In this classy addition to the Marvel Comics movie canon, Robert Downey Jr stars as billionaire playboy and weapons genius Tony Stark, who's captured and held hostage during a trip to Afghanistan. His insurgent captors order him to build them a bomb, but instead he devises an armoured suit that he uses to escape. Back in America, Stark decides to change his ways, aided by his loyal, wise-cracking assistant (Gwyneth Paltrow). He also finesses the armour and creates the crime-fighting persona of Iron Man. But Stark's new-found peacenik status upsets business partner Jeff Bridges, who has his own ideas about how to use the technology. Jon Favreau's direction is unfussy and controlled, and he cleverly filters the comic's 1960s origins through contemporary war on terror paranoia. In an exemplary piece of casting, Downey Jr gives a powerhouse performance, adding depth and believability to his character as both self-indulgent waster and do-gooder superhero, while the futuristic gadgets and stratospheric flights are great fun. The only slight disappointment is an ending that seems more in keeping with Transformers than the briskly told story that's gone before.

After being held captive in an Afghan cave, billionaire engineer Tony Stark creates a unique weaponized suit of armor to fight evil.