Robert Downey Jr. is a great actor. It's important to begin any discussion of John Favreau's Iron Man with this fact because the smashing success of the film rests almost entirely on his shoulders. Downey's greatness is tied to the sense of reality that he brings to all of his roles; he may specialize in playing cads, but the cads he plays are invariably smart, engaging, fun to watch, most importantly, they have a whiff of melancholy about them that gives their witticisms and debauched hijinx poignancy. Downey's charisma, humor and pathos have given us Tony Stark, the billionaire playboy inventor/industrialist who becomes Iron Man, and who is something almost entirely unheard of in superhero films: a great character. Other recent screen incarnations of comic book heroes are memorable for their iconic costumes, their superpowers, and if they're lucky, maybe one defining character trait (think Peter Parker's teen angst or Bruce Wayne's brooding obsession). Tony Stark is right in Downey's wheelhouse of smart-ass hedonists, but as the plot unfolds, Downey unveils layers of emotion and conflict that make Iron Man the rare comic book film where the quiet moments are as enthralling as the action setpieces, if not moreso.

Since Iron Man is the first installment of a likely franchise for Marvel's new film production arm, the film is mostly focused on detailing the origin of the Iron Man character. As in the original comic book, genius engineer and arms merchant Tony Stark is captured by a warlord and forced to make a superweapon. Instead, he constructs a metal exoskeleton in order to escape captivity. Once free, he refines the design into the sleek, rocket-boostered suit we know and love. This tale is updated by moving the warlord from Vietnam to Afghanistan, a twist that suggests a layer of political allegory that the film unfortunately never develops. In fact, the actual meat of Iron Man is fairly undercooked, with a few big fight scenes doled out sparingly between muddled plot points, with villains who fail to register. The best that can be said about the action is that it aspires to coherence, unlike the aggressively edited abstract work of Tony Scott or Michael Bay. That Iron Man easily ranks in the top tier of superhero films is a testament to the work of Downey, as well as Gwyneth Paltrow as Stark's fiesty assistant/love interest Pepper Potts, Terrance Howard as his military running buddy, and Jeff Bridges as his glowering mentor, not to mention a script that treats character interaction as more than just a set up for the next explosion.