This film is generally a crowd
pleaser in the sense of the underdog story it’s rooted upon. The plot is a familiar setup that has been
done time and time again yet it adds its own spin that does separate it enough
to be fun. The aspect of the robots replacing
human boxers in the ring is intriguing. The
scenes with the robots don’t disappoint in the least and I hate giant robots. The combination of human interaction with the
robots they control is balanced enough to not make this film all about robots and
what destruction they can do in the boxing arena.
Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman, which
I’m a fan of), really steps into his role and makes his character so cold,
selfish and dislikable. He is a loner
basically and has a mind focused solely on the next robot-battling gig he can
scratch up. He, at one time, was a boxer
but was average at best although he always gave it his absolute all. The back-story for him is summed up best that
he was to be a warm up fight for the current champion boxer before a major
title bout. Charlie played the classic
underdog position and actually pushed the champion farther than was expected to
before being knocked out. The movie runs
it’s course along the same path but with the eventual robot he uses in place of
himself.
The story includes Charlie’s son
Max (Dakota Goyo) who is a pleasant surprise.
Honestly, in my own opinion of course, having a kid as a main character
(cough, Star Wars Episode I, cough) can utterly bring the age level for a film
too far down to be liked by us older folk.
For the performance given by Jackman, being one of his best, the movie
would suffer overall if this kid didn’t do well.
The underground world of robot
fighting is very exciting and entertaining.
The eventual father and son team go to an old run down zoo where you get
a comedic and energetic taste of what some robot battling is about. The official world of the robot battling is
dead-on, with the robots being intently controlled by a team of computer
nerds. Charlie has a robot with a shadow
function he eventually uses to fight mirroring his own movements which is so
dynamic and quite fun to watch. The fight with Twin Towers was possibly the
best as Charlie found a way to win based on his experience as a fighter that
the nerds didn’t have controlling their robot.
I’m sure the final battle against Zeus wouldn’t have been so close but
it represents Charlie as a boxer carrying over to the robot battle. A close fight in which the champion was
supposed to win easily but couldn’t.
OK, moving away from adulations of
joy, let’s hit the film where it hurts.
I’d like to look at two moments wherein I find a hitch of despair. In the recycling yard when Max finds Atom,
his new robot pal, he manages to get a 1,000lb robot out and to the truck. It leaves much to the imagination as to how
that happened. Did an old man working at
the recycling yard have pity on the young lad and help him somehow, possibly
with a crane, get the robot out? My view
is it’s a bit too much to look over that he did it alone. It caught my attention both times I’ve seen
the flick and it ever so slightly takes away from the film. How did he do it? It’s not a plot breaker or awkward scene so
it fades to the background and out of most viewers memories quickly. The second of the moments is the final
battle, Zeus vs. Atom, in the world of “Real Steel” it would strongly seem Atom
was doomed for utter failure. He takes
beating after beating against a superior robot.
Atom does mirror well other robots but Zeus does seem to be able to
break a generation two robot’s armor, which Atom had. I want to think outside the plot for a
moment, was Atom a special robot built by a genius designer who met an untimely
death? Was his robot so cutting edge
that it was lost in a recycling yard abyss?
I pondered as I do over plot points that make me use my imagination to
rectify said points.
Outside of these two moments I like
the film immensely. It has a great sense
of warmth and spirit that usually doesn’t come in a movie with giant
robots. The scene as Max finally calls
Charlie his dad at the end is obviously seen coming but still really touches
you as you see those two connect as a family.
An earlier moment when Max tells Charlie to fight for him, meaning
that’s all he wanted from his father practically pulls a tear from your
eye. Charlie struggles with being a
father and fails throughout until Max delivers this begging statement. The two go through cliché moments but manage
to make it fresh and meaningful. The
film is filled with laughter, action and heart with a story that is begging for
an audience to entertain. It’s
absolutely a delightful movie.
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