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Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe begins with the next movie in the "Marvel-thon": Iron Man 3.
Some time has passed since the Battle of New York, and Tony Stark has never been the same. He can't sleep, he's been constantly building new Iron Man suits, and to make matters worse, the events of that day (one in particular) have caused him to suffer panic attacks. His problems don't stop there: a series of bombings, courtesy of the Mandarin (leader of the Ten Rings terrorist group*), has left evidence untraceable for the government, but not for Tony. This ultimately leads Tony to a conspiracy where perhaps these bombings, and the man behind them, are something more.
What Worked: The first thing to talk about is the cast. Robert Downey Jr. continues to be excellent as Tony Stark. Here, what he's going through brings about a different side to Tony. At some times, he's the Tony Stark that everyone knows and loves, and then at other times, he'll be the Tony Stark that's facing enormous amounts of pressure. The balance between the two works very well.
Gwyneth Paltrow is still really good as Pepper Potts, and she shows that she is concerned for Tony, perhaps even more so than in the first movie.
Don Cheadle returns as Rhodey, who has a new armor in this movie: the Iron Patriot. The relationship he has with Tony is given an interesting new dynamic here, having a "buddy-cop movie" feel to it in a few moments. It shows through their banter and even through providing some moments of action for him.
The other returning characters are Jon Favreau as Happy Hogan and Paul Bettany as the voice of J.A.R.V.I.S. Jon Favreau is just playing Happy this time around; he didn't also direct this one. While he's not in the movie that much, there's a reason for that which also ties into Tony going on the warpath to find the Mandarin, but going into what that reason is would likely be a spoiler. As for Paul Bettany, he's still good as J.A.R.V.I.S., but he's more of a supporting character here, considering how sometimes Tony doesn't even need to be in a suit to control it.
Then there are the new characters: Guy Pearce as Aldrich Killian, Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen, and Ben Kingsley as someone significant to the plot (revealing his name would potentially be a huge spoiler). Guy Pearce is very good here; at first, he seems like a nice guy, but there comes a point where you can tell he's bad news. Rebecca Hall is good as Maya Hansen, a scientist who works with Killian on experiments with her technology. She really sells that she has good intentions that may have consequences. As for Ben Kingsley, I'll mention him in a little bit.
For the other positives, the first is the direction by Shane Black. I previously mentioned the "buddy-cop movie" feel in some parts of this, and he's known for applying that to his work, having written the script for Lethal Weapon and directing Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, which also had Robert Downey Jr., and, following this, The Nice Guys. His skill with that genre shows in those particular parts of this.
Another positive is the story. It's more concise here than it was in Iron Man 2. It's more straightforward: the Battle of New York affected Tony, and the pressure mounts when new threats emerge. It leaves him at his most vulnerable because his past comes back to haunt him in several ways. The structure is also better here. The first half is especially really good, because it feels like it's keeping with the tone of the previous two movies. The third act follows up on that by going all-out and delivering a payoff for certain plot points established early on in the movie.
The action sequences are very tense, and there are three standouts, one being the finale. It does follow "that rule," in other words.
The score by Brian Tyler is pretty good, but the standout in regards to the music for me is a song played in the opening as the Marvel Studios logo is coming up. Those who grew up in the 90s like myself will be blown away by the use of that song, as if the fact that the movie opens differently from other MCU movies didn't catch them off guard enough.
The effects, as always, are great here, especially in the third act, since they help serve the purpose of that third act.
What Didn't Work: There are a fair amount of problems here. I will get the biggest one out of the way first, which is one a lot of people have: there's a big reveal involving Ben Kingsley's character that is ultimately very polarizing. Some people love it, and some people hate it. I'm mixed on it, because I get what they were trying to do with it and appreciate the effort. At the same time, if it kept to the tone of the previous two movies (and the first half of this one) which were building up to something big, or at least took its execution and switched it, then the whole movie could have been on par with the first one, if not better. Plus, the conspiracy aspect would have been done better.
Considering Shane Black's direction, another thing he's known for is having quite a bit of humor. The problem with that is in the script. Sometimes, it feels like it's trying to be more of a comedy and less of a superhero movie. On occasion, even the effects are used for the purpose of a joke. It would have worked better if it were dialed back a bit or perhaps kept to a minimum and used when necessary.
I also mentioned how the action does follow a certain rule, but the problem with it here is that the transition from one sequence to the next does not feel as smooth as it did in the first one.
The biggest problem aside from the reveal results from the amount of humor and structure of the action: the tone, the same main issue I had with Thor. It's basically done the same way; it's compelling in some parts, and comedic in others. It even affects the pacing, but to a much more severe degree here. The entire first half is really good, but then it halts right in the middle of the movie before picking back up in the third act, whereas with Thor, that happened when it would go back and forth between the settings.
Overall: Iron Man 3 is like the second one where it still has its moments, although the first one remains the best of the three. However, it does get closer to being at least as good as the first one. It just has a few things holding it back. It could have been a stronger movie had it developed the villains more. With that issue being present here, it unfortunately begins the villain problem the MCU would have in several later movies. At the same time, though, it feels like further developing the hero is sometimes meant to take precedence over having a good villain, even if that means the threat they are currently dealing with may not be as impactful as a previous one.
Speaking of not as impactful, there is an additional issue here: this does contain one of the MCU's weaker post-credits scenes... and yes, where there's a post-credits scene, there is a Stan Lee cameo.
*That is one of several nods to the first movie; there was one in the second movie as well that foreshadowed the first big action sequence there.