I AM…aw, you know.

Caught the 8:30 show at the Grove (ugh) with Michael and Susan. No problem getting seats, but it did fill up. New Adam Sandler trailer — DON’T MESS WITH THE ZOHAN — looks utterly bizarre: middle eastern secret agent escapees to New York to become hairdresser. Who thinks up these plot devices? The crowd laughed at the violence, not the jokes about hair styling. Ah, next trailer. Dr. Jones! Indy! Don’t care for how the trailer is cut together (a dying art) but there’s hope galore. Spielberg directing an all-out action film in the 21st century is good news. I’m sold.

Then…IRON MAN.

Greatest. Superhero. Casting. Ever. I was sold on this the second I heard Downey was going to be Shellhead and he does not disappoint. While the comic book’s Tony Stark is a bit more sophisticated (Clooney woulda been perfect 10 years ago), Downey nails the character’s self-absorption and confident flipness. A little glib goes a long way, but once Downey’s Stark sees the brutal results of his war machinery at work, his evolution is well-played. Downey can go from wise-ass to wise-man in seconds and he’s particularly great in the middle section as he creates Iron Man in his lab.

Jon Favreau was a smart choice to direct as he’s a geek, and happily, he doesn’t much care for CG (until the end). He likes good actors and clunky robots. And Stan Winston’s expert suits are pure pop masterworks of design. The movie still lacks a certain poetic spectacle that the comics have within their DNA but there are plenty of good superhero moments to savor.

IRON MAN still focuses on the characters, and Gwyneth Paltrow is perfect as Pepper Potts, Stark’s pining Gal Friday. She and Downey have real chemistry and Paltrow has her own moments of action. The scene with smooth villain Jeff Bridges (lean, mean, bald and evil) circling Paltrow as she sits secretly downloading Stark’s files is a dramatic highpoint of the film. Terence Howard brings a nice wide-eyed grace to Stark’s best pall, James Rhodes, though I prefer the comic book’s more free-wheeling version. Apparently the DOD actually had “control” over how the Air Force was presented — Irony, man. As for Shaun Toub as the scientist imprisoned with Stark in the opening, he’s wonderful and his final scene is perhaps the film’s emotional peak. Stan Lee? His best cameo.

Biggest gripes? The way-too-much-explosion climax. Explosions are not exciting anymore. Stop. IM also hurts from the lack of a great score. By now, you’d think composers would be stompin’ to write some great superhero themes. But the soundtrack is all over the place. Still, as a suburban metalhead and fan of David Micheline’s re-invention of Iron Man in the 80’s, I had always envisioned a future IM film using Black Sabbath’s iconic song. Here we are into a new century, and it’s some kind of comic book closure to hear it finally used to clever perfection at the end.

I also recall the first time I noticed Robert Downey Jr, as an actor, in the otherwise limp LESS THAN ZERO as he stole the movie and made me think he was somebody to watch. IRON MAN is certainly in the pantheon of terrific comic book films and hopefully future installments will improve. There’s good stuff here. When Terence Howard gazes over Downey in the Iron Man suit and tells him, “That’s the coolest thing I’ve ever seen,” you believe it.

And stay through the credits for a peek into the Marvel Universe film future. Excelsior!