REAL STEEL (2011)
Stars: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo
Director: Shawn Levy
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
Genre: Sci-Fi, Action
Rating: PG-13

Grade: C+

It seems like the creators of the new sci-fi action flick, Real Steel, had a pretty simple idea – let’s make a live-action “Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots” movie, and get a charismatic, popular actor to play the lead human role.  That is precisely what they did, and while the premise and plot development of Real Steel is a little forced and cheesy at times, it can also be a lot of fun to watch.  The movie takes place sometime in the next 10-15 years, and boxing amongst men has become a pastime.  The real draw now is robot boxing (remotely controlled by humans).  Hugh Jackman (the X-Men films) plays Charlie, an ex-fighter with a decorated record who is down-on-his-luck.  Charlie takes his robots all over town betting on fights, often losing which results in huge debts to some pretty unsavory people.  Along the way, Charlie becomes reunited with his 11-year-old son, Max (played by Dakota Goyo), and the two of them go on the road together with a new robot that Max discovered named “Atom.”  Atom was a sparring bot in the early stages of robot boxing, so Charlie does not put any stock into his ability to actually win.  However, what they learn is that Atom may be the most human of all robots, as he appears to have the one quality that most successful boxers carry with them – heart.  Charlie, Max and Atom live the full-blown sports underdog story carrying Atom all the way to a title match in the World Robot Boxing League (WRB) against the most feared (and undefeated) robot in the world, Zeus.  It is basically the scene from Rocky IV (1985) when Sly Stallone has to face Dolph Lundgren, but with robots instead of people.  Real Steel is pure mindless and silly fun at the movies.  Every single young boy will love this film, and most men will too.  It achieves the perfect amounts of action and heroic underdog charm.  However, where the movie comes up way too short is on the connections that are supposed to be made between all of the human characters in the movie.  First of all, Charlie and Max are reunited as father and son after eleven years, but there is no real emotion felt, even when Charlie begins to try to redeem himself with the kid.  Secondly, Charlie’s best friend and love interest, Bailey (played by Evangeline Lily), gives a very heartfelt performance, but there is no one there to reciprocate her tip-toe approach to what she thinks is Charlie’s last hoorah.  Lily (“Lost,” ABC) gives Real Steel’s best acting performance.  In fact she is the only actor in the film that is not shadowed by the action and robots (literally).  Hugh Jackman is a tough nut to crack.  Is he an action star, or a sensitive singer/dancer on Broadway?  I have never seen an actor take on such range before, kind of incessantly.  In fact, “Saturday Night Live” (NBC) just had fun at his expense with a skit about actors that are both really tough, and really “gay.”  In any event, in Real Steel, Jackman bows down to the robots.  They are definitely the centerpiece to enjoying this film.  Jackman does have a very charismatic quality, and I usually enjoy him in most roles that I’ve seen, and I enjoyed him here also.  No matter how many performances that I try to critique, the one thing that I want you to take away from this review is – the best thing (and really the only thing) about Real Steel is the terrific action sequences that feature great robotics and special effects.  It is reminiscent of the Transformers films, but toned down to fit inside of a boxing ring.  Real Steel bets all of its money on action/effects, and paid virtually no attention to any other aspect of filmmaking in this one.  Luckily for them, it was entertaining enough to not be a complete waste.  Basically, I just wish that this movie wasn’t so robotic, and had more of a human touch.  But, with that said, if you are an action, or even sports movie, fan, I would say give it a whirl.

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