Walt Disney Pictures cranks out yet another truly inspiring movie. Directed and written by Shawn Levy (John Gatins and Richard Mathis) “Real Steel” is a movie set in the near future, and is full of new technology.
It was a leap of faith for Levy, who has directed the comedies “Date Night,” and “Night at the Museum” to branch out and do an action film, but he ended up doing a great job.
The message that the underdog can come out on top if only someone would believe in him reaches out to people of all ages. This movie will have you laughing, crying and feeling like you can do anything if you just set your mind to it.
When you hear robots, you think about movies like “Eagle Eye,” “War of the Worlds,” etc. The typical robots try to take over the world, but humans prevail plot line.
“Real Steel” was a pleasant change of pace. In this movie, robots are used as a helpful tool to keep humans out of the boxing ring. In their place are the biggest and best robots out there. People train and program them to fight.
The main character Charlie Kenton, played by Hugh Jackman, is a carefree irresponsible ex-boxer, beaten out of the ring by a bigger, stronger boxer. After gambling away his new robot, he is left with nothing but scrap pieces of old robots. If that isn’t bad enough, his life is turned upside down when he meets his son Max, played by Dakota Goyo and is paid to take care of him for the summer.
Goyo has also starred in the featured films, “Resurrecting the Champ” and “Emotional Arithmetic.”
He plays a strong willed young boy who is dealing with the loss of his mother, while thrown into his father’s life of gambling and robot fighting.
He quickly becomes interested and finds an old sparring bot. He fixes him up and is determined to get the bot a fight. No one believes in him or his bot Atom, until they win their first fight and keep on winning.
It was surprising to see a different side of Hugh Jackman, aka Wolverine from X-men. Some characteristics were still there, the determination and hard exterior. But instead of razor sharp claws, Jackman has a loving heart.
Throughout the movie, Charlie and his son’s relationship grows and they bond over their robot.
The settings and props in this movie are amazing and exceptionally real looking. There is a graveyard, filled with thousands of huge old robot parts, a whole boxing stadium filled with thousands of fans, and not to mention the beautiful opening scene that was shot right here in Michigan.
Steven Spielberg played a big role with the movies cinematography and that really shows through the incredible special affects involved with the robots and their human like qualities.
The strong dialect and beautiful, inspiring plot line of this movie left the audience wowed and feeling empowered.