Iron Man 3 wisely stays within the margins. It doesn't try to go bigger than Iron Man 2, with more men in larger suits battling with Tony Stark. So many superhero films make that mistake, and when it happens, it gets tiring to watch onscreen. This film goes darker and more introspective than many of the other Marvel superhero films that have been produced thus far. 

The film can't top The Avengers, but since each film has different goals, it brings a uniqueness to this new, possibly final chapter to the story of Iron Man. More than anything, the story is about the literal and figurative deconstruction of Tony Stark and his separation from the Iron Man suit. Is he able to function? Can the world survive with or without the symbol that Iron Man represents? These are great, worthy questions to ask about these kinds of films. This is a solid start to the apparent "Phase Two" shift of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

This film keeps the focus entirely on Tony Stark. He still has that outsized ego in place, but it gets brought down a notch as the film progresses. He suffers from trauma related to the events in New York from The Avengers. In a way, this could be the film's primary problem. It addresses the PTSD-like symptoms that Tony suffers throughout, but it never comes close to figuring out what Tony needs to resolve or, for that matter, how to resolve it.

The trauma humanizes Stark, forces him to look at his flaws and mistakes, yet it doesn't really change who he is. He needs the suit as a stopgap measure to combat it, then decides to face it head-on, and determines that he would best function without the usual accoutrements that come with being Iron Man. It's a much better exploration of the character and his relationships with others than the previous standalone Iron Man film. It just lacks full resolution, especially since the PTSD is focused on so early in the proceedings. The trauma leads to Stark's downfall, then his rise back from the ashes. It is an arc not dissimilar to the one Bruce Wayne goes through in The Dark Knight Rises.

There are parts of this that do work. The Mandarin's aim is to bring Tony down to size, and he achieves that. When Tony issues a direct challenge to the Mandarin, he attacks without hesitation. As a result, he suffers, and the film goes about changing expectations. Pepper gets to don the Iron Man suit, which is a nice change of pace. The Mandarin's attack is also a sly commentary on the current state of the media and their focus around the glorification of terrorists. The Mandarin brings back memories of Osama bin Laden with his beard and attacks on the US military clouded under the name of the Ten Rings. All of which are unsettling to say the least.

His attacks have the feel of a false flag operation carried out by the government, which speak to the mindset for some Americans in the wake of any catastrophic event. A cleverly-disguised plot twist clearly demonstrates how criminals and other entities are all just part of a constantly-fed media machine. This isn't really new, but a nice little shakeup in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

It doesn't address the absence of the Avengers or S.H.I.E.L.D., though Iron Man 3 hardly has to do so. If anything, Tony could have used some help from his super-powered friends. Getting inspiration from a friendship with a kid wasn't the best thing to do. Plus, that aspect dragged the pacing through the middle of the film. It's another way to humanize Stark, bring him down to the level of us ordinary folk, yet somehow feels unnecessary.

That is true of the supporting characters around Tony Stark. The film is centered so much around him that the supporting characters aren't supporting so much as marginalized. After Pepper dons the Iron Man suit, she disappears for a good stretch of the film along with Rebecca Hall's Maya Hansen character. Instead, Shane Black elects to pair Stark with James Rhodes, and a lot of that involves variations of the Iron Man suit.

Black is a first-timer to comic book films, but that's hard to tell here. The movie is long and has pacing issues, but makes up for it with some nifty action pieces. Most notable would be the destruction of Stark's Malibu pad, a fight in the Mandarin's headquaters, a rescue on Air Force One (my personal favorite of the action set pieces because it got me invested in the outcome), and a battle on a ship that serves as the climax of the film. The Mandarin is a scary villain (Ben Kingsley has great gravitas), Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce) has the air of oily businessman/rival tech hound, and all manner of super-powered henchmen provide a big threat. I have to admit though, that the henchmen reminded me of one of the characters in X-Men: First Class.

The action is staged well enough. The final battle is a little unclear in terms of who is where, but it has a couple of real cheer-worthy moments. That sums up Iron Man 3: elegant in its design, with a different take on the character arc of Tony Stark, but ultimately lacking the briskness and fun of The Avengers or the first Iron Man. The aim is smaller, and in that way, the film is a rousing success, even with some nitpicky flaws present.