What happened here? After last year's The Avengers and the insurmountable hype leading up to its release, Iron Man 3 was supposed to be the best movie of the summer. Heck, Rotten Tomatoes still has it at a respectable 73 percent approval rating. But the movie is horrible.
Warning: There are spoilers in this rant.
First of all, the movie was released in May and set at Christmas time. Plus it was set at Christmas time in a warm place. Whenever a character claimed it was Christmas, I was like, "No it's not." And the giant bunny rabbit Christmas gift was such a one-off gag that I was waiting the rest of the movie for it to be part of a joke. It never was.
Next, Tony Stark is supposed to be a genius but is an idiot. At the end, we know that he had an army of Iron Man suits that were capable of autonomous action whenever he wanted it. So when helicopters were shooting missiles at his home, he forgot about his armada? And when he was stranded in Tennessee, he forgot about his armada? Guy's an idiot.
The trailer lied to us. When I saw Tony Stark in the trailer dragging his suit through the snow, I could only assume that he would have to go into hiding and rebuild somewhere desolate. But really, he just had to drag his suit to a nearby garage. Plus, the trailer made the Mandarin seem like a really cool villain. He wasn't.
The main villain of the movie was really Tony Stark's panic attacks. Like, he got nervous and had to go outside. I paid to sit there and watch someone get nervous and have to go outside.
Finally, the movie neglected The Avengers universe. I was expecting some sort of forward motion in the story toward The Avengers 2 or even hints at next year's Marvel Studios pictures. Instead, the after-credits scene revealed that the whole movie was Tony Stark reciting the events to Bruce Banner. And Bruce Banner was asleep. Let me say that again: Bruce Banner fell asleep as Tony Stark told him the plot of the movie. I can't blame him.