Let me begin by saying, Iron Man disappointed me. This disappointment, however, stemmed mostly from my own incredible optimism when it comes to films of this type, and the incredible amount of hype that has surrounded this film since it was announced. These two factors had been working on me together, building and building, until, when I walked into the theater for the preview screening of Iron Man, I was fully convinced that it would be The Greatest Film I Had Ever Seen. So naturally, when it turned out not to be, I felt a little let down. But thinking back over the film and how much I'd been entertained by it, I realized that even though it is not the greatest movie ever, it's still very, very good—and it may in fact be the best comic book movie ever.

The story is pretty simple. Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) is a wealthy, sexy genius who runs an extremely successful arms manufacturing company which he essentially inherited from his father. He goes to meetings drunk, can have his pick of the ladies, and you've really just got to see his private jet. He thinks he has a pretty good handle on the world until one day in a daring, deadly raid, he's injured and kidnapped by terrorists who demand that he build them one of his company's deadly weapons. His eyes are finally opened as to what his company is really contributing to the world, and he develops a new and different kind of weapon—one that will make him a hero.

The film also stars Terrence Howard as Jim Rhodes, Stark's buddy in the armed forces; Jeff Bridges as Stark's partner in the weapon building business, Obadiah Stane; and Gwyneth Paltrow as Pepper Potts, Stark's assistant and his best and closest friend. Director Jon Favreau has a small part as one of Stark's bodyguards, and of course Stan "The Man" Lee has his regular cameo—I won't go into detail about it, but it's easily his best and funniest cameo of all time. (Besides Stan's appearance, the film includes a number of other little tidbits to delight the comic book fan, including a reference to S.H.I.E.L.D. and a little foreshadowing of what Jim Rhodes will eventually become.)

Comic book movies like this one are usually assumed to be all about the effects and the action, and indeed Iron Man is loaded with amazing effects and thrilling action. But what Hollywood often forgets is that those things don't mean much if they aren't accompanied by interesting characters, story, and dialogue—and thankfully Iron Man has got all those, too. Stark is a fascinating person who travels through a powerful character arc, spouting clever and hilarious one-liners the whole way. Favreau smartly doesn't rush through the origin story so he can then parade the character through a series of set-piece fights with all of his most famous villains; instead, the entire film is the origin story, and Stark hasn't really become Iron Man until he explicitly takes on the mantle at the very end, in a great scene with one of the most kick-ass music cues of all time.

Iron Man is not a perfect movie. It gets a bit corny and cheesy at times. Some of the characters are pretty stereotypical. But it's well written, ridiculously fun, and as far as films of this type go, it may just be the best there is.

Image via Internet Movie Poster Awards Gallery