Real Steel takes place in the near future, maybe fifteen or twenty years from now. The cars are still the same, clothes are what they look like now, pretty much nothing has changed.In fact,
everyone is still alive and well—global warming still hasn’t melted the ice caps! Yet. Apparently, only one thing has changed: the art of robot boxing has taken over the world. Evidently, this is the limit of our fifteen year technological advance: pitting oversized action figures against one another. How sad. But what’s perhaps more disappointing is the fact that the script in this film leaves too much to be desired.
The story follows the antics of ex-boxer Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) who has the unfortunate habit of borrowing money but never paying it back. Throw in a couple pieces of metal, a hot girl, and an estranged son and you’re sitting at what the producers call an action thriller. True, there are moments in the movie where I’m hanging on to my seat, anticipating the next scene. However, most of these are the actual fights where the robots clash and special effects and CGI are used in their full glory. Everything else in between is pretty much the typical lighthearted generic plot that seems to be used in everything nowadays.
The story is basically that Charlie has to take care of his son Max (Dakota Goyo) and along the way, they acquire a robot named Atom. Now, don’t be deceived. Although Atom is indeed a robot, he is nowhere near as intelligent or as lovable as Wall-e or even the fumbling C-3PO. In fact, although the writers try to give the audience some insight to how potentially selfless and warm Atom is, it just falls flat, the product of poor execution. The story gives no background to the poor robot whatsoever, leaving the audience wondering what its conveying to them.
The entire plot is actually quite a heartwarming story about the reconnection of a father and son. However, this intended story device is only distorted by the abrupt bizarreness of robots fighting other robots;a little boy teaching a robot how to dance; and a father selling his kid off. What could have been a great storyline with Jackman as the repenting, neglectful father and Goyo as the prodigal son was instead turned into clips of “Left jab! Uppercut! Uppercut!”
However not all is lost. The fight scenes are excitingly played out, full of crisp, clean cinematography. These scenes are the best out of the movie, luring the audience in with bright color and great sound. Overall, Real Steel is an entertaining movie. However, it should not be taken too seriously.