as the billionaire inventor-cum-superhero, there’s Gwyneth Paltrow as the ludicrously named Pepper Potts, now progressed from Stark’s assistant to the head of Stark Industries, Guy Pearce as the villainous Aldrich Killian, intent on developing the Extremis virus to the nth degree, and Ben Kingsley as sinister terrorist The Mandarin, who wants the whole world to capsize under him.
When you add Don Cheadle, Rebecca Hall and Jon Favreau to the list, there ought to be some decent acting between the vast quantity of action set pieces, and sometimes there is.
Kingsley, in particular, dares to go for comedy rather than ham-fisted melodrama and raises the best laughs to go along with the Bond-like quips that litter Drew Pearce and Black’s smart but hollow screenplay.
Like most recent spring and summer blockbusters, you could argue that the film is too long and its plot too complicated for maximum comfort as Stark embarks on yet another quest to destroy those responsible for almost wrecking his life.
The vaguely philosophical question behind the film seems to be “Does the man make the Iron Man suit or does the suit make the man?”
Downey only just manages to persuade us that it’s the former. But his performance is as elusively charismatic as the script and story allows.
All this, however, is secondary to the whopping great action pieces, the last of which is set within a vast steel dock that gets totally wrecked as Stark and Killian fight to a final conclusion, and save the president of the United States (William Sadler) into the bargain.
Some of these are spectacular but a bit of a mess. Like the film itself, in fact, which can’t decide how seriously to take itself.
