If the entertainment value of Real Steel is to be understood in a way that speaks to the legacy of movies where robots pound on other robots, then it seems the best way to give that genre some soul is to infuse it with a massive flood of Rocky underdog mania. The most impressive part about that solution is that it comes from a film where the robot antagonist receives little more personality than an obedient mechanical shadow with an undying spirit, the source of which is never explained. With that accomplishment under its belt and accepting that the outer shell ofReal Steel is a wholly entertaining but lean story about a washed up boxer finding redemption, at its core there’s a very simple story about the relationship between a father and son, the punches of which aim for the gut in an attempt to connect on cheaply emotional levels. Luckily, robots beating the crap out of other robots makes that easy to overlook.
Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) can’t catch a break: he’s in debt to numerous people and every robot he enters into the underground robot boxing circuits gets torn asunder due to his desire to do too much too fast. His irresponsible practices with his boxing robots and his life get an impromptu adjustment when his ex-girlfriend and the mother of his son dies, leaving him with paternal duties which he’s set to sign off at the end of the summer. Until then, the 11-year-old Max (Dakota Goyo) will tail him as he attempts to scrounge together a new robot and earn a few bucks. Their luck changes when they fish an old scrapped robot out of a junkyard, power him up, and throw him in the ring, only to discover that the lightweight robot has more fight in him than they ever imagined. One fight after another the father-son duo inch closer to notoriety with their robot Atom leading the way, until finally they get their chance to take on the king of the professional leagues, Zeus.
Shawn Levy has managed to do with Real Steel what Michael Bay couldn’t with his Transformers films: make us care about a robot fighting other robots. Despite giving them no real personae to speak of, the film still manages to make us care about the outcome of each bout by manifesting it with the burgeoning relationship of Charlie and Max. Also, the fights just look fantastic, which doesn’t hurt a bit. Allusions to Rock ‘em, Sock ‘em Robots be damned, Real Steel draws upon the good ol’ fashioned Rocky story, splitting the blows and the life story between the boxing automaton and Charlie, and it does it just well enough that we’re willing to bear with the film’s drama until it reaches the next fight.
Hugh Jackman does just enough to make us care about Charlie, but not enough to make him more compelling than the great robot fight scenes that end up as the primary draw the film can boast. Save for his knack for wry offhand delivery that made him a decent fit as Wolverine, Jackman doesn’t bring much unique to the role that makes the character’s plight or story too meaningful. Both Jackman and the film are at their character-driven best when he and his young co-star Goyo share the screen.
The most surprising result of Real Steel is young actor Dakota Goyo who proves that child actors don’t have to be overly hammy props that the adult cast bounces lines off of. He more than holds up his side of the film’s comedic requirements and he works well with Jackman to flesh out a father-son relationship just enough to make this more than a loud, plodding movie where the robots and people are indiscernible from one another.
By contrast, Evangeline Lily feels underused as Bailey, the longtime friend of Charlie and his constant reminder of what he used to be. There are traces of a relationship from before the film and Director Shawn Levy uses her well enough to create some tension in that respect, but ultimately it goes no further until a perfunctory kiss at the end. Any development that should have been there either fell on the cutting room floor or never existed to begin with, making her character and role in the film feel two-dimensional, as merely a device to prove that Charlie has been getting yanked around by life for far too many years.
Real Steel might not be too smart or clever, but it has all the thrills of a good boxing film and presented in such a way that makes it engrossing as the action rages.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
The extras aren't as in-depth into the creation of some of the great robot fight scenes as people who enjoyed the film might like, but what the disc does offer is a blooper reel, deleted and extended scenes, a little bit of development on the backstory for Hugh Jackman's character, two production featurettes on the creation of the bots and the underground league fighting venues, a tribute to Sugar Ray Leonard, and an audio commentary with Shawn Levy. It's too bad neither Hackman nor Goyo got in on the commentary, as that would've livened things up considerably.
Real Steel is packaged as either two-disc or three-disc combo sets, with the difference between the two being the inclusion of a digital copy.
"Real Steel" is on sale January 24, 2012 and is rated PG13. Action. Directed by Shawn Levy. Written by John Gatins (screenplay), Dan Gilroy & Jeremy Leven (story). Starring Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Hugh Jackman.
