Iron Man 3

I was pretty eager to see this movie, as most people would expect after a successful run and buildup culminating with The Avengers.  It's was good and decent enough, but I think without giving too much of the plot away, falls a bit short of my own expectations.  This time around, we're taking a closer look at the flaws and vulnerabilities of Tony Stark in the aftermath of his most challenging life altering experience with The Avengers and going back into Stark's past to see the origins of his current villain - The Mandarin.  It's a challenging and logical premise that is very relevant to all that went on in the previous movies with his character while simultaneously speaking to the ways in which warfare/terrorism, the military industrial complex, and the media are all used.  So in this juncture, I think it inevitably loses much of the steam throughout at least half the film.  Flashbacks to the past are done throughout to help explain the storyline and witness the arc of Stark's character evolving and re-inventing himself in the face of mortality and guilt.  How is all that done while defeating the bad guys and pulling out all the obligatory coolness of all that is Iron Man? Well, rather good by Downey of course, and somewhat and understandably mediocre by director Shane Black.  This Iron Man does very well at examining itself and I found it similar in many ways to the movie Watchmen, which I also liked.  Indeed at this point in the franchise, it seems rather obligatory especially when you look at the inward character journeys in other movies like Spiderman 3 or The Dark Knight Rises.  Ok, so juxtapose that with the other half of Stark pulling out all the very cool upgrades to his suit in fighting a let's just say, shadowy enemy who falls somewhat short of being really interesting or that intriguing.  The Iron Man soup we usually order hasn't exactly marinated long enough to absorb all the flavors well this time around.  If it sounds like I hated this movie, far from it.  I just know it could have been done better with less going on in the story, because it seemed to divide the movie into too many pieces of an ambitious pie, at the expense of an even enough momentum and urgency that is usually customary in propelling the audience to the next part of the marvel story.  Spoiler alert - instead, I waited for all the long ass credits to roll through, only to find Dr. Bruce Banner falling asleep on Stark's narrative.  I found that pretty telling indeed.