Real Steel
DIRECTED BY SHAWN LEVY
Real Steel, the latest action flick from Transformers co-producers Dreamworks, is adapted from a 1956 short story by Richard Matheson—though the more obvious pop-cultural reference point is Rock ‘Em Sock ‘Em Robots. Certainly, Shawn Levy’s film would be no less trite were it actually based on the guileless children’s toy. (Given Universal’s forthcoming blockbuster based on Milton Bradley’s Battleship, such an incongruous adaptation hardly seems out of the question.) In fact, a Mattel tie-in would have been a more honest guise for what appears to be a clear post–Dark of the Moon cash grab, but Real Steel has instead been flimsily and formulaically cast as an underdog sports drama and tale of paternal redemption.
Hugh Jackman plays Charlie, a deadbeat dad of the near future, where human pugilists have been supplanted by scrappy hunks of scrap metal. Charlie coulda been a contender, but bailed on the fight game before it went mechanized. He also bailed on his girlfriend and son, Max (plucky, gap-toothed Dakota Goyo), to become a ringside robot stick-jockey. On a lengthy losing streak and deeply in debt, his fortunes improve when Max’s mom dies. Charlie gains custody, but promptly and literally sells his son to wealthy in-laws. Asked to look after Max temporarily, he grudgingly accepts before inevitably learning the error of his ways, thanks mainly to Max’s precocious prizefighting talents.
Though hackneyed as hell, Real Steel is hard to outright hate, apart from when Charlie’s being an industrial-strength tool. It’s well made and looks great, and, in all fairness, is probably a decent way to entertain a 10-year-old.