Iron Man

Rating: 7/10 (21 July 2019)

Zillionaire and creator of ever more deadly weapons, Tony Stark (Downey Jr) is captured in Afghanistan and forced to create a missile for the enemy. Instead he carries out a daring escape and returns to civilisation where he radically rethinks his priorities, much to the chagrin of company exec Bridges.
Downey's first outing as Iron Man and the first film produced for the MCU is great fun. There a lot going on here and the script supporting this provides tension, wit and intelligence. The cast are all on top form but it is Downey Jr's creation of Stark moving from greedy, carefree playboy to superhero and philanthropist that is the real pulling power here and which lead to another 22 MCU films and counting.