I loved Ben Kingsley's character's revelation! It was well worked out from the filmmakers -- to cast Kingsley, who is used to playing serious and intense roles, as a serious and intense villain only to pull the rug from under the audience halfway through to reveal what an insignificant character (but a total hoot of one) he really was. Shane Black played it well against our expectations.

Also loved Black's attempts at daft wit. I really liked the whole part where RDJ works with the kid, and the parting conversation when RDJ was in the Audi, which reminded me of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, possibly the wittiest and most sarcastic movie I've seen. The narration by Stark seemed like it as also a nod to KKBB... unreliable narrator anyone? It would appear the whole movie as seen by the audience is actually the narration from Tony to Banner in the post credits scene. The narration was heavy-handed which leads me to think perhaps some of the more outlandish stuff that we see were a wink from Stark/Black to the audience? Like that ridiculous fire breathing scene!

There was also an obvious concerted effort from the filmmakers to keep RDJ out of the IM suit as much as possible... and to team him up with Rhodes sans suits. Bringing back the Lethal Weapons glory days eh?

Despite all the good stuff I can't call this great. It's uneven tonally and quite a mess overall. It feels like a superhero movie combined with James Bond and one of them conspiracy thrillers. Don't quite think the elements came together. And I also didn't like the bad guys with X-Men-ish mutant superpowers. Took me out of the picture, that. Was that ever shown in the trailers?