The man behind the mask is the focus of this film and yes that will upset the geeks who crave non-stop action, but for those of us who care about this character, Tony Stark, is well worth taking the time to get to know thanks to Robert Downey Jr.'s skill as an actor and charisma as a movie star.
Gwyneth Paltrow is given more to do and his friendship with Don Cheadle as his pal helps ground the film too.
Iron Man's alter ego is still suffering the effects of the beating he got as one of the "Avengers" and his new suit has yet to be perfected, which leads to problems when his home comes under attack.
His opponent is a shadowy figure known as the mandarin, but the real villain isn't the one played by Ben Kingsley.
The trailers are a bit deceptive because seeing them you won't realize how long tony spends without his famous suit.
"I occasionally save the world," he says in the movie.
The operative word there is "occasionally" and that won't be often enough for some comic book fans. For me, it was a welcome relief to be emotionally engaged, to actually care about Tony's fate and when his research bears fruit and his suits multiply for a big finish, most every one of you will be cheering.
Iron Man 3 is being distributed by Walt Disney Pictures owned by the same parent company as ABC 7 to see and all my other reports and reviews, check out my Facebook page and if you do go to Iron Man 3 or any other movie this weekend, tweet me and tell me about it @sandykenyon7.
