The superhero film renaissance Hollywood has undergone in the last decade or so has been a mixed bag. There have been astoundingly great films (Spiderman 2, X-men 2, Batman Begins), overwrought effects spectacles (Spiderman 3, X-men 3), flawed films (The Hulk, Daredevil), and disastrous bombs (Catwoman, Elektra). And then sometimes Hollywood just gets it right, which it thankfully did in the case of Iron Man.

Robert Downey Jr. (Chaplin, Natural Born Killers) is perfect as Tony Stark, an alcoholic billionaire industrialist and head of Stark Industries who goes on to become the titular superhero. Stark is captured by terrorists in Afghanistan (in a welcome update to the Vietnam-era setting of the comics) and wounded by shrapnel from the encounter, forcing him to permanently install a powered magnetic device into his chest that keeps the shrapnel from entering his heart.

After escaping captivity by creating an iron man prototype and reuniting with his personal secretary Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark swears to alter his legacy by fighting to destroy the weapons his company created. This upsets business partner Obadiah Stane (Jeff Bridges) who is determined to continue manufacturing weapons and fostering devastation. Stark develops a new iron man suit with more weaponry and capabilities to take on the bad guys.

One of the central aspect of the film is the sense of humor - it's terrific and by far the funniest superhero film to date. Some superhero films try too hard to be funny and fail or degenerate into slapstick silliness (Spiderman 3), but Iron Man maintains a very real sense of fun without ever going too far or staying too dry. Much of this credit lies with Downey Jr. who improvised a lot of his dialog for the film. His Tony Stark is the consumate playboy wise ass you'd love to be friends with for his charisma alone, even if you know he'll never remember your birthday.

The CGI in the film is incredibly well done and never offered as a subtitute for plot, action, or substance. Watching Stark work in his laboratory constructing the suit is truly wondrous, and while the technology doesn't exist yet it's more plausible than a warp drive in Star Trek so the viewer is not required to suspend too much disbelief.

Surprisingly the chemistry between Downey and Paltrow is very good, much more bearable than the overacted tense discourse between Tobey MacGuire's Peter Park and Kirsten Dunst's Mary Jane Watson in the Spiderman movies. I'm usually not a huge Paltrow fan (although I think she's a fine actress), but she's at least as good here as she was in Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow.

The only criticism I can really levy against the film is that the final battle is somewhat tame as battles go. At least as much time is spent verbally sparring with each other as actually fighting. Still, it's passable enough and not nearly enough to tarnish the overall body of the film.

I highly recommend this film if you like action, adventure, comedy, explosions, science-fiction, or drama. If you've liked any other superhero movie, you're almost guaranteed to enjoy this one.