In general, I'm not a fan of comic book movies. I went to see the first Iron Man in the theaters because there was so much hype. As is usually the case, the origin stories are far more interesting than those that follow it. If you're more curious to see how billionaire Tony Stark became Iron Man, rather than just a bunch of action scenes strung together, you'll probably like the first one better than the rest. I didn't really like any of them, but I'm not really the person you should come to for comic book recommendations.

I'm also not usually a Robert Downey Jr. fan, which doesn't help this franchise. If you like his too-cool-for-school attitude and aren't-I-cute quips, you won't find any fault with him in this movie. He's supposed to be a conceited jerk, so he's not really doing anything wrong by his character. Gwyneth Paltrow costars as his "straight man" assistant who tries to keep him in line. She's not given much to do besides act irritated and harried. You'll also see Terrence Howard and Jeff Bridges as his pals, but don't hold your breath for either of them because they're not in the sequels. If you love action movies with great special effects, and by some chance you've never seen the Iron Man movies, give it a chance.