Reel Critics: ‘Iron Man 3’ a Marvel

The delightful “Iron Man 3” opens and finishes with a big “wow” as the sarcastically brilliant Tony Stark creates new armor that can be summoned onto the body at will, a technical display that amuses and thrills.

Picking up where last year’s “The Avengers” left off, Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is still a superhero but now with an undercurrent of anxiety. With his devotion to the comely Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), this Iron Man is revealing himself to be human after all.

Out in public, he’s still master of the smartass one-liner. That motor mouth gets him into trouble when Stark challenges a global terrorist called the Mandarin (Ben Kingsley). There’s also a slick scientist named Aldrich Killian (Guy Pearce, always great), who seems to have designs on Pepper.

Fans of this series will not be disappointed — lots of humor, twists and furious action that, even without 3-D, is so intense it can be tough to follow.

Kingsley has played villains before, but this might be his most memorable yet. Don Cheadle returns as Col. James Rhodes, as does Jon Favreau (who directed the first two films).

Downey has made Iron Man a marvel of flippant humor and casual grace. If the rumors are true and this is his last turn as our favorite heavy metal guy, he’s certainly going out in rare form, right up to the last scene following the final credits.

SUSANNE PEREZ lives in Costa Mesa and is an executive assistant for a company in Irvine.