Iron Man 3

Rated 4.0

Shane Black, director of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang (starring Robert Downey Jr. in his best performance ever) and writer of such action classics as Lethal Weapon, gets his second directorial chore and delivers big time. Tony Stark (Downey Jr.) is now an insomniac suffering from panic attacks after the events of The Avengers, and he faces a new adversary in The Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). Stark is a little bit shaky in this one, and that gives the film a dark, comic edge. Gwyneth Paltrow gets a little more screen time as Pepper Potts, while Guy Pearce and Rebecca Hall show up as mysterious scientific types. Downey Jr. is as fun as ever here, and Black knows just what to do with him. Black is also pretty snappy with the action scenes, which don't disappoint. If this is the last of Downey Jr.'s solo Iron Man films, he's going out on a good note.