REAL STEEL (2011)

Genre: Action/Drama/Sci-Fi
Director: Shawn Levy
Cast: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis
RunTime: 2 hrs 17 mins
Released By: Walt Disney Motion Pictures
Rating: PG-13 (Some Violence)
Official Website: http://www.steelgetsreal.com/

Opening Day: 6 October 2011

Synopsis:  A gritty, white-knuckle, action ride set in the near-future where the sport of boxing has gone high-tech, “Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a washed-up fighter who lost his chance at a title when 2000-pound, 8-foot-tall steel robots took over the ring. Now nothing but a small-time promoter, Charlie earns just enough money piecing together low-end bots from scrap metal to get from one underground boxing venue to the next. When Charlie hits rock bottom, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train a championship contender. As the stakes in the brutal, no-holds-barred arena are raised, Charlie and Max, against all odds, get one last shot at a comeback.

Movie Review:

It didn’t smell like a feel good film when we watched it on the silver screen as the trailer of Real Steel came on months back. It’s grittiness, it’s hard action with its underground feel felt pretty much a sci-fi Rocky and boy did this fighter deliver it punch and more.

Hugh Jackman a man of multi talents plays an ex boxer in near future where boxing are fought with robots. Yup that's the whole premises of of the film. Simple eh? Not so simple when he inherits a son. Now we’ve been familiar with Jack in his goody-two-shoes persona but I'm glad to say that he plays a douche (for alittle while at least) in this one. After negotiating a proposition in court and off, in order to deal with his indescribable addiction to robot chaos in the ring, his flesh and blood would have to be in favour with him for the summer and that's where the whole dad and son moments starts pouring in. But it isn’t all sugar and nice.  Play by, Dokata Goyo, much seen in several big budget film like, Thor and Defendor plus several TV appearance, this kid has me blown away of his performance. Some might say he is one hell of an annoying kid but it sure beats one that doesn’t know how to act in the first place. And how much did this duo fare out in the arena? Nothing but total chemistry. So far so good as all the right formulae is falling nicely into place.

With this touching plot of a father and son rekindling relationship at its core, Real Steel is about more than just a no brainer film. This kind of grounded story within a umbrella of sci-fi coverage gives the film a certain kind of magic that is similiar of Steven Spielbergs’ (He’s the executive producer, along with Robert Zemeckis as producer, no wonder this show is great!) And since the robots are not meant to be the main focus characters, their personality comes through in their controllers and fight moves. That's what makes the duo's new found robot Atom, a sparring bot meant to take hits but never get in the ring to fight, such a special fighter. Hints were lingered behind those lighted-up eyes, but nothing on the nose that ruins the subtle magic that lies on the surface.

Biggest draw for the fun fall film has to be the robot vs robot carnage it delivers. Ever since Transformers came into our imagination on the big screen, all robots shown after are defiantly compared to them and lets face it, its a rather unfair judgement on its creativity of design. but somehow, the main underdog robot we’re all cheering for, a sparring robot who can take alot of mighty blows will win your heart, even though it doesn’t even show any slight hint of intelligent life. Now that's what i call a good craftsman. It doesn’t matter that the script’s a piece of garbage, because script really has nothing to do with those boxing scenes, and that’s what we’re there to see. That’s all the director Shawn Levy and Danny Elfman, who delivers a perfectly heroic score to match Real Steel’s unbridled enthusiasm for metal monsters creating mayhem. Everything with the robots works and Shawn has proven himself the perfect director for this kind of movie. Levy seems to get it and because he gets it, manages to make robot boxing every bit as great a piece of family fun as it ought to be.

Sequel or not, Real Steel offers plenty of fun and engaging moments – of both the human character drama and giant CGI robot battle variety. Many might be underwhelmed by the whole lightheartedness for which thinking it to be a heavy Sci-fi drive will probably be disappointed but mostly, as so did i, was presently surprised on how it warmed up to me and when the fight starts, me, a majorly non sporty person was soon cheering them on and almost stood up with excitement when Atom won his first round. That said, even though it gets knocked down once in awhile, Real Steel still delivers plenty of exciting punches.

Movie Rating:

(It’s the real deal knockout underdog story)

Review by Lokman B S