"Real Steel" is a true blockbuster and has everything he needs to do it: a naive, almost elemental storyline, aimed primarily at spectators under the age of 18, a solid amount of special effects, noisy to wherever and not least, with its inexpensive dramaturgy, has an inspirational power in a film in which our hero wins against all probabilities. On the surface, his plot looks, if anything, at least curiosity. In the near future, sports battles can no longer provide enough excitement for audiences requiring increasingly extreme experiences, and gradually people are replaced by robots where extremes does not lead to any moral or any other consequences other than financial, of course.
The film's problems come from the concretization of the story, which takes the form of a collection of two huge film clichés: first, the sporting (and in particular boxing) film in which a failed, once promising star gets a second chance, and second, a father who understands what he made a huge mistake because of his infantile lifestyle he missed the most valuable thing in the world - to be with his child. Something like "Over the top," but with boxing and robots. Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is in debt a former boxer who travels across the country taking part in robot battles. Charlie is a man "first acting, then thinking" and refusing to take responsibility for his own recklessness, which ultimately leads to his total fall. It is then that he learns that his ex-wife has died and must appear in court for the custody of his son (Dakota Goyo), whom he has abandoned. In this situation, Charlie sees the chance of winning a dollar and literally sells his son to his aunt's man, but in order not to understand, he has to look for him in the summer. With the money he earns, Robbie buys a robot, and despite the warnings of his son, who turns out to be smart for his years, a video game and robot specialist, he goes on kidnapping and loses everything in seconds. Running on the dump in an effort to snap things up, they fall into an ancient sparring robot that turns out to be much more than what appears to be at first glance. In short, from now on, father and son find their way to each other and to the top of the world boxing glory in the live steel tournament where they have to fight the "bad guys". What saves "Real Steel," despite the catastrophically elementary story, is that it is definitely child-directed, but looking at the children's films of recent years ... how to say, it's just a breath of fresh air. The probability of mogul being mad at him is more than great and is not because they are not interested in dramaturgy and art, nor in the funny and frivolous tone, nor in the important life lesson they will learn at the end. It is due to the robot battles, which are quite fulfilled and with a feeling and guaranteed to explode the kids - I just imagine what "beating" will fall in front of the block. Even I allowed myself a little excitement before (and during) some of the battles, especially when it sounds like Eminem - apparently in the future they fall in retrospect.
Another plus, slightly distracting, are Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goya. To choose Jackman for Charlie's role, I can only admit his admiration. Actually, Charlie is an egotistical, disgusting and manipulative creature that sells his own child, but Jackman possesses (and gives) such a charm that one can not dislike him or even sympathize with him even before he shows his first signs of humanity. Goyo is also an extremely charming child and is doing more than excellent with the role. Only his character Max was not that unreal and irritatingly mature for his years. I will finish with the fact that the mistress, and I suppose a lot of adults, will love it for its purely entertaining features, but for me personally, "Real Steel" is a disappointment and has almost no value beyond the children under 18 - you what it and then you forget the movie. Sorry, because the film has some beginnings of "heart and soul," but they are buried deep under the extremely worn and non-original story. Perhaps if the director was not Sean Levy, and someone with a proven directorial talent, things would look a little different.
