Being one of the most anticipated movies of 2013, “Iron Man 3” had very high expectations going into it.

Unfortunately for Marvel, it was unable to live up to the hype that it had.

While it does do a lot of things right, it also does a lot of things wrong. This film is hit and miss mainly due to the story.

Tony Stark, played by Robert Downey Jr., is having to deal with a lot more personal problems than before. Not only has he become obsessed with protecting his girlfriend Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow, nearly dying in “The Avengers” has also been causing him to have panic attacks, which he tries to cope with by making up to 35 new armors since the previous film.

While this is happening, a terrorist known as The Mandarin, played by Sir Ben Kingsley, has been causing multiple bombings across the U.S. When one of said bombs puts his former bodyguard and friend Happy Hogan, played by Jon Favreau, into a coma. From there, the story focuses on the struggle between Tony and The Mandarin. It should be noted that the plot cannot be summarized fully due to the immense amount of spoilers involved.

One of the main flaws about the story is the second half of it. The first half does a good job of showing different aspects of Tony Stark’s character and establishes a good basis for eventual character development. However, the second half of the movie drops many of these plot lines without fully finishing them. It makes the movie seem unbalanced and unfocused.

While it may drop the ball in the second half, the stories pros do make it serviceable. There are various aspects about it that are interesting and there are even a few surprises mixed in. It may not be the best story, but it is held together by the actors.

The actors are the main reason the movie works, with specific praise going to Downey. He is as charming as ever and it is a pleasure to watch him on screen. Kingsley also does a great job and is very entertaining. The only sore thumb of the cast is Guy Pearce. He is easily the least interesting person to watch in the entire movie.. It isn’t because he is a bad actor, but his character is very dull and gives him very little to work with. The characters may not develop as well as they could have, but because of the acting, the characters are still interesting enough.

While the story and characters may be less than stellar, the action is the best that the series has seen yet. It is shot in a much cleaner way, and Tony Stark’s manipulation of his various armors is very visually interesting to see.

The film’s comedy is also top notch, delivering some of the biggest laughs that the series has produced so far. It may seem a little inconsistent with the tone, but it still is very entertaining. Despite this, it doesn’t make the film spectacular in any real way.

“Iron Man 3” may be better than “Iron Man 2,” but it doesn’t live up to the expectations made by “The Avengers.”

Iron Man 3 gets a 7.5/10.