I got to go to an advanced screening of the movie Real Steal tonight. The movie stars Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lily. It's amazing. It's pretty much a robot version of Rocky, but it's still fantastic. The movie is due out in theaters on October 7th and I highly recommend that everybody go see it.
Now, first and foremost I would like to give a huge, major thank you hug to Mr. Steven Spielberg and Dreamworks for making this movie in 2D. It could have been very awesome in 3D but until I get the 2D glasses from thinkgeek.com I still can't watch 3D movies and it's a relief to see that something like this is made for those of us that prefer 2D.
SPOILERS AHEAD!!!!
The first thing we see is a down and out Charlie Kenton (played by Hugh Jackman) who is so desperate for money that he is putting his robot boxer in a ring against a bull. Yes, that's right, an actual living bull. Now there's the usual no animals were harmed disclaimer on this, but it's still a bull. And the bull ends up kicking the robot's metal ass.
Then we get to find out the heart of the story. Charlie has a son who has been living with his mother. The boy's mother dies and Charlie goes to sign paperwork so that Max, who is 11 years old, will go live with his aunt and Charlie doesn't have to deal with him. Charlie gets money from the boy's uncle and is willing to take him for a couple of months while the aunt and uncle are in Italy with some friends. Charlie uses that money to buy another robot, who then gets his ass kicked and torn to shreds.
They go to a junk yard and Charlie tries to find parts to put a new robot together. In all of this, Max finds a robot that Charlie wants nothing to do with but Max digs him out of the mud and gets him back to Charlies truck. They get him back to the gym, which used to train boxers and now trains boxing robots, only to find out that the robot still works and is a sparring robot with a shadow function. It's pretty awesome.
The kid gets the robot cleaned up and he talks Charlie into teaching him how to box. With the shadow motion, the robot dances before each fight, following Max's movements. He gets more and more fights, winning and winning and winning when nobody said he would, and finds his way into a sanctioned, league fight. Everybody is convinced that the opponent, Twin Cities, is going to win but in the end, Atom (Max's robot) manages to beat the crap out of him. During the fights they use voice commands to tell the robot what to do. So after defeating Twin Cities, Max gets on the mic at the match and challenges the Robot Champion known as Zeus to a match.
The problem comes when it's time for Charlie to take Max back to his aunt in New York. Max doesn't want to go but Charlie tells him it's for the best and that's that. Charlie heads back to the gym, and a woman named Bailey (played by Evangeline Lily) who eventually talks Charlie into going back and getting Max.
They get their fight with Zeus. Now the main thing about Zeus is that no robot has ever gotten past the first round without being annihilated. But Atom is different. Because he's a sparring robot, he is built to take a lot of punches. He's old and an under dog and he does take a hell of a beating but he gives as good as he gets. He gets knocked down more times than I could keep track of but he keeps getting back up. During the 4th round, though, Zeus gets in a blow that knocks out Atom's voice recognition programming and the bell rings barely in time for Atom to make it out of the round alive. The problem is, there's still one more round to go. Max switches Atom over to shadow mode and Charlie, a former boxer himself, gets to where Atom can see him and starts fighting the match for Atom. The pivotal moment in the movie comes when Bailey and Max are both watching Charlie as he's making the boxing moves for Atom. He was loving every minute of it, being able to essentially be back in the ring throwing those punches. Zeus is about to be knocked out and literally gets saved by the bell. The 5th round is the final round in the robot league boxing and it goes to the scores. The judges, of course, name Zeus as the winner because it would look bad for the under dog to win. The programmer of the robot is furious, though, and he storms out of the ring without saying a word. In the end, Atom is dubbed The People's Champion even though he lost the match, and everybody cheers.
I can continue to say that I have never seen a movie with Hugh Jackman in it that I didn't enjoy. He's very good at this type of role. The guy who thinks he's not worth anything but deep down you know he's worth more than his weight in gold. The rough and tumble, makes you want to smack him asshole that turns out to have a big heart that's in just the right place. And watching him throw those punches was beautiful. He had to have trained a lot to be able to look the way he did in this movie.
The real star of the movie, though, in my opinion is Dakota Goyo, the little boy that plays Max. That kid has attitude and swagger and he's about the same age as my daughter. He delivers lines like he's been doing it for decades and his comedic timing is pure genius. Dakota is going to go as far as he wants to go in this business. There's raw talent there that can not be taught and doesn't need much in the way of refinement. In my opinion, he was literally born to act.
Evangeline Lily didn't have a very big part in this movie, but it was an important one. And yes, there is a difference. She plays the daughter of the man that ran the gym where Charlie trained. He didn't just run the gym, he was also Charlie's trainer. Bailey believes in Charlie to a point, but even the biggest fan has to give up at some point. He manages to talk her into giving him another chance and another chance. She watches the match with Twin Cities and she's there at the match with Zeus, cheering and crying and just having a good time. I have always loved Evangeline. She's a beautiful woman inside and out as far as I can tell and she was definitely perfect for the part of Bailey.
I would also like to give a little shout out for the fact that a lot of this movie is set in Texas. North Texas to be specific. One of the fights takes place at an arena in Dallas, just about a 45 minute drive from me. So I was happy about that. But the fights do take place all over the country.
And again I thank Steven for making this in 2D instead of going with the 3D craze that has started the past few years. Those of us who can't watch 3D movies for whatever reason thank you greatly.
Over all? I say go see this movie as soon as you can. The effects are amazing, and it's real robots, not CG, which makes it even better. And the music is fantastic. I gotta get the sound track to this movie because the songs just make you want to get up and dance. Especially the ones to which the robot dances. The film as a whole is great. It's rated PG-13 but that's just for violence and some mild language. By mild I mean there's the occasional shit here and there and some bitches and asses, like that. No F bombs dropped in this flick.
Even if the only reason you go to see it is to watch two robots beat the living snot out of each other, it's so worth it, trust me. GO SEE THIS MOVIE! You will NOT regret it.
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