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DVD review: Iron Man

The best of a lively set of three comic transfers in three weeks, all featuring leads you don't expect to be on the green-screen team ( following Edward Norton and James McAvoy). Coming from Marvel, and with the obligatory Stan Lee cameo to prove it, Iron Man has taken a raft of imaginative decisions either side of the camera in what tends to be a predictable genre. In the first place, Jon Favreau - of and Sopranos fame - is parked in the canvas chair. In the second and third, who would have thought of cuddly, hairy Jeff Bridges as a bald, bearded villain, or macrobiotic -winner as Pepper Potts, the playboy's Girl Friday. In the event, both are splendid.

It's a bit similar at times to and but never too close for comfort. Downey, as lead character Stark, is glib, fast-talking, successful and amoral - a genius billionaire with a gift for machine tools and women. Left with a mechanical contrivance to stop shrapnel from villainous Afghans puncturing his heart, this master of the universe builds a suit of body armour with built-in flamethrowers. The trials for this are fun to watch and he adds a smart weapon that really is smart: get the heads of the bad guys in its sight and it terminates them while leaving the victims unharmed. If only.