Same old same old

Rating: 7/10 (4 May 2008)

This has been billed as a smarter, tighter super hero movie. It's not. It's entertaining, and has all the special effects one takes for granted, but it is still riddled with the same old clichés expected from the genre. I had hoped that the movie would stay more in Afghanistan - anywhere but Calipornia - but it gets bogged down as soon as Iron Man does his one piece of obligatory super hero rescuing the average guys from evildoers, and returns to the usual (yawn) struggle with evil corporate magnates determined to make more money and stoke the ego incarnate.
The audience I saw it with clapped and cheered and laughed, and I take it that the average movie goer joe is happy with being treated once again to mindless escapism for the summer. My grandkids liked it, and what else can one ask from Hollywood.