Real Steel

Running Time: 127 minutes.
Media: Cinematic Release.

When I first heard about this particular movie, I was like "Hang on, I know this from somewhere..." and did a little digging... Sure enough the fifth film of my seven movie marathon on 29/10/2011, was based on an old 1963 Twilight Zone episode I had seen ages go in a re-run.

This sci-fi movie takes place in the not too distant future, in the year 2020. Regular boxing by humans has been replaced by robots. Hugh Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a former boxer who owns such a robot who ultimately gets KO'd to pieces and is eventually replaced by Atom, the robot visible in the movie poster here, who ends up competin against a number of odds in teh robot boxing scene. Not only that but Charlie has to deal with his somewhat estranged son, Max, an eleven-year old Justin Bieber clone with an ego the size of a small third world nation. He's stubborn, supposedly quite knowledgeable and he despises his dad. What joy, what bliss...

The estranged parent and child storyline has been done ad absurdum, as has the underdog storyline... Putting the two together and throwing it in with CGI characters which resemble souped-up Rock'em Sock'em Robots from the early 1980's, gives some credibility to the film and pays the original story from which this was based, some well respected tribute; but this is not a film to be taken too seriously. It's definitely a film to take your kids to see, but after four rather great films, Real Steel didn't seem to sit as far up as the others I had seen that day. By this time, I had already seen four amazing films, it was edging toward 9pm and I kinda felt that the film was not on the same par. I honestly think it was the kid's ego in that film that spoiled it for me...

All in all, this would be a great movie to take the kids to, they'll enjoy the robots smashing one another, over and over again. Take them to see this film and they will do the beds, the dishes and the lawn for a good few weeks to make up for the joy they receive for seeing this film. Adults, it's a fairly decent effort and Jackman plays his part well enough to get some respect from the audience. Be on the lookout for Kevin Durand as Ricky, Charlie Kenton's nemesis. Those who have watched enough of Hugh Jackman over the years may recognize Durand as the actor who played Fred J. Dukes (aka The Blob) in X-Men Origins: Wolverine.

I've given this movie 3½ stars for a decent effort, and great use of CGI.