Iron Man 3: Enough iron in this one

Iron Man 3

Ratings: 6.5/10

Robet Downey Jr, Ben Kingsley, Gweneth Paltrow

Robert Downey Jr is back, without the iron cladding in much of the movie this time. But there’s a lot happening outside of his trademark jacket — there’s the quintessential one-liners being thrown at you with wry humour, there is a mushy romance taking centrestage, there’s those Tony Stark panic stations and insomnia and — most importantly — there’s Sir Ben Kingsley as the most delightful villain in a long time.

As Mandarin, the nutcase terrorist, America-hater of unspecified nationality, he towers over everything in Iron Man 3, even over the otherwise so lovable Mr Stark. Kingsley’s portrayal of a man with few words, no reasoning and a lot of action, his kohl-lined eyes, his dimunitive frame and his ruthless inhumanity is both stunningly real and alluring in the same go.

Downey, on the other hand, is as much of an innovative genius of style as he has been in his former movies, but here, there is a more human side to him than his iron suit has traditionally allowed. 

He is a man in love and has no problems spending time on the screen trying to prove that. Paltrow, as his besotted girlfriend Pepper Podds, in a bit of a spot thanks to their long lost friend who has since evolved a technology for reconstructing handicapped people (of course with some awful side-effects), complements him well — good enough to save him in the end. 

Iron Man 3 will have its critics who will be ruing the fact that he spends so much time outside of his jacket and his stylish work station hanging over the Pacific Ocean till it is blown away by Mandarin. But it will also have its share of fans who will like him with that vulnerability quotient that superheroes consider politically incorrect to wear. Despite such varied opinions, there’s a lot happening in Iron Man 3 for it to make a splash. 

Source: Sunday Pioneer, 28 April, 2013