Satisfying from start to finish!

Rating: 8/10 (19 February 2017)

One of the best superhero films, if not the best. After a second watch, I realized how good it was and how much better than so many others.
Good and quirky dialog, never a dull moment, well dosed action scenes with enough suspense and sense of danger. Great fun. The characters' motivations are always clear and believability never went below the expected minimum. Action scenes are very well filmed, efficient and never with the usual cheap fast cuts. The villain simply works because it's someone seemingly much more powerful, plus a treacherous man you just love to hate. And our protagonist has much-needed weaknesses: he's only human, and a bomb shrapnel close to his heart.
The film looks and sounds great overall. Every character, including Jarvis, adds value and has an important function for the story and the entire casting is just sublime, with Downey's star shining the brightest. He even manages to make you care about a selfish billionaire playboy before he transcends himself.
I can't put this film down. It still serves as a benchmark for all other Marvel productions that have come out since and none have achieved it's level, though some have come very close (Winter Soldier). But I guess there's truly nothing like a good origins story! After 8 years, this film is still as awesome as ever.