Robert Downey Jr. took the really, really long route to Hollywood superstardom.

Already a seasoned performer before his ‘big break’ and Oscar nominated turn as Charlie Chaplin in Chaplin, though mostly in little-known projects, Downey Jr. became fonder of frolicking in Hollywood, wading through the tinsel knocked down from nasty nights, than much else.

His run-ins with the law and journeys into dark places, led by drug abuse, began to take over this talented actor – though he kept getting breaks and making the most of them during his darkest days (Natural Born Killers, Restoration and a few others).

His penchant for selecting off-colour roles in little known movies at least kept him on some sort of list.

Director Jon Favreau (Made) made an odd casting choice, at first, when he selected Downey Jr. for the lead in Iron Man.

But Favreau isn’t known as a staid performer, so kudos to him for his daring because the actor’s work makes Iron Man a worthy film as opposed to be just a bang bang action movie.

He infuses his roustabout demeanor into super rich and brilliant Tony Stark, and humanizes him in doing so.

Basically, Tony Stark is an uber-uber wealthy inventor spawn who takes his father’s weapons business to a whole new level.

He has an epiphany one fateful day and in his attempts to survive, he invents Iron Man.

Okay, never mind the too-convenient plot devices – it’s just a superhero action movie.

Despite an okay supporting cast, including Terrence Howard (Ray, Four Brothers), Jeff Bridges as one of the bad guys and the delightful Gwyneth Paltrow, Downey Jr. carries this piece.

As a superhero action movie, Iron Man delivers plenty of big bang thrills but Favreau deserves credit for taking the time to establish the story and at least attempt to make Stark’s change in heart and life direction seem more palpable.

The guilt trip thing is a nice message to punt out to the world at this current time, as big arms corporations continue to serve as merchants of death world-wide.

Stark’s and Iron Man’s mission is to counter the destruction and pain that he and his father before him have helped initiate.

Expect more films to follow. And I hope so because it was definitely worth the time to watch, with just enough good humour to balance the bombast.

On a scale of one to 10, Iron Man is an 8.09.