I just Saw Iron Man 3, And I Have Some Complaints

SPOILERS AHOY!!!

But first, some not complaints...what are those pesky things called...?
Anyway.

Advanced Idea Mechanics has been introduced into the world of the Marvel film universe and that is awesome.
Now, "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." doesn't have to constantly rely on third and ffourth string Marvel super villains for antagonists!
Also, the door is now wide open for M.O.D.O.K.
And other stuff, but, mainly M.O.D.O.K.

Uh...okay, now to the complaints.

First and foremost, the fact that there was no Mandarin.
Yes, yes, what a twist, and he did a great job as both "the Mandarin" and Trevor, but, seriously?
No.
You don't cast Ben Kingsley as this character and then cut his balls off.
What a fucking waste.
This like having the Joker turn out to be a hologram or a bad dream in The Dark Knight.
Still (obviously) seething about that.
And, since there is no Mandarin, does that mean that Aldrich Killian has been behind the "Ten Rings" organization since the first movie?
What up, grudge?
What up, doesn't really work when you think about it?

Secondly, Tony happening to run into a supergeniusboy in the middle of Tennessee? This isn't about there not being any intelligent people in Tennessee, this is about the random luck of the situation. And the way they were first talking to one another, I was just waiting for one of them to refer to a past friendship or something.
A bit too deus ex machina for me.
Or sloppy, if you want to call it what it is without using Latin.

Third, we have the whole Pepper/Extremis thing.
For a moment, I thought, okay, let's see where this goes, you've given her some really amazing powers and a chance to oh never mind "it was tough, but during this end-of-the-movie montage, we made her uninteresting again".
*sigh*

Then, and this is totally a fourth-on-the-list complaint: Jon Favreau...dude...lose some weight.
You're a high-powered, high-paid Hollywood director; get a personal trainer.
I don't mean to sound harsh, but, please, you knew there was going to be a third movie and you knew that you looked like a red sausage man* in a suit on camera.
Just the idea that he was able to land one punch on that crazy Extremis solider...silly.

Also, that last battle was a 50/50 split of too action-y and pretty cool and, while they didn't need to be in the movie at all, I would have dug some S.H.I.E.L.D. presence.

So...yeah, other than those...admittedly rather huge sticking points, I enjoyed myself and am curious as to where things are taken next.

One last thing I will add: the previews for IM3 were absolutely stuffing my 12-year old self with candy; the new Thor, the new Wolverine and the new Superman.
God damn it feels good to be me, here, now.





* That's a man made entirely out of red sausages.