SkimIt
Since the Super Bowl's commercial breaks included several first looks at the upcoming big summer blockbusters, let's take a special look at four of the sneak peeks featured during last Sunday's big game.
Iron Man 3 (opening May 3)
The Details: Still traumatized by the climactic battle in The Avengers -- apparently, even schwarma isn't enough to help you get over almost being killed in outer space -- Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is suffering a bad case of post-traumatic stress disorder, and not even his girlfriend Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow) can help him shake it. Which makes it a little awkward when Guy Pearce starts making trouble as another guy with a flying metal suit who, among other indignities, blows up Tony's sweet hillside bachelor pad. Don Cheadle and Ben Kingsley fill out the cast. Shane Black takes over the director's chair from Jon Favreau for this PG-13 adventure.
The Trailer: I won't spoil the joke for you, but the "extended look" gag at the start of the trailer suggests that the tongue-in-cheek aspect of the Iron Man series has survived the change in directors and what sounds like a darker, more high-stakes plotline this time around. The scene of a hole being torn in the side of Air Force One and Stark as Iron Man having to calculate how many of the people in freefall he can save is a fine plotline tease as well.
The Buzz: I don't expect this to be as successful (or as good) as The Avengers, but Downey's skill at balancing soul-searching and cockiness has made Tony Stark the most interesting big-screen superhero of at least the last decade, and if he's not let down by the script, he'll bring it again.
