Finally got a chance to see this one tonight. I liked it, but there were some issues for me that I'm still mulling over. Still, I'd put it above IM2 in every way, although that doesn't say much as IM2 is in many ways the weakest Marvel Studios production to me thus far.

I had no issues with the Mandarin's portrayal and thought it fit well within the context of the story. Same goes with the 'empty' suit. I was impressed with the level of action, and the performances were all working for me.

The few things I noticed which did bother me: Iron Pepper, w/ever lolz. Happy, oh fuck off Happy. And the 'coincidental' meeting of Yinsen, Killian, and Maya Hansen all on the same night? That's a coincidence akin to, I dunno', like if Darth Vader had built C-3Po. Oh, waitaminute. Things like that always make me roll my eyes, and in this instance I'm still wondering wtf they were thinking there. And when the Iron Brood shows up at the end, while I've noticed the enormous variety of armors on the pegs at the stores for months, that's the best way to see them because on-screen I could barely tell what/which one I was looking at. And then, boom (boom, boom, boom) they are all gone. Wasted cinematic opportunity understatement.

All that didn't bother me too much though, I could excuse all of that given the overall entertainment value of this movie. The story, not the bulk of it but subtle parts of it, really have me boggled. Like Stark ends up at the mansion in Florida. He's still driving around in an A.I.M. car? He drove 800+ miles in a car he swiped from an agent of the enemy and then snuck all 'American Ninja' style into the house? And the VP? What? Just seemed like a big to-do, a connection where it wasn't needed and added on 'just for flare'. It just didn't seem necessary.

I guess that would be my major if only complaint about this one. It's not that the story came unraveled. It just had a few misdirectional flares, or frayed ends that went nowhere. In a metaphorical sense, if this film were a finely woven cloth, it would have been made into 'pre-torn' blue jeans. The ones they charge you extra money for because they look weathered when you buy them. Not incomplete, not murky, but intentionally unshaven, like George Michael's fashionable stubble. His stubble and pre-torn jeans strike me as fucking stupid, and some of the story 'extras' in this strike me the same way. Although not as vehemently. I liked this movie way more than fashionable stupidity, but parts of it made me cringe just ever so slightly.

I dunno', I've only seen it once. I can see myself watching this a gango' times once the DVD hits. But in this first reaction to it, I'm somehow left wanting more.