I am not a big fan of Shawn Levy movies…be it Night At the Museum series or the Pink Panther. Hell I’d say Levy’s movies are mediocre and kiddish which has a ‘laugh-for-the-moment’ appeal (or not even so). Well it seems exceptions are indeed possible and REAL STEEL is one.
Produced by Steven Spielberg, his obsession with ETs and Giant Robots continues but this time for good, Real Steel follows the story of Charlie Kenton and son Max, played excellently by Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo, teaming up and training a scrap robot for Robot Boxing. The early previews had a Transformers-feel to it..though believe me this is nothing like Transformers. The Robots are just fillers for an amazing story about father-son relationship. Hugh Jackman, charming and charismatic as ever leads the story from the very first scene though a little bit of his limelight gets stolen by young Dakota Goyo. This little guy is so damn awesome packing in all the essential elements of entertainment. The lines he spouts made me LOL more than once. Also joining the supporting cast is Evangeline Lily…and its good to see her NOT-ESTRANGED in that island anymore. She did well, in her limited screentime, as Hugh’s assistant as well as love-interest.
Real Steel is ‘Rocky with Robots’. The Robot boxing is just awesome and unlike Transformers, its great to see which bot is fighting the other bot. Atom, the scrap bot that Max picks up from the salvage acts as a mediator in between Max and Charlie in building a great relationship. Atom also kicks ass.It could have been cheesy if Atom had an AI and talked (I expected that alot)…but Levy did wise in making Atom just a remote controlled bot with the AI being renamed as ‘Shadow’ function which imitates the movement of whoever is in its vicinity and Levy incorporated it to good use in a particularly funny/cute scene. The final moments of the moments of the movie I actually found myself cheering for Atom. Yes the ending is predictable but its worth every penny seeing how all the characters got there. The score composed by Danny Elfman were both soothing to the ears and charging during the Bot fights. I couldnt help but notice that they included 2 tracks from Need For Speed…it added a nice punch to the bot fights.
Real Steel has all the right elements of a good entertainer and its a 300bucks well spent.
What I Thought! 