First movie in a long time!

Tony Stark (Robert Downey, Jr) is a genius inventor, both incredibly wealthy and totally irresponsible, who has made his fortune creating and selling military weapons. During a kidnapping he suffers a severe heart injury that forces him to attach a power generator to his chest. His kidnappers try to make him build a missile for them, but instead he crafts a metal combat suit and turns into Iron Man.

Pretty much the only thing going for this comic book adaptation is the banter between Stark and his personal assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow), and with his buddy in the military (Terrence Howard). The plot is not all that inspired, and it does of course set up sequels (and tie-ins to other Marvel characters), and the action sequences are mostly forgettable (I did like the scene with the two fighter planes, though).

I had heard that the extra scene after the end credits gives a whole new angle to the movie (and it was even announced in the Japanese subtitles so that everyone stayed in their seats), but it was nowhere near an important last shot (think Prestige), just a teaser for the likely sequel.

5 points