* * * 1/2

Robert Downey, Jr., Gwyneth Paltrow, Jeff Bridges, Terrence Howard. Written by Mark Fergus, Hawk Ostby, Art Marcum and Matt Holloway, based on the Marvel Comics character. Directed by Jon Favreau. Rated PG-13. 126 minutes.

In Iron Man, the summer’s first big action movie, Robert Downey Jr. delivers what just may go down as the coolest, funniest and most self-aware superhero performance ever to grace comic books movies—and there have been a lot of them. As billionaire playboy Tony Stark, inventor extraordinaire and iconic heir to a Halliburton-esque weapons empire, Downey manages the neat trick of playing above and inside a genre, and the result is a thrill. The movie smartly gives Downey an hour before donning the Iron Man armor to settle into alter-go Stark, and he runs with it all the way.

After demonstrating his powerful new missile to U.S. forces in Afghanistan, playboy Stark’s military caravan is hijacked and he is kidnapped by a radical terrorist faction (Read: Al-Quaida), wounded and imprisoned in a cave, forced to create an identical WMD in exchange for release. Instead, uses scrap metal to create the first version of Iron Man, a crude suit of armor and firepower that blasts him out of captivity in the film’s first fun action sequence, stranded in the desert amidst his junked prototype and rescued by confidant Sgt. Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes (Terrence Howard).

Returning to America, his massive Malibu abode (a real feat of production and set design) and loyal personal assistant Pepper Potts (Gwyneth Paltrow), Stark is a changed man whose harrowing ordeal in captivity initiates a transformation of conscience. No longer wanting to produce weapons, a press conference meltdown irks the ire of Stark executive and Cheney-esque warmonger Obadiah Stane (a terrific Jeff Bridges) and the stock plummets.

While attraction between Stark and Potts blooms under the radar, he begins work on a new and improved Iron Man suit which takes flight in the film’s most awe-inspiring sequence, an extended Middle Eastern jaunt to protect some town folk from a terrorist cell whom he handily evaporates followed by a thrilling game of missile tag with a pair of American fighter jets. Downey’s blasé and ironic detachment in the face of extreme danger—he never sweats, even taking cell phone calls with wry humor from 40, 000 feet—is loads of fun.

Stark’s newfound, anti-war idealism doesn’t suit increasingly worried company man Stane, producing tensions and a few surprises for those who know nothing of Iron Man lore. Bridges, bald and aged with a beard, excels as a villain in the film’s second half, leading to a modestly scaled action finale between Iron Man and much larger robot, amidst city streets and mid-air, which never threatens to overtake the film and stays appropriately economic in scale.

Paltrow is immensely likable here as the world’s snappiest, sexiest gopher, very funny in a rooftop flirtation then courageous in the film’s climax. Absent from films for some time, she’s a kind voice of reason to Stark’s flights of fancy and she lifts the film every time she appears, with perfect comic timing in a scene requiring her to literally reach directly into Stark’s chest—and heart.

Downey, 43, on the heels of a terrific comic turn as a beleaguered principal in Charlie Bartlett and a wearied reporter in Zodiac, is on a marked career high. He couldn’t be more effective in Iron Man, so inventive and often rapid-firing through the mumbo-jumbo dialogue if delivering some manic in-joke. It’s almost as if he is saying, “Yeah, Tony Stark is a smart guy. But I’m smarter.” Later, when Pepper is in danger, he shows great heart.

There is much fun to be had in the slick technology here, and it’s a real blast to see Stark suiting up with the aid of trusty robot buddies populating his inventor’s lair of flashy sports cars and high-end gadgets. The only downside here is Terrence Howard’s sidelined buddy role, whom we assume will figure prominently in later installments.

Director Jon Favreau expertly balances the hardware and people-ware, never losing sight of why we’re enjoying the film—its cast. I had no experience with Marvel Comics’ Iron Man prior to seeing this picture, but I certainly was taken with this big, funny, sweet film.

- Lee Shoquist

lee@atnzone.com