Real Steel

2011 Rockem Sockem robots movie

Rating: 13/20

Plot: Down-on-his-luck ex-boxer and current boxing robot manager Hugh needs some cash to pay off some debts and replace his robot that was destroyed by an angry bull. And no, I am not making that part about the bull up. When an ex-lover and mother of a son he doesn't care about at all passes away, he sees it as a money-making opportunity. He and his son fix up a robot together and take it on on the road, and then the robot turns into Rocky.

When I saw a preview for this in the theater (directly after a Transformers and Pink Floyd collaboration preview), I turned to my lovely date and whispered, "Did Hollywood finally give us that movie based on Rockem Sockem Robots that we've been waiting for since we were kids?" This is really sappy, overwhelmingly predictable, and offensively rip-offy, the type of movie I'm usually going to hate. But this one got to me a little bit. I liked the way the father/son relationship grew even though it grew like only something planted and watered in Hollywood can grow. I always find Hugh Jackman likable even though his character makes the kinds of mistakes that make it difficult to root for him. The ending was beyond stupid, and the Rocky parallels were almost sickening. Hugh Jackman, thinking he was in a Rocky remake actually started yelling "Adrian! Adrian!" at the end. The robots were all a lot smarter than Rocky Balboa though. Of course, Talia Shire isn't in this movie. It's Evangeline Lilly. She's a lot more attractive, but the makers of Real Steel could have saved a lot of money by eliminating her character altogether without losing much of anything. The real stars of the show, as you might expect, are the Transformers themselves. No, they don't transform, but the mix of CGI and robot puppets works really well to give this all a realism. You really feel like those giant robots are there with the characters although I'm not sure the people in the front few rows of these bouts are responding realistically. I mean, wouldn't there be a threat of giant pieces of metal flying into the stands? A whole leg flies into the stands at the rodeo at the beginning of the movie, but apparently it doesn't weigh a whole lot because an adolescent girl walks off with it like it's a souvenir. It's unfortunate scenes like that that keep this from being a better movie. I did like that this movie is set just eight years into the future. It's got a science fiction feel while still feeling realistic. Well, as realistic as something from Hollywood's garden is going to get, I guess. I did like those robots though, and I'm glad they didn't just limit them to red and blue like in the game. These have some variety, and one even has two heads which, now that I think about it, seems like something a boxer wouldn't want to have. This movie based on a Richard Matheson story could have been a lot better, but it still managed to be a lot better than I expected it to be. Oh, and a special nod to John Gatins who plays this mohawked meth-head, the owner of the two-headed robot. His performance is so over-the-top that it almost distracts from everything else that goes on in the movie, and that takes some serious talent.