An above-average superhero movie with an above-average leading performance

Rating: 8/10 (15 November 2008)

Quite a few superhero movies came out in the summer of 2008  the first, and one of the best, was Iron Man.
With the film telling the story of Tony Stark's kidnapping by terrorists, escape from said terrorists, and the subsequent building/refining/testing of his armour, the familiar red-and-gold version of Iron Man doesn't appear until more than halfway through the film. He isn't even referred to as Iron Man until right at the end. Despite knowing that there are sequels being planned, I was a little disappointed by this, but not that much: most of the origin story that comes beforehand is well worth watching, with interesting character (and armour) development, and some good humour thrown in. The action scenes and special effects are excellent. I was left dissatisfied by the ending (as in "They can't stop it there!!"), but again, maybe I'll feel better about it once the sequel rolls around.
One thing I really enjoyed about this film is the realism, which is handled just as well (if not better) as in the latest Batman films. Most of the film, including the construction of the Iron Man armour, is as believable as it can be, which I feel makes it that much more fun to watch.
The acting in the film is generally of a higher standard than most comic book adaptations. As Tony Stark, Robert Downey Jr provides one of the best performances of a superhero alter-ego ever, giving us a character with a great casual attitude and effective moments of seriousness, and making Stark likable despite some disreputable character traits. Gwyneth Paltrow gives a natural and impressive performance as Pepper Potts. Jeff Bridges's acting as Obadiah Stane is good at the beginning, but drops a little in quality once his character's dark side is revealed (not that there's anything wrong with watching him enthusiastically wreak havoc in his Iron Monger suit).
When compared to 2008's other comic book adaptations, Iron Man is better than The Incredible Hulk, but not as good as The Dark Knight (although there's not that much difference either way). I'll be looking forward to seeing more.