Real Steel

Real Steel is about as predictable as any boxing or underdog movie that comes out these days...but I couldn't help but be charmed by it.

My rating: three and a half reels out of 5

Real Steel, a dramatic sci-fi movie set in the not-too-distant future where boxing matches are fought by robots instead of humans. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer turned promoter, who owes a lot of money to people and who has been struggling to win any matches recently. After the mother of his estranged son dies, Charlie finds an opportunity to make some quick money and get back into competition.

Charlie Kenton is a very stubborn person and he has been making the wrong choices when it comes to gambling. To him, in order to get out of debt, he has to win big and bet big. He feels he is too good to be starting from the ground up. He has the ability to charm everyone around him but sticking with him for too long can be poisonous. As the bookie, Finn (Anthony Mackie), puts it, "I like you, but you're a bad bet." Charlie even loses the faith of long time friend/love interest/robot expert, Bailey Tallet, whose father trained and mentored Charlie when he was younger. Hugh Jackman makes the right choices when he portrays him and has the perfect look for the role. Charlie Kenton is not a perfect person, but he's someone you can root for.

Max Kenton (Dakota Goyo) is equally stubborn as his father. Max sees the wrong choices that his father makes but cannot do anything about it at first because Charlie chooses to ignore his advice. Max is able to charm people around him too and does it with puppy dog eyes at times. I was doing some research after the movie and saw that some people said the movie might be ruined for them because Dakota Goyo reminds them of Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace. Rest assured, he is nothing like Jake Lloyd and that is a very good thing (although I blame Jake Lloyd's acting on George Lucas, but that's a post for another time).

Charlie made the choice to exclude Max from his life from the very beginning and Max knows this. Charlie makes the choice to bring them together once again at the expense of his new guardian, but neither father or son tries to make an effort to get to know one another. When they do come to an agreement, Charlie usually does it in the way he knows best, through bargaining. There are moments of father and son bonding, fortunately it doesn't get too sappy at any point.

It's not the father and son relationship that will bring people to this movie, it's the robots smashing into each other and director Shawn Levy gives you plenty of that.  With a movie about fighting robots, having the father and son relationship in the movie gives something that people can relate to. Real Steel is not the most original movie, think Rocky with robots, but it's a movie with a lot of charm and it can bring a smile to your face. It will have you rooting for the underdog once again.

You'll probably enjoy this movie if:
1. You like boxing or underdog movies.
2. You like robots fighting each other.

You'll probably not like this movie if:
1. You hate predictable storylines.
2. Dakota Goyo reminds you too much of Jake Lloyd from The Phantom Menace

BRING IT!!!