In one of the more humorous scenes of “Iron Man 3”, a geeky cameraman notices Tony Stark, and begins to get extremely excited. Giddy at the thought of meeting his hero, he then hurriedly turns to his phone in a mad panic.

“Mom, I’ll have to call you back! Something magical is happening!” he says in an exhilarating dash of nerdish joy.

For him and moviegoers across the globe, something magical is happening. The Marvel Cinematic Universe (consisting of “Iron Man”, “The Incredible Hulk”, “Thor”, “Captain America” and “The Avengers”) is a behemoth to behold. In merely five years, it’s changed cinema by connecting all these films together, translating that aspect of the comics to the big screen in spectacular fashion.

After $1.5 billion worth of people saw “The Avengers” last year, it’s time for Phase Two of the Marvel Cinematic Universe to begin, with “Iron Man 3”. If this is any indication of the other four movies to come in Phase Two, then we’re in for some of the best action, humor, spectacle and emotion that cinema has to offer.

After the events in “The Avengers”, Tony Stark has become a recluse, spending his days solely creating various different Iron Man suits and worrying everyone who cares about him, namely girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) and buddy James Rhodes, who has become the President’s bodyguard of sorts and taken on the alias of Iron Patriot. When a new bad guy, The Mandarin, makes a personal attack on  Stark, it escalates into an epic battle that’ll prove what kind of a man, Stark truly is.

The original “Iron Man” film is one of the best superhero movies ever made, it’s expert balance of humor, action and drama being truly stupefying. The sequel, “Iron Man 2”, just fizzled, never really knowing what to do with it’s plot.  Meanwhile, I loved “The Avengers” (read that review here). For third third film, I was intrigued in how they would handle this film series’ world post-Avengers and how Robert Downey Jr. would handle playing the character for the fourth time (fifth counting his cameo in “The Incredible Hulk”). As it turns out, he has his best performance yet here, thanks to a superb script and some dazzling direction, both courtesy of Shane Black.

Black brings “Iron Man 3” to riveting heights, lending pathos and actual danger to emotional and action sequences respectively. I was most impressed with the writing of the Tony Stark character, whose status as being the only true human in The Avengers (aside from master assassins Black Widow and Hawkeye of course) is showcased here, with his eerily realistic depiction of anxiety attacks making the character riveting to witness, and making sequences showing his wit and cleverness without his trademark Iron Man suit that much more fascinating to watch.

Robert Downey Jr. deserves massive kudos for giving Tony Stark his best performance yet, but Shane Black also should get some accolades for his writing here (it should be noted that Drew Pierce is also responsible for the script. Also, between Black’s writing here and Joss Whedon’s screenplay for The Avengers, does Disney/Marvel have the best screenwriters in the business or what?)

Robert Downey Jr. does wonderful, but I was impressed by Don Cheadle, who’s chemistry with Downey is superb and is a highlight of the entire film. It also must be noted that the Iron Patriot armor is awesome and is used to great effect in the film. Gwyneth Paltrow is given more to do in this outing, especially in the scene in which Tony Stark’s home is attacked. Ben Kingsley and Guy Pearce play baddies The Mandarin and Adrian Killian to perfection, especially Kingsley, who’s bad guy is an unexpected delight in every way imaginable. Also, the Stan Lee cameo is awesome, though it’s a bit more hidden in this outing.

The action sequences are a highlight of the film, expertly staged and will leave you in awe, although the final battle feels a bit cluttered at times. The humor, as mentioned above, is amazing, like last years “The Avengers”, unexpected yet always welcome in every moment it’s present. Downey especially gets to have more than his fair share of one-liners that I’ll be quoting for years to come.

If I have any complaints for the film, it’s the horrible ending. Both rushed and confusing, it tries too hard to wrap up every aspect of the film and it simply doesn’t work. I won’t spoil it here for obvious reasons, but I doubt anyone will find the last few minutes being able to live up to everything that came before it (though the final monologue and wonderful end credits certainly help make up for it).  Also, no AC/DC songs? C’mon guys, that final battle was sorely lacking the sound of“Thunderstruck”

“Iron Man 3” could’ve been a cash grab and nothing more, but at this point Disney/Marvel know how to make a great movie and never seem to dissapoint. A dazzling mixture of all the elements that create good cinema, “Iron Man 3” never stops creating both remarkable characters and exhilarating humor and action. Oh, and stay for the end of the credits. Like all of Marvel’s movies, this one has a great treat at the very end.

Grade: A

Postscript: I would like to take a sentence or two to note how Ipic Theatres is one of the worst theatre chains in the area. It’s 3D presentations have always been too dark (a shame since 3D showings have to be dark in the first place due to the 3D glasses), it’s quality of food having fallen considerably in the past few years, and now my Thursday showing of “Iron Man 3” was truly the breaking point for my patience for this atrocious theatre. The projector for my screening broke twice, forcing them to restart the movie three times. While I’m well aware that these problems occur sometimes, the theatres terrible handling of this situation and the managements inconsiderate attitude towards me when I brought the problem to their attention has to be among the most unpleasant experiences I’ve had in a movie theatre. After my Thursday night Star Trek Into Darkness screening in two weeks (of which I am seriously dreading now for obvious reasons), I will not be returning to this theatre anytime soon and I hope you all do the same.