Iron Man (12)

There is meant to be just one superhero in Jon Favreau's Iron Man. Robert Downey Jr, donning the shiniest suit in Marvel's comic universe, is the picture's main provider of thrills and spills, and a bang-up job he does too. Unalloyed awe, however, should be reserved for Gwyneth Paltrow. As ace secretary Pepper Potts, Gwyn not only manages to walk in heels so high they would induce a nose-bleed in mere mortals, she runs in them too. And while wearing a pencil skirt. Wonder woman, or what?

Iron Man is the first superhero out the gate in the 2008 summer blockbuster sweepstakes. After him comes Ed Norton's The Incredible Hulk followed by the return of Batman in The Dark Knight, and Hellboy II letting rip towards the end of August.

Favreau's picture doesn't let the crowded field get it down. Though its hero has the usual set of flaws pulling him towards the dark side - pause for yawn - Iron Man is smart enough not to take itself too seriously. Playing it for laughs doesn't make up for the shortage of action and thin story, but as the first instalment in what could be an intriguing franchise, it will have to do.

Downey plays Tony Stark, international playboy, billionaire arms manufacturer and engineering whizz. Creator Stan Lee modelled the character, who made his comic book debut in 1963, on Howard Hughes. In the early days, Iron Man's foes were commie sorts from Vietnam. As we meet him in 2008, Stark is in Afghanistan, home to the new century's bad guys, to launch his latest weapons system. Armed with a whisky and soda and a seriously nice pair of shades, Stark is holding court in the back of a Humvee when the convoy is attacked and he is taken hostage by Taleban types. Forced to make a missile for them, the boyish genius begins work on a secret project of his own - a suit of armour that will transform him into a superhero.

There's a crude, Boy's Own comicality to Stark's outwitting of his excitable captors. They're smart enough to have installed a closed circuit camera system in their caves, but when it comes to Stark's trickery the brigands are as helpless as three wise monkeys. Stark's transformation into a peacenik on his return to America requires another Grand Canyon-like leap of faith on the viewer's part. What did he think his company's munitions were used for before - paperweights?

Stark/Iron Man, like all his superhero kind, is the sinner repenting, the troubled soul who finds peace in purpose. Downey Jr, who has not had his tabloid headlines to seek, is so perfect for such a role it's a wonder no-one thought of him before. Favreau (Swingers, Elf) nevertheless took a risk here. The Zodiac and Chaplin star might have been too cool for superhero school, a tad laid-back to convince as the type who gets up early to save the world.

Yet asked to play what amounts to the Tin Man with 'roid rage, Downey gives it his all and rescues the picture in the process. Amid the heroic silliness, his trademark grooviness holds up. So the tongue-in-cheek approach to playing superheroes is as old as Kryptonite: he makes it seem fresh again.

That ballet-dancer buff body looks the part too. In the early stages there's a genuine spark between Downey and Paltrow, the Moneypenny to his Bond, the Jane to his metrosexual Tarzan. Jeff Bridges, with a cue-ball haircut and foot-long beard, has a high time hamming it up as Obadiah Stane, father figure and business partner to Stark. Terrence Howard tries to elbow in on the action as Stark's buddy in the military, but fails to make much of an impact.

Favreau handles the action sequences impressively, with the chase between Iron Man and fighter jets a standout. It's just a pity there aren't more of them. Perhaps Gywneth's designer heels tore too big a hole in the budget. Whatever, there's not nearly enough crash-bang-wallop in the picture. Once Stark has settled on his new course in life the pace slows to a crawl before picking up in fits and starts. Between times there are long stretches in which characters are fleshed out and pages of techno gibberish spouted. You don't have to be a rocket scientist to see there's a franchise being established.

Like The Golden Compass, Iron Man requires indulgence now in the hope of goodies to come. With so many franchises in operation, audiences could be forgiven for growing weary of putting in this kind of effort. Fortunately for Favreau, Iron Man's flesh-and-blood counterpart is a performer who could make the opening of a tin of soup riveting. Sometimes in movies, that's the only superpower that matters.

Making a superhero movie is easy when it’s one of the big guns. Everybody knows Superman, Spider-Man, and Batman but this is a different kettle of fish.

Although Iron Man has been one of the stalwarts of the Marvel Comics universe for almost 50 years, his profile outside the world of comic fandom is not high. For some directors this would be a problem but Jon Favreau is the sort of man who doesn’t see problems, only opportunities.

That lack of name recognition means he can spend a lot of time on the man inside the suit and come up with what is essentially a character-driven superhero movie. It still delivers as many bangs as you would expect for the summer buck, and the CGI is as flashy and the explosions as intense as everywhere else. But the real joys of Iron Man - and this can be said so seldom of superhero movies - are in the performances.

For the uninitiated, Iron Man is really billionaire playboy and arms tycoon Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jnr). On an overseas sales trip he is ambushed by terrorists who hold him hostage to force him to make weapons for them.

Instead of building a weapon he builds a weaponised suit of armour in the first of the film’s action highlights. Having escaped in spectacular style, he comes up with a more sophisticated suit, dedicates himself to the cause of peace and adopts the identity of Iron Man.

The irony, if you’ll forgive me, is that the very suit that gives him his power also keeps him alive because of shrapnel embedded close to his heart as a result of the ambush. His change of attitude doesn’t please everyone, least of all his old friend turned rival Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges). Stane comes up with his own ‘Iron Man’ and the scene is set for the sort of finale which the fans would demand even though it does nothing in dramatic terms.

The real pleasure of Iron Man comes from Downey in what was an inspired piece of casting. Where Batman’s alter ego Bruce Wayne broods in his billionaire playboy status, Stark revels in it. This is a wonderfully flip, inventive, sophisticated performance from Downey as Stark roams the world courting celebrity and with a glass seldom far from his lips, presumably setting up the alcoholism storyline that plagued him in the comics.

But he can also handle the transition to the world’s most powerful tin can.

Downey as Stark gives the impression of having fun in the suit, which is not always the case in films like this. Just as smart as casting Downey was filling the supporting cast with quality actors like Bridges, Terrence Howard and Gwyneth Paltrow.