Craig Daily Press

Craig — Streaking across the sky with a flash of scarlet and yellow is this year’s lead-in to the summer movie season, “Iron Man.”

Mechanical genius and arms manufacturing billionaire Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) lives life to the fullest with no concern about the consequences of his hectic pace.

While exhibiting his latest weaponry in Afghanistan, his military escort is bombed by a terrorist organization, leaving him with shrapnel lodged in his heart. Stark is taken into captivity and rigged with a makeshift pacemaker by the group, who are holding him hostage with his own artillery and are demanding that he build them a missile deadlier than any other.

He has no intention of letting them get away with this, and during the next few months, he and a fellow prisoner (Shaun Toub) create something much better: a suit of armor that will enable escape. Once he gains his freedom, Stark sets out to improve upon his original design with a more advanced version that will turn him into a one-man fighting force.

Downey’s cocky, keen representation is a dead ringer for the playboy-turned-crusader for the downtrodden. He is able to straddle the line between Tony Stark and alter ego Iron Man. The actor is lightning in a bottle.

Terrence Howard is staunch as Tony’s best friend Lt. Col. Jim “Rhodey” Rhodes, a straight-laced Air Force man whose association with the laidback tycoon makes for an odd friendship.

Gwyneth Paltrow shines with a new carrot top hairdo as Tony’s personal assistant Pepper Potts, a fiery and dedicated corporate type with a loving concern for her boss that exceeds the boundaries of the office.

Jeff Bridges joins the ranks of Willem Dafoe (“Spider-Man”), Michael Clarke Duncan (“Daredevil”) and Julian McMahon (“Fantastic Four”) as Obadiah Stane, a Lex Luthor lookalike and yet another super villain who doubles as a hardnosed competitor in the world of big business.

As the latest in an ever-increasing list of features based on the heroes of Marvel Comics, the movie is slightly weighed down by its similarities to so many of the other Marvel movies.

However, this deterrent is almost unnoticeable in the hands of director Jon Favreau, who also plays Stark’s chauffeur Harold “Happy” Hogan. Favreau takes the story panels of the hero (whose aliases include “the Golden Avenger” and “Ol’ Shellhead”) and transforms them into a rip-roaring, three-dimensional adventure full of the high-tech gadgetry that makes the “Iron Man” title unique.

An instrumental rendition of the Black Sabbath song of the same name and an obligatory cameo from comic co-creator Stan Lee are obvious moves.

But a number of other artistic decisions have made the movie all the better, such as the ridding of anachronisms such as Iron Man’s original anti-Communism slant and the transmogrification of Tony Stark’s butler Jarvis into an Artificial Intelligence program (voiced by Paul Bettany) with the full name “Just a Rather Very Intelligent System.”

As if these were not enough, plenty of foreshadowing throughout the film combined with an absolutely crucial post-credits scene will have fans new and old salivating for the sequels that undoubtedly are on the way.

Hopefully, a reported appearance from Stark in another upcoming Marvel film will be enough to satisfy for now.

As sleek and layered as its eponymous hero, “Iron Man” is an exuberant flick for everyone and the perfect tone-setter for a summer full of action.

Now playing at the West Theater.