Stan Lee must have a big grin on his face, seeing his Iron Man on the big screen.

Rating: Null/10 (29 October 2008)

A really, really good comic book action movie. The snappy dialog, good acting, and good directing make all the difference.
I've always enjoyed Robert Downey Jr., even in his TV roles, and here he carries the movie as Tony Stark, boy genius and inventor who after his father's death gains control of the biggest corporation making missiles and other machines of war. Tony continues what his father had built, and takes it a few steps further with his own inventions.
Another actor I always like is Terrence Howard, and here he is long time friend of Tony's, and a military officer, Rhodey.
Tony's right hand man in his company is Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane. He had run the company while Tony was still growing up and seems to want to continue his expanded role.
Good as Tony's trusty personal assistant is Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts. She is not only a loyal employee but also a sort of "pal" to Tony, yet it seems that she wishes there were more between them.
The story centers on an incident where Tony had travels to a war zone to demonstrate to the US military their newest weapon. But there is a motorcade attack and Tony gets imprisoned, with the demand that he develop the new weapon for them. Instead he invents something new, a rather crude iron man suit that he eventually uses to break free. But the experience changes him, as he sees that even the enemy have weapons that his company makes. His big decision when back home is to quit making weapons and instead concentrate on helping humanity.
SPOILERS: When back home Tony works hard to perfect a sleek new Iron Man suit, one that can fly anywhere and even at supersonic speeds, and that has exotic weapon and navigational capabilities. In the process he has Pepper track down through company records how enemies were getting weapons. It turns out to be Obadiah, who is trying to get Tony killed so that he can run the corporation and enrich himself further with illegal weapons sales. The climax comes when Obadiah gets into a larger, more powerful iron man suit, and he and Tony battle. With Pepper's help he overcomes Obadiah, and in a conference reveals that he, Tony, is indeed the Iron Man.