Iron Man (4 stars)

Comic: Stan Lee Written: John August Director: Jon Favreau Cast: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/ Iron Man, Terrence Howard as Lt. Colonel James 'Rhodey' Rhodes, Gwyneth Paltrow as Virginia 'Pepper' Potts, Jeff Bridges as Obadiah Stane/ Iron Monger, Shaun Toub as Dr. Yinsen

Synopsis: spoiler During a business trip toAfghanistanto demonstrate his company's new weapon system,Tony Starkis attacked and kidnapped by a terrorist group called theTen Ringsthat order him to build them a version of Stark Industries' "Jericho Missile", an extremely destructive, multi-warhead weapon. While pretending to work on this, instead, over the next three months with the aid of a fellow captive, Dr.Yinsen(Shaun Toub), he builds a crude but very strongpower armor, powered from a miniaturearc reactorStark and Yinsen built to power an electromagnet, which protects Stark's heart from the embedded shrapnel in his chest. Dr. Yinsen is killed in the ensuing escape attempt when he stalls the guards to buy Stark enough time to charge the suit. Using the built-in weapons and rockets in his suit, Stark kills several terrorists, destroys their stockpile, and launches himself, thus getting away. He is later picked up by the Air Force. Upon returning to the United States, Stark declares that Stark Industries will no longer manufacture weapons, a move which his business partnerObadiah Stanetells him is blocked by the board members shortly after.

During his self-imposed sabbatical from public life, Stark tinkers with the design of his power suit, refining its flight capability, and builds a more powerful and reliable arc reactor, both to power his pacemaker and the suit. During his first public appearance since his kidnapping, he is shown pictures of Stark Industries weapons in the hands of terrorist groups, including the system he refused to build for them. He also discovers that Stane has been "dealing under the table" to both sides in the conflict, as well as being the one to shut Stark out of the board while he recovers. Faced with the realization of what his company has done, Stark dons the power suit and flies to Afghanistan, rescuing Yinsen's village from the Ten Rings. In destroying their weapon stockpiles, he accidentally draws the attention of theUnited States Air Forceand his friendJim Rhodes, who is an Air Force officer.

Determined to make amends for his mistakes, Stark sends his assistantPepper Pottsto find the shipping records of Stark Industries, so he can track down the illicit shipments and destroy them. While hacking into the system she discovers that it was Stane who hired the Ten Rings to kill Stark, but they had reneged on the deal when they realized who the target was. She also discovers that Stane has recovered the power suit prototype (Iron Man Mk I), and has reverse engineered hisown version. Stane, upon realizing Pepper's discovery, steals Stark's arc reactor from his chest to power his new suit, leaving Stark for dead. Using his first reactor, which was not designed to power the suit, Stark does battle with Stane inLos Angeles, defeating him when the larger arc reactor that powers Stark Industries is deliberately overloaded. Stark barely makes it out alive when his reactor almost fails completely, but reactivates. Afterwards, Stark makes his identity public at a press conference.

At the end, post-credits,Nick Fury(played bySamuel L. Jackson) shows up in the Stark Mansion, and begins to tell Stark of theAvengersInitiative. - quote from Wikipedia

Review: I know what you guys are thinking, and i was thinking the same when walking into the theatre- what another bunch of elaborate CG animation and mindless plot it is going to be. Turns out i m only half right, even though the CG is as elaborate as can be, and the plot gives no surprises what so ever, the pace, dialog, character, humour, or rather, detail of the movie is delivered at its best. Jon Favreau has made a very good beginning for the trilogy, almost perfect, and perfect does not come cheap, the production grossed at a 135 million US budget. Most dialog in the movie is improvised, so as story develops, all events help viewers to understand the characters more, this is rare to come by these days, to have a solid two hours of entertainment. Here is proof: a friend of mine went on a drink-all-you-can boat trip and came to the movies drunk, sitting next to him was embarrassing cos he was reeking of alcohol, i expect him to pass out within fifteen minutes of the movie, but the story turned out so intriguing he had his eyes half open and lasted for 2 hours; true story.

Personally i love the bit when the boys are having a bliss in the jet, and when dr. yinsen dies, hes the shop owner guy from the movie Crash btw, great actor. Cameo appearance, its always fun to watch isnt it? In this movie, you have Jon Favreau himself as one of Tony Starks' bodyguards, Stan Lee impersonating Hugh Hefner (lol), and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury at the end of the credits. Guys, go watch this movie, it is a great Robert Downey Jr. come back; Gwyneth Paltrow really made Pepper an adorable personality; and most of all, the great programmer from the movie Tron, Jeff Bridges, really pulled off as a three dimensional indifferent villian. And dont even get me started on the armor, the upgraded unrendered (silver) version is awesome!