I Love You, Iron Man, but Iron Man 3 left me cold.

This is close to how I looked at the end of Iron Man 3.

Let's face it: Iron Man has become Marvel's flagship hero in the world of Comic book films.  Due to Robert Downey Jr.'s lovably wise ass turn as the self proclaimed genius, billionaire, playboy and philanthropist, Iron Man has become a household name.  I loved the first Iron Man because it felt unique among superhero films and it was just a blast to watch.  The film's really about the man beneath the metal and his journey from irresponsible, self-absorbed weapons manufacturer to one man weapon deterrent making up for his past sins.  As Stark himself states, he wants to help the people he put in harm's way.  Even so he never loses the traits (including his narcissism), that make him who he is.  Iron Man 2 was a good follow up although I don't think it's as good as the first.  Iron Man is a wonderful origin story, which is a tough act to follow. Truthfully, I felt IM2 drags about halfway through as Tony basically wallows in self-pity.  The final action scenes were cool but felt too short although Mickey Rourke was a pretty cool Whiplash.  All in all, IM2 was an enjoyable sequel.   
The quality of the first two were part of the reason I was let down by IM3. The film's buildup was enormous given that it was the first post-Avengers Marvel film.  I'm sure a lot of people who didn't see the first two saw the third because of Avengers.  The trailers seemed to indicate that this would be the darkest of the IM films, showing Tony dealing with anxiety after the traumatic battle in New York.  The film's main villain, The Mandarin (played by legend Ben Kingsley), seemed like a truly brilliant and diabolical badass out to prove a point.  Part of my disappointment was the huge discrepancy between the tone of the trailers and the actual film.  I know that trailers often build up unrealistic expectations, but IM3 felt far off from what I hoped to see. 
I'm gonna jump to what was probably my biggest beef with the film; the revelation that Mandarin is not a shadowy terrorist mastermind but is instead a goofy British actor hired to play the part.  Not having read Iron Man comics, I was unfamiliar with Mandarin but the trailers gave me the impression of him as a Bane-like adversary; strategic, brilliant and downright menacing.  It seemed like Mandarin would hit Tony right where he lives and make it personal.  Maybe comparing him to Bane was a mistake, but anything would have been better than him being all smoke and mirrors. 
When this was revealed I'll admit that it was a surprise I never saw coming and in a film genre that can often be predictable, that's hard to do.  Even so, I was ultimately pissed at the tease of the whole thing.  What could've been an epic confrontation between hero and villain was completely shit upon for the sake of laughs.  After learning that Mandarin's just an invention of the film's real villain, a geneticist named Aldrich Killian who was snubbed by Tony years before and vows revenge, I knew how the rest of the film would play out and was completely pulled out of the story.  The fact that Killian orchestrates all this to essentially get back at Stark for blowing him off is kind of lame.  Some people have said it's the same basic plot from the Incredibles.  Maybe some people were able to go along with this twist, but once I saw it, I basically washed my hands off the whole thing.
Another aspect that bothered me was the intense focus on humor.  The film doesn't miss an opportunity to squeeze out as many forced jokes as possible.  Scenes which could've brought depth to Tony Stark's character by showing him overcoming his anxiety and finding his motivation again were simply torpedoed by jokes.  We get it; Tony is a witty, sarcastic guy who handles intense situations with humor.  By the third film though this fact has been firmly established and I feel that the reason a lot of people are getting into these films is simply to see what Tony Stark will say next.  Don't get me wrong, I like that Tony's a funny guy because that's his personality, but the humor shouldn't feel forced; it's more enjoyable when it arises naturally from the situations and doesn't undermine the epic-ness.  If I wanted to laugh my ass off throughout an entire film, I'd just pop on I Love You, Man or 40 Year Old Virgin.  To me, it's always more satisfying to see a beloved hero battling their demons, falling to the bottom of doubt and fear and pulling themselves back up, (definitely not talking about Dark Knight Rises).  Like IM2, I felt 3 dragged in the middle when Tony ends up stranded in the mid-west and has to rebuild his suit with the help/hindrance of a slightly annoying kid.  I get that these scenes were supposed to show Tony picking himself up from the absolute bottom, but after a while it got boring and never had the emotional intensity I would've liked.  Also like IM2, the brunt of the action is packed in at the end, making the film feel pretty uneven.     
The rushed ending of IM3 was another thing that stuck in my craw.  The most troublesome was Tony's narration describing how he has the pieces of shrapnel surgically removed and with it the mini arc reactor that kept the pieces from reaching his heart.  The question kicking me in the brain immediately was why he couldn't have that procedure back in the first film?  He could still have used the suit without the reactor in his chest since people like Rhodes are able to man his suits and yes, I get that the shrapnel in the chest plotline is from the comics, but it just felt like a slap in the face to everything that came before.  Another element that struck me wrong was how Tony activates The House Party protocol, summoning a small army of unmanned suits to help him fight Killian at the end.  Why he couldn't manage to activate that when Killian attacked Tony's home with helicopter gunships or at basically any other point in the film is beyond me.  I'm sure that fans have worked out explanations for this as well as to why he didn't remove the shrapnel earlier (especially when it was killing him in IM2), but it just hit me the wrong way.  Of course, if he activated the House party right away, the film would be about a half hour long, but still... 
In the final battle, Pepper Potts, who was kidnapped by Killian and subjected to Extremis, a super soldier serum that Killian uses to enhance himself and turn volunteers into human bombs, she falls off an oil rig but due to the Extremis survives, rescues Tony and kills Killian (ha!).  Tony then explains how he's able to stabilize the effects of Extremis on Pepper even though it seemed to radically alter her DNA.  I felt this ending was rushed and tied up far too neatly.  It's as if they simply ran out of time and just had to quickly fix everything at the end. 
I will say that IM3 is entertaining at several points, but it wasn't nearly on the same par for me as 1& 2.  Perhaps the reason this film felt like a misstep was because Favreau handed the reins over to another director.  The film had a very different feel to it and felt cluttered in areas.  I for one don't really have the desire to see anymore Iron Man films although I look forward to seeing him in Avengers 2 because I do really like the character.  I stand by my assertion that Iron Man is the best of the three; a grounded comic book origin that hits all the right marks with the right amount of humor, heart and epic-ness.