Real Steel while at first glance looks a lot like a movie version of Rock'em Sock'em Robots once the movie starts it ends up being far from that. Set in the fairly near future the sport of boxing has changed in that instead of boxers brains being slowly turned to mush after years of taking blows to the head the sports is now being run but remote/voice controlled robots. For me while the trailer gives you a feeling of this being a movie about robot boxing with the relationship of the father/son being a subplot after seeing the movie I feel like the movie focuses about relationship first and foremost with the boxing being the subplot. While many may feel upon seeing the trailer that this movie is another one of the campy, cliched, underdog/rags to riches story, instead it delivers a strong story with some great little plot changes that allow for a non-traditional sports movie.
Hugh Jackman stars as Charlie, a former professional boxer whoa down on his luck guy in the world of robot boxing, who takes his robot from fight to fight trying to make money. Jackman gives a great performance that does not disappoint. Dakota Goyo playing Charlie's son Max who he has never really known does a great job. He has a great ability to definitely come off very natural in his interaction with Jackman and is definitely not in awe when sharing the screen with his more illustrious co-star. Goyo was one of the best aspects of the film he gives the true underdog feeling for the audience. While the female audience members may disagree with me, but the true eye candy in the movie that can really act well is that of Evangeline Lily. Lily brings a few key moments here and there that help Max understand his dad better and even help Charlie realize a few things, her character along with a lot of the other supporting cast end up being under utilized.
The designs of the robots were definitely the highlight of the film, with names mirroring the ability the robots possess, and the animatronics were top notch naturally, with motion capture employed to detail the bouts. Plenty of thought went into the mechanics of the machines, from wireless control panels to components unique to each robot thanks to cannibalizing of others. Unique to Atom is its shadowing ability, since its built as a sparring bot, heavy set to allow for plenty of punishment, and like a sparring partner can mirror one's exact movements, which presents an angle of argument that machines that have that human touch, is probably blessed with the best of both worlds. I won't be surprised if Atom will get inducted into the annals of great cinematic robots one day for its endearing exploits in Real Steel.
One of the few aspects of the film that I did not like was that of the so-called villains of the film being the backers of the super robot of Zeus. The Japanese creator and the Russian backed promoter are not given the amount of screen time for you to truly dislike them. With a film like this you want to have a distaste for the villains that is as strong as the rooting for the heroes that you have i.e. Drago vs. Rocky in Rocky IV. I feel that at just over 2 hours the movie does not feel that long and could have either used some extra time to develop the characters of Lemkova and Mashido or there were a couple additional subplots that ended up going nowhere and upon looking back on the movie come across as time fillers for moments.
Real Steel ends up being a strong movie that was a lot of fun to sit through. The performances are good and I suspect that the young actor Dakota Goyo will be a name that movie goers will become more familiar with as the years move forward. While I would have loved to have seen more robot boxing action, the moments of the boxing are very entertaining. The ending for Real Steel ended up being perfect for this type of movie and ended in my mind at such a perfect point that it accounted for an additional quarter of a bucket of a popcorn. I am giving Real Steel three and a half buckets of popcorn out of five. We saw it in IMAX and it was well worth the added cost to see it in that medium. This is no doubt a movie that will be added to the movie collection and it has made me really wonder what they will do for the sequel, which has already been green lighted.
-The Movie Man
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