Title: Real Steel (2011)
Genre: sci-fi, boxing, ROBOTS
Directed by: Shawn Levy
Written by: John Gatins (screenplay), Dan Gilroy (story)
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly
Summary borrowed from IMDB: A future-set story where robot boxing is a popular sport and centered on a struggling promoter (Jackman) who thinks he’s found a champion in a discarded robot. During his hopeful rise to the top, he also discovers he has an 11-year-old son who wants to know his father.
My rating: 3 out of 5. A great popcorn movie, but as I’m not a 12-year old boy, probably something I’d only watch once.
Review: Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a down on his out ex-boxer, current robot boxing contestant. A foolhardy risk taker, he owes money all over the place and is desperate for a single win. But when his ex-girlfriend is killed in an accident, Charlie is left with the custody of the eleven year old son he’s never met.
The boy, Max, has been taken in by his maternal aunt who wants to have custody of him. Charlie agrees to sign the custody papers after talking her much-older husband into ponying up $100,000 to pay for the child–half now and half later.
Charlie takes the boy and uses the money to buy himself a new robot boxer. From there, it becomes an all-out rock ’em, sock ’em robot experience.
What you have here is Hugh Jackman, a bunch of giant robots, a cute kid, and an underdog story. So if you like all that… this is your movie. And even if you don’t like all that, it’s still a popcorn movie that will leave you thoroughly entertained.
