Iron Man 3 - A new type of Iron Man movie

The third instalment of the highly-successful Iron Man franchise goes off in a different direction to its predecessors. I'll assume that `part 3' (not including the Avengers) won't be people's first helping of Iron Man lore and they'll probably have a shrewd idea of what to expect from the previous episodes.

However, the film-makers have decided to go in a slightly different direction with this one. I can see their point. It may have felt a bit `samey' to have yet another villain wearing a suit of armour to battle our sarcastic hero Tony Stark, so they decided to downplay the suits of armour for the better part of the movie. Instead they focused more on `the man' himself, utilising his deductive powers, rather than just blasting baddies with his lasers.

And, to be blunt, while some people loved it, others hated it. So if you're looking for yet another superhero movies with larger than life baddies and plenty of high-tech, suit-wearing, destructive action, you may feel a little cheated. There is plenty of action (and a suitably explosive climax), but a lot of it involves more hand to hand fighting from Stark.

Personally, I thought it was quite a refreshing turn for a superhero film. Tony Stark always has been and always will be, Iron Man. If I just want to see him in the suit itself, I have parts 1 and 2 to watch. Nice to see something different. Roll on part 4 (and the Avengers 2).

7/10 if I woke up on Groundhog Day and had to watch this again, I could live with that