I really enjoyed it too - Iron Man tends to be among my favourite superhero movies, and this one was no different. When I heard the opening notes of "Blue Da Ba Dee" that started the movie, I knew it was going to be fun, and it was.

Even if the plot made really very little sense - in the end I'm still not sure if the terrorism was a smokescreen for the other purpose (which would be quite clever), or not, and if so, what precisely the other purpose was.

Also, the references to the Avengers puzzled me a bit - were we supposed to have noticed at the end of Avengers that he was traumatized by the whole thing? It seemed kind of like something we were supposed to be already aware of, with the way they cursorily passed over that...

And then the grand finale, yeah, classic absurd-but-awesome superhero fare.

I guess it's the acting that makes it work, Downey's of course but also Paltrow, Kingsley as you noted, Guy Pearce was really good as well, and that kid.

Oh, and I stayed all the way to the end of the closing credits to see if there'd be an epilogue; if anyone else is wondering, the answer is yes, there is, and it's kind of amusing, but if you're hoping for any Avengers II preview, you'll be disappointed. Apart from one of the Avengers starring in it, that is.