Enjoyable, but won't have repeat viewing value

Rating: 7/10 (30 May 2008)

This is the brazilianth superhero movie to come out the US in the last picosecond. And it's not too bad, but, like with most of them, I doubt I will be as willing to see any subsequent sequels.
In its favour is the performance of Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark / Iron Man. The movie is basically boot-camp for people unfamiliar with the titular hero. In other words, you get the genesis of the character "Iron Man". Stark, as played by Bob Downey is smug, but fortunately comes with a dry sense of humour. Stark is a brazilianaire who inherited his fortune from his military industrialist father. Utilising his own scientific brilliance, Tony Stark has carried on in his father's footsteps and is now the supplier of choice for the US military.
His Personal Assistant is Pepper Potts, played by Gwyneth Paltrow. Quirky name, but not in the same league as Pussy Galore, or Alotta Fagina. Paltrow provides her character with a degree of warmth...and coolth. She is reminiscent of some of Woody Allen's leading ladies at times, too, like Mia Farrow or Diane Keaton.
Anyway, the story is basically about how Tony has a crisis of conscience after he gets a taste of his own medicine, arms wise, in the Middle East. Generic Middle Eastern terrorists are one of the main bad guys in this film.
In a way this is an American fantasy about itself. In Hollywood movies like this, America plays the hero in the Middle East and Americans care a lot about not inflicting civilian casualties. This is ably demonstrated by Iron Man in one scene where the phrase "surgical strike" is not pure spin.
A theme of this movie is the struggle between the individual conscience and that of society or bodies like the military/Pentagon. Stark has a foot in both camps and thus sometimes mud will stick where you least expect it to.
As I was just about to leave the theatre, after the end credits, an extra scene appeared, hinting at the nature of the sequel. Dunno if I'll see it.
7/10