Film Reviews

Real Steel

• Rating:
• Director: Shawn Levy
• Starring: Anthony Mackie
• Details: 127mins/ PG13

As slick and entertaining a blockbuster as you'd expect from the producer of Transformers - and a budget north of $110 million - Real Steel is a slight, but fun family film with a sweet core message and a nice, easy dynamic between the two leads. It's far too long and could've shaved a subplot, but young boys especially should get a kick out of this. Mainly because robots, like, fight with each other. And stuff.
Jackman is Charlie Kenton, a once prosperous boxer, who is now a degenerate and dead beat dad. When his ex-girlfriend buys the farm, leaving behind his 11 year old son, Charlie takes him on for three months in exchange for $100,000. Bonding over their love for robots knocking the living crap out of each other, the lads unexpectedly (!) become successful with a former "sparing bot" that is "built to take hits but not dish them out" JUST like Charlie. See what they did there? Oh Hollywood...
As clichéd as Real Steel might be, and it really is mandatory underdog stuff, it's typically Spielbergian. The relationship between Charlie and Max is as syrupy sweet as you'd expect, but it's played with genuine warmth by both Jackman and newcomer Goyo that it doesn't really matter. Sure, you mightn't buy Max's utter lack of disdain towards his perpetually absent aul' lad, but this is a family movie with robots for God's sake; pipe down and enjoy the shininess.
Director Levy has previously helmed the bland likes of Night and the Museum and Date Night, but has hired himself an accomplished cinematographer in (Avatar lenser) Mauro Fiore, who really gives the film a grimy, but still flamboyantly expensive feel. The robots that smack each other about the place also look very well when doing said smacking about the place.
A solid family film, just don't go expecting anything you haven't seen in countless other sports movies.

Review by Mike Sheridan