Hey there folks! Well I'm back with another movie review. Boy, it seems like I'm making this my new job or hobby. Unfortunately, I'm not getting paid for this.
When I first saw the trailer for Real Steel, I thought, hmm, this looks interesting and vaguely familiar. Then it hit me! It's rock'em sock'em robots but on the big screen. Seriously, that's what this movie is when you look at it from the perspective that it has robots fighting in a ring. And, this brings me to my first non-movie related question.
How many of you out there in internet land know or have seen and played with a rock'em sock'em robot toy. Those things were fun! Bang! and the head gets popped up, ha!
Originally, I thought this movie would never live up to post-Transformers series hype. After the huge, grossly, uber-hammered success of the Baysplosion films, there could not be another smaller movie that used robots which made an impression and left a mark that didn't include things blowing up or a billion parts moving at the same time.
Whew! That was a long sentence.
Luckily, this movie came along and left a sweet, endearing taste in my mouth. On the surface, Real Steel is a film about human controlled robots battling it out in underground and professional fighting, sanctioned and unsanctioned, matches. However, at the core is a heartwarming tale between a father and his son, and that son and his robot. And it appeals to the kid in all of us who always wanted a robot, whether large or small, that we could control and have as a friend.
Hugh Jackman plays Charlie, a former professional boxer, now fighting robot operator who is trying to make ends meet by purchasing fight-bots and pitting them in matches with bitter results. He's the protagonist who is far from his glory days but still finding himself a part of that world and way over his head in debt. In a way, Charlie is still looking to find his gold ticket back to his former glory days but has no idea where it will come from and only continues to make unfavorable decisions that place him further in a hole. Doesn't this remind you already of our struggling economy?
At heart Charlie is a good character and this really emerges with the introduction of of son Max. Charlie never raised his son, and after Max's mother dies, Charlie is called in to sit at a hearing to determine custody of the child. Charlie decides to hand over custody to his sister-in-law and rich husband, but he also schemes to retain custody for a few months with the promise to be paid $100,000 upon transferring total custody to his sister-in-law after her short hiatus. Something about her going away for a few months but putting Max in Charlie's custody during that time.
I'm probably not explaining this properly, but who cares because this whole custody issue plays a very minor almost nonexistent plot to the story. All it serves is to place Charlie and Max together to center the father-son story arc. At first these two do not get along, but their common interests in robot fighting bounce off of each other so well that the audience can begin to see a unique chemistry and bond forming between the two. This especially becomes evident with the discovery of the primary glue factor that keeps them together and not so much focused on winning but figuring out that they need to be in each others lives. It is at this point that we are introduced to Atom.
Atom is the underdog sparring robot that they salvage from a junk yard, and Max immediately places his affections into the robot which becomes a surrogate father, friend and hope. Charlie sees how much time and effort Max places into Atom that he also encourages and supports Max's decision to make an old, 2nd generation sparring robot compete against other mashers. Here is where the most endearing moments of the father-son relationship take shape during the movie.
The fights are great and clean in terms of how they are depicted. It is what you would expect from big robots duking it out with each other in boxing matches. At times it is no-holds-barred, rock'em sock'em and other times it is very technical as it mimics even the flashiest of boxing movie matches. Either way it is pleasant to see, and since the robot designs are very non-complex, like the millions of moving parts in the bots from Transformers, it's good to see and recognize movement and action and not get lost.
All in all, i was surprised and pleased with the end result. The special effects and CGI made the robots look and move hyper realistically. Even the moments where Atom shadows Max or Charlie's movements were spot on fluid and down right hilarious at times. Dancing robot, that's all I'm going to say about that! When I think about now, this movie resembles Rocky on so many levels. It's about an underdog robot and its struggling controllers overcoming adversity both in the ring and with each other while on the way to the top of the robot fighting league.
I remember when I heard Max give the robot a name, at first I thought he called it Adam, but later he spells it A-T-O-M. I was surprised because it feels like an homage to Osamu Tezuka the creator of Astro Boy. The original Japanese name of Astro Boy is Tetsuwan Atom which translate to Mighty Atom. I know this is a bit of a side note and maybe unrelated, but I felt that the writers were paying there respects to Tezuka by naming the films protagonist robot Atom.
Honestly, I really enjoyed this film and Hugh Jackman's performance is a nice alternative to his tough as nails Wolverine character. Max's character is also very enjoyable as he both mimics his father's personality and balances him out as well. It's one of the few times where a film reminds me of something I also wanted when I was younger. I mean, who did want or still doesn't want a robot friend? I know I still do.
Now with all this robot action coming to big screen, when will Evangelion or dare I say Voltron get the big screen treatment? Come on, you know you're waiting for it too!
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