'Iron Man 3' Review: First Opinions Arrive; Compare Film With 'Dark Knight' Series

The first two reviews for the first major summer film "Iron Man 3" have arrived, and they could not be more different.

Robbie Collin, of UK's The Telegraph, not only loved the film but compared it to the much revered "Dark Knight" films. Collin stated, "You have to admire Disney and Marvel Studios' gumption: with the Avengers franchise, of which this film is the seventh installment, they have effectively brought back the matinee serial, and have found an enormous and appreciative audience for it."

Collin was particularly impressed by Ben Kingsley's turn as the villainous Mandarin. "Kingsley's Mandarin might be the smartest screen interpretation of a villain since Heath Ledger's Joker in The Dark Knight (2008), although for very different reasons, and the moment his diabolical purpose is finally unveiled brings the house down," he noted. Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his turn as the Joker.

Time Out London was not as receptive and called the film a "mixed bag." The publication complained about "the tedious, talky first act, the script's uneasy attempts at psychological realism, Gwyneth Paltrow's increasingly shrill and redundant Pepper Potts and Robert Downey Jr's disastrously smarmy, David Gest-like facial furniture."

However, the review did list a number of positives including, "a handful of punchy one-liners courtesy of 'Lethal Weapon' scribe Shane Black, a loveable old-school, Joe Dante-ish small-town-USA central section, and a sprawling cast of reliable supporting players including Rebecca Hall, Guy Pearce, Miguel Ferrer and the great William Sadler." Like The Telegraph, Time Out London also commended Kingsley's performance and called it "one of comic book cinema's most astonishing and unlikely supervillains."

Ultimately, the publication stated that "Iron Man 3" is "undeniably entertaining - and worth seeing for Kingsley alone - with the misfires never fully overshadowing the moments of glory. But in the wake of the triumph of 'The Avengers', 'Iron Man 3' still feels like something of a disappointment."

The film comes out on May 3, 2013.