Iron Man 3

Well folks, this weekend kicks off the summer movie season, and how apropos that it should kick off with the high-budget, high-adrenaline, high-explosive "Iron Man 3". And this is just the beginning of summer fare to titillate that 18-24 year-old single male demographic. They will be salivating, but will have to wait for the likes of "Pacific Rim", "Fast & Furious 6", "Star Trek: Into Darkness", "Lone Ranger", "World War Z", "White House Down", and a plethora of others.

Marvel's "Iron Man 3" pits brash-but-brilliant industrialist Tony Stark/Iron Man (Robert Downey, Jr.) against an enemy, The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley) whose reach knows no bounds. When Stark finds his personal world destroyed at his enemy's hands, he embarks on a harrowing quest, all the while trying to protect those he cares about, especially that of Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow). With his back against the wall, Stark is left to survive by his own devices, relying on his ingenuity and instincts to protect those he trusts, including Col. James Rhodes (Don Cheadle) and the president (William Sadler). As he fights his way back, Stark discovers the answer to the question that has secretly haunted him: does the man make the suit or does the suit make the man?

Others to round out the cast are Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, owner of a think tank, Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen, scientist and former girlfriend of Stark's, Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan, Stark's personal security guard, James Badge Dale as Savin, henchman of The Mandarin, Paul Bettany as voice of Jarvis, Dale Dickey as Mrs. Davis, Ty Simpkins as Harley Keener, Miguel Ferrer as Vice President Rodriguez, and Xueqi Wang as Dr. Wu.

This was actually directed by a writer in the form of Shane Black ("Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" '03). He has directed feature films before, hence the aforementioned film, but this guy is a longtime writer. Considering his limited experience in the director's chair, he was actually able to convey these characters as real as one can be, and that's tough to do when this is based on a comic book. As mentioned prior, this was written by Black ("Lethal Weapon" '87, "The Monster's Squad" '87, "The Last Boy Scout" '91, "Last Action Hero" '93, "The Long Kiss Goodnight" '96, "Kiss Kiss Bang Bang" '05), and by Drew Pearce ("Pacific Rim" '13). The writing is definitely Black's playground in that he is consummate in writing a good action flick--better than most. It was based on the Marvel comic book by Stan Lee, Don Heck, Larry Lieber, and Jack Kirby.

Surprisingly, this installment of the franchise is better than I ever would have thought, mostly because sequels usually are made to cash in on their successful predecessors. This seems to have broken that mold, although making more bucks never hurts in the process, and I'm sure is part of the initial equation. This, for obvious reasons, looks great on the big screen and in 3D--the visual effects were stunning, so I have to say, if you wait to rent this on DVD, I will assume that you have not seen this flick. Enjoy the ride.

Out of 4 Stars: 3                       Rated: PG-13                        130mins.