This is exactly the kind of movie I wish I’d seen when I was nine. Big flashy robots beating the crap out of each other, zany, over-the-top characters controlling them, you just know it would have been the talk of the playground. But while it’s hard to blame the filmmakers for knowing their audience, nine-year-olds don’t always have the best taste in movies. This was one of those examples.
Just looking at the previews for Real Steel, one would think that the “Rock Em’ Sock Em’ Robots” license was simply unavailable. Ironically enough though, Real Steel is based the short story Steel by Richard Matheson, the author of such science fiction classics as I Am Legend and What Dreams May Come (Full disclosure: I have read exactly none of those, but both were made into movies).
Unfortunately, that first impression wasn’t exactly too far off from the truth. If you’re looking for a satisfying explanation as to why mankind has suddenly taken up robot boxing, you’re not going to get it here. The whole premise just sort of sits there as the movie gets sillier and sillier and sillier. Robot boxing, at least in this form, seems to have more in common with a demolition derby than the tense human drama of a real boxing match.
The weirdest part though, is that in a movie where fighting robots are the primary feature, it’s the background of the fights that actually ends up being the most ridiculous. Many of the spectators dress as though they’re in some sort of post-apocalyptic wasteland, where leather is the only commodity that survived the fallout. The competitors act like cartoon villains. And the venues wouldn’t seem out of place in a Street Fighter game.
On top of that is the script’s apparent need to narrate everything that’s happening in the action, whether it’s through some truly terrible boxing announcers or Hugh Jackman’s character ringside. I understand that they’re trying to keep the kids in the loop, but the screenwriters did realize that most of the audience members would be able to see the robots fighting, right? It really ended up undercutting what little drama the fights had in the first place.
And that’s unfortunate, because once you get past the silliness of its premise, Real Steel actually features a fairly sweet father-son story. Child actor Dakota Goyo does an ample job playing opposite Hugh Jackman, and the pair exhibit good chemistry with each other. There are a few schmaltzy lines here and there, but you get the impression that if director Shawn Levy had been better able to execute some of the more absurd elements of the script you might have found a decent movie in that relationship.
So if you’re looking for something to take your kid to, you wouldn’t be doing them wrong by taking them to this movie. Otherwise I’d probably skip Real Steel. It doesn’t have that same crossover appeal to an adult audience that so many of the better children’s movies these days are able to achieve. Though, I do have to say, it’s still more coherent than Transformers.
