While I cannot say Iron Man 3 is better than the original, at least I can acknowledge its superiority over Iron Man 2. It’s an energetic, action-packed flick that's made better thanks to its lead role and humor. The story follows Tony Stark (once again played by Robert Downey, Jr.) who is failing to find a balance between his girlfriend and his obsessive building of Iron Man suits. Stark is also cursed with dealing with random panic attacks, created from his experience with the Alien Invasion/near-death experience in The Avengers. Stark also gets more than he bargained for when he foolhardily challenges active terrorist The Mandarin to a revenge fight after the villain seemingly attacks and injures Stark’s head of security.
Similar to the first two films in the series, Iron Man 3 is both creative and witty with its use of humor. This has always been a specialty with the Iron Man series: utilizing Robert Downey, Jr.’s unique personality along with some clever writing to create a lighthearted feel, rarely having scenes of intense drama or severity. That’s not to say this series is all goofy fun and games, as all Iron Man films treat themselves with a certain air of seriousness and realism. But thanks to Robert Downey, Jr.’s pitch perfect behavior, even some of the more tense situations become more jocular when compared to similar scenes in other superhero movies. Of course, not everybody's going to enjoy this, but my guess is if you’re willing to pay and see the third film in the series then you know what you’re up for (or you just like torturing yourself). Either way, Iron Man 3 pays off with some great use of humor and comedy (with some of the better jokes in the series).
Iron Man 3 (which got a new director, Shane Black) made up for this mistake by once again finding an even balance between the three aspects of character, comedy, and action. Iron Man 3's great action sequences were spread out through the film, many featuring Stark with some sort of technical issue that prevented him from becoming fully operational Iron Man. As such, director Shane Black finds unique ways for Stark to strategically fight his enemies without his full power (several battles even have Stark fighting with no armor at all). These fights are some of the most creative in the series and are delightfully fun to watch. Even by the end when Stark summons all his suits to fight in the finale (I do not consider this a spoiler since they showed it in every trailer) there is still use of Stark fighting unarmored: using his wits to defeat the enemy.
It should be noted that the original Iron Man kept an air of realism to the reality we live in, making it seem like its plot could actually happen (this was one of its many strengths that The Dark Knight would soon follow). However, after The Avengers threw realism out the window with aliens and gods, Iron Man 3 is allowed to pursue more crazy and unrealistic villains to add a new punch…something it sadly failed to do. Iron Man 3's main villain is a major disappointment, being both cliché and entirely forgettable—something it shares with Iron Man 2’s main villain. In fact, both villains share a common theme of being snubbed by the Stark family and wanting revenge (which gets really tiring after seeing it for the millionth time). On the flip side, there is quite a humorous surprise involving one of the “villains” later in the film that I did enjoy thoroughly, not to mention some enjoyable tweaking of speech clichés such as, “’You’re a maniac.’ ‘No, I’m an idealist, but I own a maniac.’”
There is also this bizarre side plot involving Tony Stark having panic attacks due to his encounter with the wormhole in The Avengers (which, by the way, is a treat to have referenced multiple times throughout the film). This plays off as a serious issue in the beginning of the film and ends up going nowhere as the story progresses—adding nothing to the overall story (just as this paragraph adds generally nothing to my overall review).
In terms of female characters, Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) plays a surprisingly more active role as Tony Stark’s girlfriend/CEO of Stark Industries throughout this film than she did in the first two. It’s a rare sight to see the female love interest take a more heroic part in superhero movies (for examples of this not happening, just watch the original Superman films, the Spider-Man trilogy, or any Batman film that doesn't have Catwoman). As such I thoroughly enjoyed seeing the female lead do more than just playing the damsel in distress (though, sadly, she does get captured and play that part once during the film). There is also some good developmental issues over Stark’s obsession with his machines and his relationship with Pepper that, while shakily done at times, comes together rather nicely by the end.
Iron Man 3 is not a disappointment and gave me some great scenes of humor, action, and Robert Downey, Jr. who is the backbone that makes it all work together. If you’re looking for another great film similar to the original, then you’ll most likely not find it here, but if you’re looking for an Iron Man sequel to redeem the second, then this one is right up your alley.