"In one of the first major-daily newspaper reviews, Frank Lovece of "Newsday" lauded the film's "emotional truth ... pitch-perfect casting and plausibly rendered super-science" that made it "faithful to the source material while updating it – and recognizing what's made that material so enduring isn't just the high-tech cool of a man in a metal suit, but the human condition that got him there".Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film four out of four stars, praising Downey Jr.'s performance and stating, "At the end of the day it's Robert Downey Jr. who powers the lift-off separating this from most other superhero movies".