This movie and the director's cut of 'Supergirl' will always be inextricably linked to me as I watched them in succession and liked them both against the expectations of their critical reactions. 'Real Steel' is either a derivative family sports/boxing movie with little original to add or a solid movie about a guy who operates boxing robots, his estranged son and their new bond via a robot called Atom. The reaction and judgement is up to, and depends on how many similar movies you've seen and how cynical you are. I score well both on non-cynicism and not having seen many sports movies and so I rather liked it.
The strange thing with 'Real Steel' is that it very steadily gets better as it goes on. At the beginning it's a bit dull. At halfway it's half-good and at the end it's very good and it's a simple progression. It's not groundbreaking. Of course Atom will defeat the champion somehow and the dad will connect to the kid, but here it's only a moral victory and the kid still goes away to stay with his new adopted parents. Yes, there's a character shift in Hugh Jackman's father figure Charlie as he stops wasting his time trying to keep his old boxing lifestyle alive, but at the end he's still a robot boxer. Or we assume he is.
'Real Steel' does exactly what it says it does on the box. It's a classic example of a simple story told well. It's probably time for the clichéd plot synopsis. Here we go. Charlie is a failing robot boxer guy who used to be a real boxer before the robots wiped out the traditional sport. He's failing because he's not thinking things through or applying his own innate analytical skills to his fights. While on the verge of total financial ruin he learns of the death of his old girlfriend and sells his parental rights in his son Max to Max's aunt and uncle. As part of the deal he has to take custodianship for the summer and from hence it boils down to: Rocky relationship, found robot, Max fights it well, slow battle uphill, corporate champion, upstart challenge, final fight and eventual moral win as well as final reconciliation.
This movie does what it does well. Normally I would not appreciate such a film for its simplicity, but there is an undercurrent of something there, and it builds well to an excellent and emotional and oddly uncynical climax. The bad corporate guys win and presumably aren't ruined. Max doesn't go to live with Charlie. Charlie presumably goes back to his girlfriend Bailey in a more settled state of mind. Pretty much everything goes on as it did before. The performances are all solid. Hugh Jackman takes a long time to find his charisma as Charlie but it does come eventually as the character thaws, so it's probably deliberate but does make the beginning problematic. Dakota Goyo isn't anywhere near as irritating as he could be as little Max and actually grows well through the film in much the same way the Jackman thaws. Keeping those two apart really seems to reinforce the thematic emptiness that underscores the whole thing. Everyone else does a good job, where there is nothing specifically remarkable, but a good ensemble cast still wins the day.
Finally there is one thing more I really appreciate about this movie, and that is the non-overbearing special effects. The robot sequences are well integrated into the movie as a whole and don't go on any longer than you want them to. If they were pandering or overstuffed I would not like this film. The fact that I do like it means something, for I do not readily like violence in films. There's something here. Atom is a battered looking sparring robot who mirrors Charlie's woes, and only really is used successfully when Charlie connects back to his old boxing skills as a tool to fight the ugly brawling tactics of every other robot. It's discipline over indiscipline.
There you go, 'Real Steel'. I really shouldn't like it but I do. That should tell you something.
O.
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