16th of October 2011 (Saturday)
Movie
Real Steel
As I mentioned earlier, JR got extra free passes so we went to the movies back to back two days in a row! I’ve been looking forward to Real Steel for quite some time now seeing as I’m a huge Hugh Jackman fan and boy did it not disappoint.
Storyline:
Real Steel is set in the future where one of the major sports of the times is robot boxing (or boxing by robots). The story revolves around the life of Charlie Kenton, former boxer now robot controller who is tumbling down the rabbit hole of financial debt due to his poor business ethic and high risk appetite. Enter his 11 year old son, Max Kenton, whom Charlie abandoned as a baby and the journey of father and son in the world of robot boxing until they reach the pinnacle of the sport, the Real Steel event where they get to challenge the best of the best in the big leagues… ZEUS!!!
Cast/Production/Visual Effects: (not necessarily in that order)
As I said, I’m a big fan of Hugh Jackman so it may be biased for me to say that he delivers all the goods in this movie. The casting was well done and even the robots names’ were memorable, Atom in particular reminded me of EVE from Wall-E with his blue roundish eyes. In an unusual breakaway from convention Max’s character in the movie is portrayed as a chip of the old block, stubborn, showy and brash, instead of the goody two shoes, righteous and attention seeking 11 year old you would expect him to be.
Apart from the robots themselves (after watching Transformers, CGI for robots of this level seem like child’s play) the background world of the future in the movie doesn’t seem very much different from today. You still pump gas into your truck, your vehicles still run on wheels, old, dilapidated brick buildings are still old, dilapidated brick buildings except there are a heck more of touchscreens than what is common today… Oh and of course, you have fighting robots. On the whole there wasn’t much CGI although the robot fighting was realistic in the sense that such technology can be expected in the next 20 years or may even be top secret tech in today’s world.
The unfolding story was well directed, there were not too many robot fight scenes to be honest and that’s okay because it can get a bit draggy after a while since the robots can only punch and can’t even jump off ropes or kick. The growing bond of father and son as an underdog team was very well captured and I felt myself rooting for the underdog and exulting in the climax scenes of the movie. The humor sticks its head out here and there in the movie, enough to keep the audience entertained between the driving along never-ending roads of Texas.
Verdict:
Real Steel is probably a family movie or a father-son movie if you’re into wrestling or boxing or any other sport that gets your manly testosterone pumping. JR didn’t find the movie very appealing as she felt the movie was pretty much entirely about robots boxing and wasn’t particularly drawn by the drama behind the boxing matches. I enjoy movies where I root for the underdog and am quite a big fan of mecha so this was a great movie for me. **Spoiler Alert** Man was I disappointed when Noisyboy lost!
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