Wonderful. Great summer blockbuster. Favreau, Downey, and Paltrow are magnificent.

Rating: 9/10 (2 May 2008)

You know, why didn't someone think of this before? If you're going to make a superhero movie, why don't you get a truly great actor for the title role? Well, that's because most great actors are not the summer blockbuster type (see Daniel Day Lewis or Philip Seymour Hoffman). However, in Iron Man, we get to see the talents of one of the greatest actors of his time, Robert Downey Jr., in full force. Simply, he is the best, perfect, and only choice for the role of Tony Stark. Is it because the role is eerily similar to his personal life? Is it because he fits so well with the style of character Stan Lee created? Who knows...All that matters is that Downey gives, far and away, the best performance of any of the superhero actors (Maguire, Bana, Affleck, Bale, Gruffudd).
Billionaire/genius/playboy Tony Stark has it all. Until he's kidnapped by terrorists in Afghanistan. Forced to build a missile for the terrorists, he instead builds a massive suit of armor to escape them. Upon his return, he decides a few things: his weapons manufacturing company will no longer make weapons, and he will fight evil by recreating an even stronger model of the armor suit and becoming what he was destined to be: Iron Man.
I've already told you how great Downey is, but the movie has a great supporting cast (and is just as high profile and surprising as Downey himself) including Gwyneth Paltrow, Terrence Howard, and of course the magnificent Jeff Bridges. Paltrow and Howard each give good performances that are to be expected of them. Paltrow also looks extremely gorgeous as Pepper Potts, and the chemistry between her and Downey is magical. Bridges is great as the film's villain Iron Monger. Definitely classic.
Jon Favreau's direction is great, and also makes me wonder why the other superhero movies didn't have FANS as their directors...it totally worked here. Favreau gets the mood right, as it's not as dark as you'd think, but it doesn't need to be because Stark's alcoholism has been cut out of the film, and it's basically a good vs. evil story. It's a simplistic plot, but it works. Favreau just GETS the characters, and that's what makes it so good.
The special effects and comedy are top notch. You can tell there's a lot of improv in the dialog, especially between Downey and Howard. After watching this, it came as no surprise that the effects were done by the same people behind Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Transformers. Nothing looks fake. The film balances the action and calm very well. It's very well edited and has good pacing. The film also has 'sequel' written all over it. The ending alone is enough to make one, not to mention some of the lines from Howard's character make a sequel obvious and of course, the Nick Fury sequence after the credits. And guess what? I'll be first in line for that sequel, because it'll be awesome.
I'd recommend Iron Man to everyone 12 and up, mostly because of the violence and a brief sex scene in the beginning of the film.