One of this year's hottest summer movies was Iron Man, directed by Jon Favreau and starring Robert Downey, Jr. as Tony Stark, aka Iron Man, and Jeff Bridges as the evil arms dealer Obadiah Stane.

The film is based on a Marvel comic book hero. As with so many comic book super heroes, Tony Stark begins the story as a wealthy, pleasure-seeking womanizer who gives no thought to the less fortunate people in the world.

He has inherited wealth and a huge corporation whose major line of manufacture is military weapons. When he thinks about it at all, Stark justifies being an arms manufacturer with the belief that his weapons are used to keep America safe.

His partner and presumed friend is Obadiah Stane, a man who worked with Tony's father. Obie pretends to care about Tony, but works behind his back to further his own ends. Although I'd read somewhere that Jeff Bridges was going to be in this movie, I didn't recognize him with his shaved head and evil persona.

I can't think this film will come up for any Oscar nominations, but as summer entertainment it pleases well enough.

Gwyneth Paltrow is Tony's prim assistant who runs his household, schedules his appointments, and keeps a lid on her romantic feelings for him. She has the silly name of Pepper Potts.

As with the first Spiderman movie, viewers are treated to watching the transformation of a prototype super hero suit from a rough first version to a super slick improved model.

Tony builds the first iron man suit out of bits and pieces while he is the prisoner of Arab terrorists. He's helped by fellow prisoner Yinsen (Shaun Toub). Yinsen, a sympathetic Arab character to compensate for all the baddies, saves Tony's life by operating on him in primitive conditions. Tony is in bad shape, having been injured in an explosion after his military escort is killed. Just before the explosion, Tony recognizes his own name on the rocket.

Yinsen removes as much shrapnel as he can, and installs a mysterious battery-powered magnet to keep the rest of the shrapnel from penetrating Tony's heart. Later, Yinsen sacrifices his life in order to give Tony time to escape.

While a prisoner, Tony learns that his weapons, intended for the U.S. military, are equally at the disposal of enemy factions. After three months, with the help of the iron man suit, Tony escapes into the desert where he is rescued by an American helicopter crew.

Changed by his experience, Tony returns home and announces that Stark Enterprises will cease weapons production. His colleague Stane, who has been selling weapons to terrorists and who was responsible for Tony's capture in the desert, immediately moves to take over the company.

Iron Man has several illogical plot devices, but if you like action movies with a touch of social commentary, it's worth one viewing at least. The sequence in which Iron Man rescues villagers from a terrorist massacre is especially poignant.