Review of film: “REAL STEEL”

2011, 09-26;  writeup completed 10-16:

Review of film:  “REAL STEEL”

This 127-minute PG-13 film was directed by Shawn Levy (who also did the “NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM” films)...

...  Set in the not-distant future, Charlie Kenton (HUGH JACKMAN) is a devil-may-care kind of entrepreneur…  Well, OK, he’s really somewhat of a frequently-unreliable SCAM artist in the minds of a number of people…

…  Anyway, Hugh used to be a boxer.  At one time, he was the # 1 contender in his weight class…  Unfortunately, the “game” changed:  people got TIRED of seeing humans fighting, & preferred to see the mayhem of machine ROBOTS destroying each other…

...  Needing to make a living (& being “limited” in that regard), he’s gotten some mechanical ‘Bots to operate in CONTESTS...  He hasn’t been doing all that well, & is reduced to performing at a sort of RODEO...

...  A guy he’d scammed previously said, he needs to pay him what he’s owed “or else”... 

...  Hugh reluctantly agrees to use his robot to battle a large live BULL in the ring.  But, he gets typically “DISTRACTED” (by a pretty woman in the stands), loses his concentration, & sees his robot SMASHED to bits...

...  Rather than pay off his debt (which he CAN’T do since he lost the fight), he RUNS AWAY (infuriating the guy he’d lied to--  which may well come back to “haunt” him)..

...  In short order, Hugh returns to the shop that had supported his efforts for many years, run by an old girlfriend named Bailey Tallet (EVANGELINE LILLY)...  He wants her help at buying a NEW robot he could make money with...

...  She’s hesitant to assist him, but has FAITH in him (having known him since he was a fighter), & agrees to partially HELP him in trying to get a fancy voice-controlled one from Japan (to replace the manually-controlled one he’d had)...

...  A new “wrinkle” suddenly enters into Hugh’s life, in the form of a message from the sister of an ex-girlfriend that her sister had DIED & had seemingly never told him he’d  FATHERED a SON she’d raised on her own for 11 years...

...  Further, her sister had wanted the boy named Max (DAKOTA GOYO) to get to KNOW his father.  But, she herself – Aunt Debra (HOPE DAVIS) -- knows Hugh has never been a very RELIABLE person, &, since she herself has married a well-to-do man who can give Dakota a good life, THEY want to be allowed to RAISE the boy...

...  Hugh talks to Hope’s husband Marvin (JAMES REBHORN), who secretly agrees to PAY Hugh for turning over his parental rights to Hope after Dakota spends like the summer with Hugh...  The down payment for that allows Hugh to GET the new robot he wants...

...  In short order, Hugh finally MEETS his son.  Dakota is a self-confident & SELF-SUFFICIENT kid, who very openly tells Hugh how angry he is at how Hugh had in-effect “WALKED-AWAY” from his mom & him to lead his own “carefree” life...

...  Hugh’s sort of taken-aback at suddenly learning he’s a father, & not “prepared” to cope with a kid who openly speaks his MIND... 

...  Evangeline tries to get across that Dakota is not “bratty” so much as someone who felt understandably HURT in life at having no dad around, & he’s openly showing how he feels...

...  In the midst of helping Hugh “tweak” the comparatively “fancy” new blue-metallic  ROBOT he’d bought, she talks to Dakota & TELLS him some of the background of Hugh...

...  Dakota is comparatively technically knowledgeable, & takes an INTEREST in Hugh’s fighting robot as they travel around in his truck...  Hugh talks to an old promoter friend named Finn (ANTHONY MACKIE) to try to get some FIGHTS he could put his robot in...

...  At first, Hugh’s robot starts to do WELL, & Dakota keeps trying to encourage him to learn how to BETTER CONTROL the robot... 

...  But then, Hugh once again gets “distracted” & CARELESS & doesn’t properly operate the voice controls, & the robot thus gets badly SMASHED-UP...

...  Hugh takes Dakota to break into a sort of warehousing area for old robot PARTS, to try to find enough to possibly piece-together a jerry-rigged robot he could use to enter more fights to try to earn a living... 

...  There’s not much Hugh finds to “work” with there...  But DAKOTA discovers a very complete old-style robot buried in the dirt, & wants to take that HOME with them...

 

...  Hugh is uneager to deal with it, saying, it’s simply a “SPARRING-partner” type & is so old-fashioned, it’s likely to be USELESS...

...  But, Dakota has the optimism (-- & HARD-headedness --) of youth, & insists on bringing it back to Evangeline’s shop on his OWN... 

...  He works to RENOVATE the blue-eyed robot named "ATOM", & engages Evangeline’s help to persuade Hugh to make efforts to FINE-TUNE it...  

...  Altho Hugh has very little confidence in what can be done with “Atom”, Dakota insists he work to try to “TRAIN” the robot based on his own boxing background... 

...  Dakota himself uses the “mirror” setting on Atom to teach the robot some “DANCE” moves to help it “avoid” an opponent...  Atom is basically HIS robot, to do with what he wants...

...  At one point, Dakota insists he be taken along to try to get FIGHTS for Atom, & [as seen below] goes so far as to threaten to “lose” the keys to Hugh’s truck if he’s not an active part of the “team”...

...  Hugh feels what Dakota wants is a waste to time, but reluctantly takes him out to an old ZOO area where some low-level robot fights take place... 

...  The audience is intrigued by the little “DANCE” routines Dakota does in leading his robot Atom into the fight area, & starts to CHEER for him against the large opponent robot...

...  Hugh helps Dakota run the manual CONTROLS to operate Atom...

 
...  And, to Hugh's shock, egged-on by Dakota, their robot WINS the fight...

...  Atom & Dakota become crowd favorites, helping get more MONEY as Dakota insists he be entered in additional contests...

...  Based on an idea that pretty much comes from Dakota, Evangeline helps adapt the VOICE-activated control box from the destroyed Japanese blue robot so it can be used in ATOM...

...  That improvement helps Atom become even more successful in his various fights, & --  led by Dakota’s dance entrances – he becomes an even bigger FAN FAVORITE...

...  Dakota has to work hard to persuade Hugh to work more WITH Atom, to teach him some of his OWN boxing “moves”...   

...  But, that effort appreciably IMPROVES the way Atom is able to perform...

...  Working with promoter Anthony, Dakota & Hugh are able to get Atom involved in some “BIG-time” fights...

...  There’s a huge contest being held, a “round-robin” competition where the winners keep advancing to face the “BIG-SHOT” robot in the fighting world, programmed by a Japanese guy Tak Mashido (KARL YUNE) & owned by rich & arrogant Farra Lemkova (OLGA FONDA)...

...  While Hugh remains unsure of the abilities of Atom, Dakota keeps having FAITH in him...  There’s a big battle in the arena with mid-level robots...

...  And that's followed by one with a highly-regarded 2-headed red-metallic robot...

...  Will Dakota be able to get Hugh to try HARDER to train robot Atom?...  Will it be able to keep WINNING & not be disabled by its numerous battles?...

...  Will Atom be able to reach the spot where it fights for the “TITLE” with Karl’s top-rated Japanese robot--  &, if so, how will he FARE in such a fight?...

...  Will Dakota learn of the secret “DEAL” Hugh had made to turn over control of him to Aunt HOPE--  &, if so, how will he “RESPOND” to such a thing without having his OWN input into the matter of how he’ll be raised in his future life?...

...  If you simply read the plot synopsis, it’d probably sound pretty “silly”...  But, with good CASTING & direction, the plot really “WORKS”, to the point that some in the audience were CHEERING for how Dakota, Atom & Hugh were “doing”!...

...  HUGH has the right “demeanor” for his character’s role of an imperfect, beaten-down & lackadaisical grifter...

...  DAKOTA comes across with a successful self-assured conviction & “gumption”, & the supporting roles are well “filled-out” by others in the cast...  

...  The ROBOTS are often handled cleverly in their SPECIAL-EFFECTS bastion, to the point that the interplay with the human characters leads to an unusually effective high level of FUN being generated by the movie...

...  Accordingly, I’m rating the film as 8.00 out of 10 stars...

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