Better than I remember
After watching IM3, I went back and watched the first two again, and I find I can now appreciate this one as a stepping stone to the Avengers and IM3. What would someone like Tony Stark do if he was dying? Self-destruct obviously, as he self-destructed in IM3 after the battle of Manhattan. Every IM film is a story of redemption, even Avengers when he learned to lie on the wire.
As a character, I'm appreciating Tony Stark more and more.