If TRANSFORMERS, IROBOT and X-MEN: ORIGINS had a love child, that child would be named REAL STEEL. Wolverine, a.k.a. Hugh Jackman stars in this futuristic tale of robot boxing… yes, robot boxing. They made a movie of that!
Set in 2020, REAL STEEL tells the story of Charlie Kenton (Jackman), an aged fighter who lost his big chance as champion to a 2000-pound robot. Now a washed up, small-time promoter, Charlie can barely afford to make a living. He reluctantly teams up with his estranged son, Max (Dakota Goyo) to build and train an ultimate robot fighter. Together, they program a new robot champion contender to try and come back as the ultimate fighter of the underground robot boxing ring.
Sure, the concept is hilarious, but that doesn’t make it a bad movie. If you’re walking into the theaters this weekend thinking to yourself “I’m about to watch a film about robots that fight each other” stay on that mentality, because that’s how it’ll become watch-able. The story wasn’t based off of an inspiring true story or a book, it was based off of the popular ROCK ‘EM SOCK EM ROBOTS game and an episode of THE TWILIGHT ZONE. Criticizing this movie for not having a deep and meaningful plotline would be the same as criticizing an apple for not being purple.
“Hey apple, why aren’t you purple?”
“Well, I’m an apple. Apple’s aren’t purple”
See? It’s basically the same argument.
If you’re looking for a deep, moving movie with a heartfelt message this weekend, stick to DOLPHIN TALE. If you want a movie that’s about robots fighting each other, check out REAL STEEL.