3 gibbles out of 5

Director: Shawn Levy

You’ve seen this before: the drinkin’, gamblin’ rabble-rouser who – for some reason or another – has to take a youngster under his wing whilst he goes about his drinkin’ and gamblin’ ways.  Surely that youngster won’t cause him to expose a heart of gold and turn his life around…  While Real Steel doesn’t miss a beat for that genre, it gets some key things right to keep you enjoying the movie.

Hugh Jackman is our rabble-rouser, Dakota Goyo is our kid.  The vice in the tale is boxing, but as you probably know it’s not regular boxing, rather robot vs. robot, hulking menaces controlled by humans via makeshift remotes, both in legal venues and underground clubs.  Jackman used to be a “real” boxer, and we learn a little bit about how the world of ‘bots hitting ‘bots cut out any interest in human boxers.  Hounded by people to whom he owes gambling debts, Jackman finds out he has a son, and the script gives us some believable machinations by which he decides to keep the little bugger for a while.  Then cue your ‘deadbeat who turns his life around’ story.

Here’s what works: Jackman is eminently likeable.  He can do charming, and he can do scummy, and this role allows him to do both.  But key to the film is Dakota Goyo.  Kids in movies – especially this genre – swing back and forth between too cutesy, too witty, or too over-cool.  But, as scripted and acted, Goyo’s character is a perfect blend of snotty, smarts, and childishness.  This type of smart characterization extends to both leads, making their decisions and actions involving for the film’s entirety.  (Not so much for the one dimensional Evangeline Lilly character and her romantic subplot.)

The production design was spectacular.  The robots were apparently built (i.e. not CGI) for most non-fighting scenes and so have a very practical look to them, which should’ve been unexpected in the post Transformers-flash-before-substance film world.  The movie takes place in the near future, but far enough ahead to give us some unseen tech.  But instead of shoving this in our face, it’s only shown through somewhat subtle touches, allowing the back alley, rustic feel of many scenes to blend well with the sci-fi.

And that’s it.  It’s truly nothing new – once the film gets going (and it does take until about halfway through), it stays on a straight, predictable line, but because it scores with the key pieces of its puzzle and dresses it up really satisfyingly, the movie does alright.

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