Real Steel - Movie Review

Rating: 3 out of 5

Undemanding audiences will love this rousing father-son tale of redemption set amid the cacophonous crashing of boxing robots. But the script is seriously contrived, and the movie is directed without even an inkling of subtlety.

In the near future, Charlie (Jackman) is an ex-boxer who now controls massive robots that have taken over the sport. A stubborn failure buried in debt, he has no interest in his 11-year-old son Max (Goyo), whose mother has just died, but agrees to care for him until his rich aunt and uncle (Davis and Rebhorn) return from holiday. But Max is far more savvy with robots than his dad. And with the help of Dad's lovelorn pal Bailey (Lilly), Max defies Charlie's expectations with his scrapheap robot Atom.

The story is structured as a standard story of redemption, so we know that Charlie will turn himself around. But the problem is that Charlie is such a jerk that we despise him both for the way he bullheadedly destroys his life and how he so cruelly dismisses his son. This is laid on so thickly that we can't develop any sympathy for Charlie, despite Jackman's enormous charm; all of our allegiance is with Max, who is wise and knowing and sees things as they are.

There's also the problem that much of the film centres on noisy robot battles, which are clearly where director Levy's interest lies. He puts all of his energy into making these key moments in the plot, but we never remotely care what happens when two metal beasts are bashing the bolts out of each other. And it doesn't help that Levy directs the cast to give over-the-top performances that desperately try to wring every drop of angst from each scene.

Visually, the film looks great, with a realistic depiction of the future. And the robots have believable presence on screen; Atom even seems to have a soul, although his connection to Max is far more moving than Max's relationship with his dad. Even so, we find ourselves cheering through the final scenes, knowing exactly how it's going to end but getting caught up in the manipulative rah-rah filmmaking just the same.

Facts and Figures

Year: 2011

Genre: Action/Adventure

Run time: 127 mins

In Theaters: Friday 7th October 2011

Box Office USA: $85.5M

Box Office Worldwide: $299.3M

Budget: $110M

Distributed by: Walt Disney Pictures

Production compaines: ImageMovers, DreamWorks SKG, Touchstone Pictures, Reliance Entertainment, 21 Laps Entertainment, Angry Films

Reviews

Contactmusic.com: 3 / 5

Rotten Tomatoes: 60%
Fresh: 126 Rotten: 84

IMDB: 7.1 / 10

Cast & Crew

Director: Shawn Levy

Producer: Shawn Levy, Susan Montford, Don Murphy, Robert Zemeckis

Screenwriter: John Gatins

Starring: Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton, Evangeline Lilly as Bailey Tallet, Anthony Mackie as Finn, Kevin Durand as Ricky, Hope Davis as Aunt Debra, James Rebhorn as Marvin, Marco Ruggeri as Cliff, Karl Yune as Tak Mashido, Olga Fonda as Farra Lemkova, John Gatins as Kingpin, Sophie Levy as Big Sister, Tess Levy as Little Sister, Charlie Levy as Littlest Sister, Gregory Sims as Bill Panner

Also starring: Shawn Levy, Don Murphy, Robert Zemeckis