TheRetroCritic

(SPOILER-FREE REVIEW) Hey, remember when movies didn't flat-out lie to your face? I mean, I know all trailers are lies to a certain extent but... I gotta say: this one takes the cake. What Iron Man 3 promised during its kickass marketing campaign seemed so right, so perfect, and yet somehow the movie I was faced with while sitting comfortably in the cinema sipping on a large, watered-down Diet Coke, was not what I expected and, by extension, not what I wanted. Or, I feel, what the franchise itself deserved. Surprises can be a great thing in movies: Psycho killing off its main actress early on, for example, worked as a surprise because it made sense with what happened next, it was masterfully executed and left the audience feeling lost but curious and ultimately hooked. Iron Man 3 is no Psycho. The film boasts a couple of shock reveals which you wouldn't even think about from watching the trailers but instead of adding an extra layer of awesomeness to the film,

It's cream-your-pants time! I simply cannot wait.

With the success of Marvel's modern comic-book to movie adaptations, it was inevitable that a crossover would one day be attempted. The studio had, after all, been building up to it for years, testing their own capabilities with every movie and the result was one huge epic that did not disappoint entertainment-wise and raised the bar for any superhero flicks that followed. The run-up to the film was hardly flawless with The Hulk going through two makeovers before Mark Ruffalo snapped the role and Iron Man 2 not getting the best reviews despite being loads of fun. Potential further helpers Spider-Man and The Fantastic Four crashed and burned before the big project, the former going for a reboot and the latter not looking good, to say the least. Joss Whedon leads an all-star cast in this cinematic adventure full of iconic characters so many kids and adults alike have been picturing themselves as since they were three. Chris Evans plays it straight once again as Steve Rogers/C

The first Iron Man took people by surprise in that it was actually pretty darn good. After the catastrophe that was the Fantastic Four franchise, this was nothing short of a miracle. Was Marvel finally ready to take on more challenges? Make more decent superhero films? Hell yeah! With Robert Downey Jr. officially back in everyone's good books after his career tumbled despite taking on the Charlie Chaplin role in Richard Attenborough's critically acclaimed biopic, a decent run in Ally MacBeal and the fact he's one of the most talented actors around,  this sequel was able to give the actor a little more creative freedom and allowed the franchise to go wild and have some fun. Tony Stark goes through quite a few ups and downs in this movie as he starts to enjoy his fame as the self-proclaimed Iron Man a bit too much, even defying U.S. officials in typical cocky, flashy fashion before losing control completely and finding refuge in alcoholism following a bad run-in w