I liked IM 3 but not to the extent to want to rush out & see it again in a day or two (as I did for the original IM). Like others said, that WOW! exclamation/surprise elements were not there, no matter how hard it tried to be so. Downey Jr., as always, is down right cool. Forever Tony Stark.
The movie has some great jokes & light moments, however parts/situations that started off as serious, had a joke inserted secs/mins later, that took away from the danger & suspense. e.g. War Machine/Iron Patriot is seen kicking in a terrorist's hide-out location door & then getting a phone call from Stark secs after being ready to blow away the supposedly terrorists. That scene should have come before the door kicking, would have played much better, plus the whole password dialog is just dumb, really now, as if Stark needs to know passwords. It could have done without the one liners & retorts in places. Shane Black's Direction was a bit too comical for the tone set at the start with a more mature Stark & his vulnerability.
The Mandarin, while a funny guy, you will think back & hate the way this was done, I am...disappointed. And oh, watch for the fire breather, you'll say WTF!? Where's Calisi when you need her?
I'll watch again for sure, just not right away. I'm positive that there will be another Iron Man, and it better be the final great one Downey Jr. wants it to be, because as he says, he is Iron Man.