Real Steel (2011)

Let's get one thing straight, Real Steel is not Transformers 4, more a Fighter with robots. Most kids love robots. Adults enjoy a bit of boxing. So it makes sense to put them both together. This Sci-Fi/ Family story is set in a world where human boxing has been outlawed. Charlie (Hugh Jackman) is a impulsive, bad luck former heavyweight contender who has to take care of his estranged 11-year old son Max (Dakota Goyo). Max finds a down-n-out sparring robot and they both decide to fix him up and put him in the ring. Underneath the busy, noisy action beats a human heart pumping with emotion that has worked for every single boxing film going. This exciting, funny and heart-warming movie is for everyone-and with family movies doing so well at the box office this year, expect great word of mouth and high box office numbers over the next few weeks.

Despite success with big budget comedies, director Shawn Levy isn't really known to gain a lot of critical success (when you've made Pink Panther and Night of the Museum films you can understand why). So he's decided to try something a little different, adding family drama to the latest in special effects and it's paid off as this is Shawn's best film in years.

But it's not all down to Shawn. Fortunately he struck gold when he landed Hugh Jackman in the lead role. Jackman gives a charisma-driven performance as the stubborn Charlie Kenton, a man still holding on to past glories and scraping a living up and down America as he searches for quick-cash opportunities whilst trying to avoid people he owes money to. The script doesn't exactly give him a lot to work with, but it works best when Jackman and Goyo are on screen together. Goyo gives a solid, effective performance though sometimes-can be a little annoying. Plus with have the robot Atom, the sparring robot who's not all he seems to be. The moments between Max and Atom are the most heartfelt in the movie. During the quieter moments in the movie, you actually forget the Atom is an effect when the two are just simply interacting with each other.

With Charlie's Cynicism about Atom's chances at full tilt, Max proves the robot's worth and through the process begins to repair the relationship he never had with his Dad. At its core, Real Steel is just a Father-Son story about redemption-and while that's as familiar as a boxing movie about a comeback king, Levy gives the tale real cinematic weight. Unlike Transformers, the spectacular fight scenes between the robots, aren't meant to carry the film alone. Levy knows this is a human story set in the future (the year isn't mentioned in the film but Levy has stated it's set in the year 2020).

The biggest issue the director had is splitting his time between the underdog sports story and the family unit. Unfortunately Levy doesn't quite manage it. This is glaringly obvious with the scenes between Jackman and Evangeline Lilly. while the Chemistry is decent for most of the film, it doesn't really spark towards the end of the film. Also Kevin Durand's role as Ricky- is over the top. Actually the only characters who show any real emotion and purpose are Charlie and Max. Still, Real Steel is an enjoyable film with great cinematography, effects and pacing.

Real Steel is not a Rocky story with Robots, in fact it's no where near that quality. But this is solid family entertainment, even if you already know how it's going to turn out.




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