Iron Man 3

The film’s true strength is a snappy, whip-smart wit

Besides rehabbing a hero who overcomes anxiety to save the world and defeat the terror-industrial complex by the simple matter of cloning his...

To use a recondite term in professional film criticism: whoo-hoo!

This new Iron Man movie is probably the strongest of the series. The emphasis is on flip fun all the way.

It’s a confidently tongue-in-cheek piece of blockbuster engineering, sweetly calibrated to Downey’s cavalier appeal and to Kingsle...

If you’re the sort of viewer for whom Black’s strengths more than make up for his weaknesses, the best bits of Iron Man 3 wil...

Either IM3 is a Marvel movie in the guise of a Shane Black action-comedy or the other way around. Regardless, it’s an awful lot of fun.

While Iron Man 3 is a huge improvement over the second installment, certain story elements that rip the comics to shreds will anger many...

This installment actually flirts with satire, sending its hero-in-a-can on a vengeful mission against a mad, bearded jihadist before yanking t...

Some details won’t fly for source material outsiders, but the Tony Stark charm and incredible action are enough to make the film a succe...

It’s decent popcorn entertainment – just fine for the summertime, but nothing more than that.

With Jon Favreau, director of the previous Iron Man films, still around in his sidekick role as Happy Hogan, continuity is maintained, but Black do...

Director Shane Black balances superior action and visual-effects set-pieces with passages that depend on the acting chops of the talented cast…

Shane Black excels at writing witty, self-referential, pop-infused banter, and there is no actor working today who is better suited to delivering i...

The best scenes are when Stark just cuts impatiently through the claptrap.

It sharply fuses the humor and heart of the earlier films with a satisfyingly heavy-metal strength – and a darkness that’s more tha...

The movie does exactly what a blockbuster should--entertain.

Snappy dialogue, momentarily startling plot twists and lots of stuff blowing up.

Downey is a brilliant actor who somehow manages to portray Tony Stark as traumatised without losing the character’s laidback and comedic...

The rambunctious Iron Man 3 is a briskly paced thrill ride until about 90 minutes in, when the excitement wanes. A few late-bre...

The level of acting, at one time viewed as negligible in a superhero movie, is top-notch and no one seems to be mailing it in.

The new film’s not great, but it’s consistently involving because the tonal shifts are so abrupt.

In the annals of superhero movies, this is not the most thrilling, but it does contain two Downton Abbey jokes, and a stonking performance fro...

The film provides more of the same and nothing startlingly innovative, but what’s here is good.

Just like he does with those crummy Sherlock Holmes movies, Downey elevates this rather flimsy material with his sheer presence.

Shane Black here replaces his once-acidic spite for government and bureaucracy with a call for corporate responsibility.

I go to the Iron Man films, like everyone else, for Robert Downey Jr. He is the series in the way that few actors, outside of Sean Connery as James...

Black has an instinctive feel for balancing action set-pieces against the passages of soap-opera that are required to make them matter.

The best in this series and one of the best Marvel films overall.

Better than Iron Man 2.

A no-holds-barred if uneven epic that should satisfy most diehard fans.

[Black] strikes a tone of pseudo-edgy frat-boy black comedy that’s so retro it’s almost charming.

Downey is as funny as ever, if not more so. He ensures that Iron Man 3 is a solid installment in the franchise, and helps to make it seem...

Black is good at giving his heroes a morbid, self-hating edge and even better at coming up with hateable villains.

What matters is Downey’s total commitment to playing Stark as a flawed, complex, but greatly gifted character.

Iron Man 3 follows a psychologically tormented hero who has light-hearted fun while engaging in cartoonish mayhem and uncovering corruption th...

Black largely acquits himself well, keeping the pace brisk, deploying a couple of modest surprises and staging a few undeniably impressive, su...

By even posing questions of identity, the film creates the kind of jeopardy we can believe in, and for a superhero movie, that is an accomplis...

Beyond all the explosions and action set pieces and 3D wizardry, you can still hear a writer with a distinctive, entertaining voice.

With Jon Favreau, director of the previous Iron Man films, still around in his sidekick role as Happy Hogan, continuity is maintained, but Black do...

Downey is in fine comic form, especially when he’s sparring with young Simpkins, who thankfully throttles back on the precociousness.

A worthy, quirky, entertaining follow-up to The Avengers.

Iron Man 3 is an ominously exciting, shoot-the-works comic-book spectacular.