They should have settled the Jerry-George debate on whether he wears underwear: "Iron Man"

Sure, we see Robert Downey Jr. in some kind of bodysuit. But underwear? Still a mystery.

Managed to get away Sunday night to see the first blockbuster of the summer season, which now starts in early May. Can't say I was ever a big Iron Man fan. It's not that I don't like the character. Just never got around to him. So no worries for me about whether this version directed by Mike from "Swingers" was faithful to the funny pages.

Our story has Downey as Tony Stark, a genius/playboy/weapons designer whose bonafides in all three categories are established right up front. At the same time, we see Mr. Stark suffer some unpleasantness in the form of an ambush during a military call in Afghanistan. Turns out Stark is injured by shrapnel from one of his own missiles, and the bad guys have a doctor keep him alive by implanting an electromagnet in his chest. There's a conversation starter for you.

The baddies also want Stark to make them a bad-ass missile. He instead makes something that helps him bust out: a crude version of an iron suit, complete with weapons and blast-off capability. Upon his return to civilization, Stark -- who got religion in captivity -- decides to fight evil with a new-and-improved suit. Better paint job, too.

As stories go, it's not that complex, which is fine. It also seems nice and current, which is notable considering the original took place during Vietnam. Our supporting players include Gwyneth Paltrow -- looking damn cute -- as Stark's assistant, Terrence Howard as his military buddy and Jeff Bridges -- with more hair on his chin than his head -- as the head of Stark's company.

Solid actors, although some get more meat in the script than others. Howard doesn't get much to work with, and each performance since his double-whammy of "Hustle and Flow" and "Crash" has seemed like a letdown to me. Paltrow is quite winning, and did I mention cute? Bridges is distracting with than shaved head but not bad. Every now and then some of the classic Bridges mannerisms show through. Still, I wonder if someone else would have been better here.

But on to more important things: the action and Downey.

The action? Not bad. Good little start and nice backstory. Drags a bit in the middle, but the Iron Man flying stuff was pretty good. The finale was kind of a letdown, but on the whole, the effects mostly worked. So yeah, cool suit.

I had a harder time with our hero's general background. I mean, it makes sense that most superheroes have to be either super-rich (Batman) or mutants of some kind (Spider-Man). Like a regular old homeless guy could build some kind of crime-fighting device. Still, the millionaire thing is just too convenient, and even with their different "jobs," Tony Stark is no different from Bruce Wayne. Makes me wonder if Bill Gates or the Sultan of Brunei are somewhere at this very moment righting wrongs in the dark of night.

That said, Downey does a fine job of pulling off this role. He's better as the bad boy but still good after his epiphany. There definitely was the risk of being more over the top -- all noble and that. He and the script also don't go overboard with the one-liners, which probably was the right move. Still, one joke about boxers or briefs wouldn't have killed them.