It looks different today. Back then, it seemed like just a tightly knocked-down movie, professional, but not so much claiming laurels. Now it is clear that this is an unattainable height for the rabble who came to the cinema instead of the creators. There used to be a time when movies were made by someone who really wanted and could! Not a pack of marketers, not a vaunted mediocrity in which money was thrown, and not a quota of offended minorities.
It's an amazingly elaborate film. Unlike the second and third parts, there are no superfluous scenes, all characters and all things go into action, all small events are interconnected.
But there are a couple of flaws. Obadiah finds Pepper in his office, but understands the purpose of her appearance only by looking at the screen. Although her very presence there was the answer to any suspicion, as just getting into the building and entering the computer was a spying mission, she could not do so as part of a simple visit. Coulson was waiting for her audience in a building where she wasn't supposed to be. The explosion didn't hurt Stark, but it locked Obadiah's suit. The biggest drawback is that it’s a mirror villain movie, i.e. Iron Man vs. Iron Merchant. In more complex comic books, this is not done, the villain must be original.
But the film is very beautiful, competent, without frills. But the sequels were hidden failures, i.e. they fought back on money, but they hit the trust of fans hard and simply did not work as works. Being lowered on the brakes in his own franchise, HC continued to develop perfectly in the general collections of the heroes, there both the character and the actor were above all praise. Downey lived in that role.