Five Reasons To Watch Iron Man 3

Five years ago Robert Downey Jr. donned a suit of red and gold armour and gave geeks the world over a happy as he perfectly embodied one of Marvel's most-loved comic book characters. Four films and a cameo later, the man has perfected the art of quipping and the sexy arrogant swagger, making the role so much his own we can't imagine anyone else in it.

But can he keep the momentum of the role going in his third solo outing as genius, billionaire, playboy, philanthropist, Tony Stark?

As if there was ever any doubt. Here are five reasons to go see Iron Man 3 immediately...

Tony's Tale
After the events of The Avengers Assemble and the battle that nearly destroyed New York, we find Mr Stark in a very different place. Not physically, he's still got that amazing sea view, but emotionally. We always knew Tony Stark secretly had a heart and now he's finally showing it. Not quite sure how to deal with nearly dying for realsies, Tony figuratively throws himself into his work and quite literally hides in his basement. But when a terrorist attack by new big bad on the block The Mandarin hurts the people he loves, Stark decides it's time to fire up those thrusters once more and picks the biggest fight of his life.

Tony's tale is the true beauty of this movie. Unable to match the spectacle of The Avengers Assemble, Shane Black instead shrinks the focus back down to one hero - one man - and intelligently tells a story that delivers on all kinds of levels, packs a punch and gives us some genuinely brilliant laugh-out-loud moments, too.

We're Potty For Pepper
Gwyneth Paltrow's Pepper Potts has always been somewhat sidelined in the Iron Man movies. Omnipresent, but never quite important, and often - rather irritatingly - in distress. In Iron Man 3, however, we see a welcome change. The former PA gets her moment to shine… in fact, she gets loads of them, and it's extremely gratifying to see that she's no longer the whimpering damsel in need of rescue.

The Mandarin
We've been waiting to see Tony Stark face his archenemy on the big screen since 2008, but must admit we always thought The Mandarin would be a difficult character to realise in live action, what with his insane abilities and power rings and all. Thankfully, we thoroughly approve of the way the character is handled here. Sir Ben Kingsley is simply brilliant, several scene-stealing performances. While we're at it though, special mention must go to Guy Pierce, who kills it as scientist Aldrich Killian.

The Fighty, Actiony Bits
This movie being what it is, there's action galore as Iron Man faces some of his toughest, most ruthless foes yet. It'll surprise nobody to learn that the film builds to one hell of a climactic battle - and if ever there was a geekgasm to be had, it's the moment where we see Tony Stark's armour come into its own. We see them all in action - from Red Snapper to Heartbreaker, Igor, Shotgun and Silver Centurion - and each has been given its own playful personality not to mention some awesome weaponry we haven't seen before. Trust us, you'll tingle.

The Really Good Bits We Can't Talk About
So here's the thing. There's so much about this film we want to talk about. There's the ****, the **** and the **** is amazing! But we can't go there, because to go there would spoil too much and totally ruin the film for you. What we will say is that a huge room of people, including hardened journalists, laughed, cried and clapped at the advance screening we saw - and if that doesn't convince you to buy a ticket immediately, we don't know what will. Oh, and make sure you stay to the very end for some post-credits goodness.

GG♥SF Verdict: ♥♥♥♥♥ - Spectacular superhero fun of the highest quality.



Iron Man 3 hits UK cinemas on Thursday 25 April and flies into theatres in the states on Friday 3 May.