If you are looking for the downhill destruction of the Iron Man franchise, look no further. The writing in this film is one of the most disappointing & annoying pieces of detritus that you'll ever come across.
One. Somehow, Drew Pearce & Shane Black thought it would be interesting to include a small boy named Harley Keener (Ty Simpkins) as Tony's sidekick in the finale to Iron Man standalone movies! Stark conveniently barges into a warehouse that's fully equipped with laboratory apparatus belonging to an obnoxious school-going kid who happens to be a precocious one! Is this the best these million-dollars paid screenwriters could come up with? And how is a kid supposed to get all the materials Tony's requested for? This whole 'flying over to Tennessee' idea, followed by hanging out with a vexatious little brat is such a flawed & forced idea that doesn't make apprehensible senses!
Two. Ben Kingsley as Mandarin is such a hostile foe, with his voice alone! Just when you expect things to turn really rough when Iron Man finally gets the better of his enemy, the screenwriters decide to make the fool out you by saying the former is not the villain! Is this some sort of an inner joke, because all it did was to irritate the life out of the audiences! This fact, downgraded the 'real' Mandarin's (Guy Pearce) appeal. Speaking of the Mandarin, the magma-fire-spitting super power that's gained through genetics upgrade is so illogically off-putting within the confines of the concerned universe! If the comrades have the same ability as the Mandarin, then what's the point of the Mandarin? What kills & doesn't kill the enhanced soldiers? What's Aldrich Killian's objective here by going against Stark, kidnapping the President and so on?
Three. We go to an Iron Man film to see Iron Man in action. But hey, let's blow up the suits one by one in the basement without any meanings to it because it shows off cool explosions, right? Or rather, let's use the one prototype armor that malfunctions at every chance it gets for the whole film, but reveal the remaining 20-30 kick-ass suits for the last 4 minutes of the runtime in the name of House Party Protocol! It's night time, so one doesn't need to see the true color of the suits either. Even better, destroy them all up too under the Clean Slate Protocol. How are these disappointments, come on! Can't you see the makers tried really hard to come up with these shitloads of wasted potentials?
Apart from the above, here are the other hows, whys & facepalms:
In all honesty, there are residuum of positives. Tony Stark building machines & weapons out of basic mechanics is kicky. He improvises & uses the resources he has to slice through obstacles. This adds another dimension to his character & made it fascinating at the same time. Iron Patriot & Iron Legion panoplies are awesome! His opening flashback narration, hand-jabs of magnetic repulsors to attract the metal parts of the iron suit to himself & virtual connection with his toys are great! Underpowering the suits too much came off as a negative & the scarce appearance of Iron Man is upsetting. Malibu Point house destruction & the underwater self-hand rescue are good! Be sure to catch Mark XLII's crash right before a planned-for epic moment!
Aldrich's live feed into the brain tech is enchanting. Scenes transitions however are childish & wrecks the seriousness. Rebecca Hall as Maya Hansen is the most ridiculous character that's around. Cooperative flight rescue is astounding, but one questions how could Tony drop the survivors in the waters when he's not even sure any of them could swim or otherwise?
The inspirational ending tells you nothing clearly about Tony Stark's current status. Is he retiring from being Iron Man? Or is he pulling off a prank? Nothing's definitely clear. Such piss poor was the writing, from start to finish.
"So, if I were to wrap this up, tie it with a bow, or whatever... I guess I'd say my armor, it was never a distraction, or a hobby. It was a cocoon. And now, I'm a changed man. You can take away my house, and all my tricks and toys. One thing you can't take away... I am Iron Man."