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5 comments
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on 5/3/2013
Overall, Iron Man 3 is a nice improvement over the franchise's previous installment. It doesn't have the lack of focus that plagued Iron Man 2. Also, the character arc of Tony Stark is so much more interesting in Iron Man 3. Nicely done, Mr. Shane Black.
For me, the first two are on rather equal footing, and the third lags considerably behind, while still being a success. The "much more interesting" character arc Caesar mentions IM3 having felt a smidgen underdeveloped to me. More time could've been spent digging into the "why." As is, it's barely touched upon, Black using Stark's anxiety attacks more as a plot device than a real symptom of his mental state worthy of introspection. Also, IM3 didn't impress me all that much until Stark had to start relying more on his brain than his suits.
on 5/4/2013
Iron Man 2 had great ideas and potential, but the pre-Avengers elements (probably encouraged by the studio) prevented those ideas from flourishing. This resulted in underdeveloped/poorly characterized villains, a poorly paced and unfocused movie that simply fails to do its own themes justice. But the biggest flaw of the film is that one never feels that Stark is being truly challenged by anything, or anyone. Iron Man 3 truly makes one feel that our hero is being tested to his limits, which itself is more than enough to take the win here.
I really think that Iron Man 3 is the best of the three films and I enjoyed them ALL quite a bit. If IM3 tops IM1 then it certainly tops the second. I found Iron Man 3 to be so refreshing, thrilling and fun that it has to be considered the best number three film the genre has seen.
on 5/5/2013
I love all three films, as of right now I'd rank them like this: 1 > 3 > 2.
on 5/6/2013
Iron Man 2 was fucking terrible. Iron Man 3 was fucking amazing.
Iron Man 3 was by far the most entertaining of the three....
The main credit for IM3 for me goes to the fact that they decided to do something a little more complicated for a climax than Two Big Guys Duking It Out, but IM3's villain was lame-o, and shared the bad hairdo of Rourke in IM2. Kingsley was a hoot, but if they were trying to be topical, they missed it. I thought there were some interesting ideas suggested in IM2 about the right to intellectual property and private defense, that quickly got ditched, in part to setup Avengers. And in the age of Obama, what's the deal with casting generic old white guys as President? And if they're going to do that, get an actor that makes the President interesting, like maybe Harrison Ford? Isn't it bad if I don't care whether the President dies or not? The plot felt somewhat convoluted, and didn't hold my interest. And exactly how rich IS Tony Stark that he has enough money to burn to initiate that final protocol? Maybe he is a genius, but genius is not enough to sustain wealth, leave alone necessarily make it, and with his wild ego, how could he not eventually become bankrupt?
on 5/16/2013
Iron man 3 blew 2 away.
on 5/21/2013
Just read some interviews with Mickey Rourke about the lack of development n' effort on his character. So poorly used. Judging only by it,Iron Man III already would be a better movie. Dude,they finally made a Ironman villain memorable. THAT'S HARD. Read some comic books,you'll understand it.
on 5/22/2013
Both are quite good but Iron Man 3 is simply superior at every turn.
on 11/2/2013
Iron Man 3 was better in almost every way.
on 2/25/2014
Iron Man 3 is much better than Iron Man 2, even though both are very enjoyable. IM2 just didn't have something that the other two did, and I'm not exactly sure what.
on 3/20/2014
Easily Iron Man 3. It's the best of the Iron Man trilogy, although I must say that I enjoyed the third film only mildly. The first one is slightly below mediocre, the second one is really terrible. The third one fixes most if not all of the problems I had with the first two (the lack of a plot, the annoying dialogue, the "I'm jealous of you Tony Stark so I will kill you"-type villains, the lack of (satisfying) action scenes and the lacking sense of danger), even though it's only just okay. Shane Black is a great writer, but he's not as great a director; the action scenes were a bit messy, the pacing could've been improved and the film just looks too dark (a nitpick I guess, but whatever).
on 7/6/2014
Sam Rockwell helps me not totally dislike Iron Man 2, but he's not enough to win over Iron Man 3.
As others here have said IM3 is simply much better at offering the main character a real challenge to face, both mentally and physically.
on 8/29/2014
agree with honestfilm
on 8/30/2014
Neither are as good as the original. When I first saw Iron Man 3 I thought it was better than Iron Man 2 but now I just feel kind of bored with it. This might be the only time I vote for Iron Man 2.
on 10/8/2014
uhh Worst movies don't exist
on 10/26/2014
Upon farther review, Iron Man 1 is still the king but Iron Man 3 is still a damn fine film. A trilogy done right.
on 2/11/2015
Iron Man 3 was great. It was cool to see Tony lose his shit and not be in total control of himself. The whole man vs machine theme was very well done too.
on 3/10/2015
i like many aspects of Iron Man 2 but overall it didnt have the restraint and at times was silly! but I still love Warmachine and Whiplash but Iron Man 3 even with the semi lame Paltrow romance had heart and deep sci-fi elements with a great story and the way Tony Stark was a more personal character was great! overall the franchise goes 1-3-2!
on 8/13/2015
Iron Man 3 is still in my top 3 Marvel Studios movies, whereas Iron Man 2 is still the worst IMO
on 10/9/2015
The best Marvel movie vs. The worst. Touché.
Iron man 3 sucked less
on 11/11/2015
Iron Man 3 is a lot cooler than the second one
on 4/15/2016
Definitely like 3 way better than 2. But 1 is still the best!
on 2/13/2021
both underrated imo but IM3 is better
on 4/11/2021
iron man 3 is the best of the trilogy, whereas iron man 2 is the worst of the trilogy
on 4/16/2021
Both have many major and minor issues. But IM3 can’t even keep its tone consist, and what it did to Tony was just sad. Instead of exploring his PTSD more we just gotta crank out jokes while he’s having breakdowns. It feels like he himself is started to realize he’s in a Shane Black movie. Also the battles were really weird, like, people just forget they have weapons.. or exist really and stand around to be shot. Not to mention that terrible, terrible plot twist. It feels like the movie doesn’t even respect itself really, and it has just a mess of a plot to give you a head scratcher. Also the world building was pretty weird.. I’ve given my opinion on IM2 before so I’ll save most of it, but yeah it’s also a mess but there’s a lot more it did right. While IM3 is almost embarrassing at times.
on 8/26/2021
IM3 by far, IM2 is kinda bad
on 7/23/2022
Neither of them were as good as the original but I do like them more than most MCU movies. Iron Man 2 wins but this is probably the only series in the MCU that has no bad entries.
on 10/26/2022
Both of these disappointed me but I feel IM 3's best moments outnumber those of IM2
on 12/18/2023
Iron Man 3 was the worst MCU film pre Endgame, it literally bored me to sleep every time I tried watching it. The idea of fighting empty Iron Man suits was the worst. Iron Man 2 wasn't great at all but much more enjoyable.
