Climbing Higher Pictures

By this point we’ve heard all the jokes. Transformers Mini? Rock’Em Sock’Em the Movie? Metallic Rocky? For a movie that’s been getting so much flack leading up to its release, it’s surprising how positive Disney and Dreamworks have been about the product, going so far as to intimate that there is one, if not two sequels already in the oven. Test screenings must’ve been great. Let’s see if this one is a real prize fighter below:

Real Steel Review

By Ryan Hamelin

Movie Grade: B+

This is the kind of fun, crowd-pleasing movie I’ve been waiting for all summer. A movie that understands the power of good storytelling, delivered effectively, and the way we relate to characters on an emotional level. That’s right, you’ll get caught up, unless you have no heart to speak of, and Shawn Levy, a man I had little directorial faith in after his Night at the Museum films, manages to pull some great performances together to craft a generally pitch perfect sports movie. Sure it’s the Rock’Em Sock’Em movie. The joke isn’t entirely unwarranted. But these are probably the most realistic robots you’ve ever seen committed to film, so much so that I had to stop and wonder if they’d actually built the things for the movie. Don’t get me wrong, this isn’t a perfect boxing movie by any means, but it’s a hell of a lot more enjoyable than I was expecting, and maybe I’m sentimental, but a bit poignant to boot.

Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is the ultimate bottom feeder. A once great human boxer, he’s now living under a cloud of debt, trying to scrape together robots and bouts in an attempt to get his life back on the right track. When a former flame passes away, Charlie gets custody of a son he walked out on, and so starts our tale. Sounds contrived? It would be, if not for the acting on display here. The feel is reminiscent of the first Iron Man, a fast and loose improvisational style that makes everything feel very grounded. You almost immediately fall in love with these characters, because they’re people. They’re not super soldiers in a distant future who we can’t identify with, they’re working class Americans in a near future just close enough that we can see it over the horizon. Evangeline Lilly, as Charlie’s business partner and owner of the gym he was once trained in, does some really impressive work here, standing toe to toe with Jackman in scenes he would normally own entirely, and heightening what we grow to appreciate about the world of professional robot boxing. It may be metal in the ring, but we’re rooting for the people, particularly the boy who plays Max, Charlie’s son. It remains to be seen if he fades into obscurity like past child stars, but if he sticks with it, he could have a great future in the industry.

From an editing standpoint, most of the movie flows extremely well. There really isn’t much of a down moment here, and the only things that rubbed me the wrong way were the occasional shifts into montage-style time dilation, something I think the movie could have used less, particularly in the final smash down drag out. It just pushes us a little too far out of the emotional center, and considering how amped the audience was going in (I attended the New York All Media press screening of the film and we had several rounds of applause and more than a few cheers) it was a shame that they chose to let some of the air out of the balloon right at the end. That being said, the filmmakers skirt around a lot of the pitfalls of the classic boxing drama, using the robot as a great device to avoid the drawn out pep talks and monologues about spirit etc. This is really an all ages movie, and families should get a real kick out of it. Unfortunately, Dreamworks seems to be trying to market the movie to the Transformers audience, and I think that’s a big mistake. Get the bodies in the seats, and you’ll have yourself a hit. Try to reach too far out of the sweet spot and you’ll be met with a resounding “meh”, the general reaction of people I know to all the marketing materials so far.

If nothing else, go see Real Steel to see Hugh Jackman look the most awake he has in an awfully long time. I missed that guy, and he’s in, pardon the expression, “fighting” form here. Come for the bots, stay for the father-son drama, and enjoy it for all the same reasons you enjoyed the original Rocky back in the day. Judging by the reaction in the seats around me, this one has a lot left in the tank, and if nothing else, is a great way to spend a rainy afternoon when you’ve got nothing better to do. Hope to see Ides of March soon, but if you’re looking for the popcorn this weekend, look no further than Real Steel. It’s a lot more than meets the eye (final reference joke).