After being sucked through a wormhole, destroying the Tesseract, and saving the world from Loki and his alien minions, Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.), now suffering from Post-traumatic stress disorder, distracts himself with the latest robotic advancements while annoying his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). When a jilted scientist (Guy Pearce) teams up with Stark's brilliant ex-girlfriend and botanist (Rebecca Hall) working in unison with a terrorist known as The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley), Stark is faced with a band of fire breathing regenerative foes and the almost certain destruction of everyone he knows and cares about. With Lethal Weapon writer Shane Black taking over the reigns from Jon Favreau, Iron Man 3 is a step in the right direction, both from the last Iron Man movie (which I was way too generous towards) and the mindless relentlessness of The Avengers. Although the plot is muddled and the film is longish, it features some spectacularly staged action sequences and a dialed down performance from Downey Jr. The movie also benefits from the strength of its cast including veterans Paltrow and Don Cheadle and newcomers Pearce and Hall, although it's sad to report that Kingsley is somewhat of a letdown.
