“Third time lucky,” they say, but a third installment in a movie franchise is usually synonymous with a reputation crisis. Another innovative move by director Shane Black―especially for Chinese audiences ― is the cameo appearances of local movie stars Fan Bingbing and Wang Xueqi. Since their characters are totallynegligible, all I have to say about them is, well, they’re in the movie. The movie begins with a flashback, in which Stark tells his story, explaining how his bad behavior created the demons that would change his life. Back in the present, Stark still feels the psychologicalaftermath of traveling through a wormhole and nuking a bunch of aliens before falling back to Earth ― the final sequence in last year’s blockbuster The Avengers. Luckily, however, the movie functions well as a comedy. In fact, I’d rather describe it as a comedy with a superhero plot. There are plenty of laughs to get from Stark’s knowing one-liners and the other supporting characters. Ben Kingsley’s performance as The Mandarin, the villain, is a particular highlight of the movie.
