On Friday, May 3rd, "Iron Man 3" was released nationwide. I was very excited for this installment in the Marvel franchise, as the trailer highlighted several new or rare aspects that this movie would take on. First off, the trailer showed me that this movie would step straight into the action. This has only happened once or twice before in the entire series of Marvel movies. Second, the trailer showed me that Tony Stark would be different compared to the previous movies this character starred in. Third, the trailer showed me that this movie would be "darker" and grittier than any other Marvel movie in existence. All of these things turned out to be true.
Within the first fifteen minutes of the film, the first action sequence occurred. You expect the action to get boring by the end of the film as there's so much of it, but the film crew knew how to keep the action fresh. Each action sequence involves a twist, such as a new invention, or a different type of combat. Remember Iron Man 1 and 2, and how there was only one type of combat with one or two different weapons throughout the entirety of the films. This change in action was refreshing, and this film deserves a gold star for this change.
"A character is not good if said character does not change." my friend Jack once said. This movie recognized that, and in turn, gave Stark anxiety issues. "Nothing's been the same since New York." Stark says at one point in the movie. Of course, he is mentioning the events that took place in the climax of the 2012 blockbuster hit "The Avengers." Sadly, these anxiety issues don't have a point in the plot whatsoever, which would have been nice. At the end of the movie, Stark changes again. This movie, again, receives a gold star for this aspect in the movie.
The grittiness in this film is VERY different. There hasn't been a Marvel movie besides this one that is as dark as this, save the "Spider-man" trilogy from 2001. The grittiness is very interesting to see in a Marvel film, as it hasn't been seen since 2006. The whole problem Stark has to deal with in this film is gritty, as we see a man blow up and then just put himself back together. Several characters almost die, and Stark kills someone in cold blood. Another great thing about this film is that, although this film is gritty, it retains the humor found in the other Marvel films. Again, this film receives a gold star for the perfect balance of humor and grittiness.

Overall, this film was perfect in every way imaginable. The ending may not please some people, but I think it was a great one.

Action: 10/10
Characters: 10/10
Plot: 10/10
Humor: 10/10
Soundtrack (BONUS POINTS!!!): 10/10

Overall: 10/10