xavierpop's posterous http://xavierpop.posterous.com Most recent posts at xavierpop's posterous posterous.com Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:08:51 -0700 Melanie's Review of Real Steel http://xavierpop.posterous.com/melanies-review-of-real-steel http://xavierpop.posterous.com/melanies-review-of-real-steel

This movie is good. In fact, it’s really good. Is it going to be an Oscar contender? Absolutely not, and that’s totally cool with me. Sometimes I don’t want to watch a movie that makes me think too much. Sometimes, I just want to sit down and be entertained. Real Steel is a very entertaining movie. Was it kinda predictable?  Sure, but I don’t care. For 127 minutes I forgot about all of the stresses in my life, and had some fun.

The movie is set about 20 years in the future where a blood-thirsty public no longer enjoys watching people beat the crap out of each other, but rather prefers to watch giant robots tear each other apart â€" literally. I describe the movie as Rocky meets Transformers meets The Champ.

Hugh Jackman (X-Men, Van Helsing, Kate & Leopold) plays Charlie Kenton, a down-on-his-luck former boxer who tours the country with fighting robots to make ends meet. You get a sense that Charlie is a bit of a player/gypsy who breaks hearts wherever he goes. He finds out that a woman he had a child with has passed away leaving his 11 year-old son parentless. Having no interest in becoming a real father but seeing an opportunity to make some money, he takes his son in for the summer in exchange for a cash payment.

Charlie’s son Max, played very aptly by Toronto-born Dakota Goyo, is your typical child who’s been deserted by his dad and raised by his mom â€" he’s tough, strong-willed, too mature for his age, and a bit of a pain in the butt. Dakota actually reminds me of another child actor, Jake Lloyd, who played young Anakin Skywalk in The Phantom Menace - the main difference being that Dakota can actually act.

Without giving too much away, father and son go looking for parts for a broken fighting robot and discover one of the original sparring robots that has been left for trash. Max decides to keep the robot and discovers that it can actually fight. The robot, named Atom, reminded me at times of Wall-e - in the sense that you end up falling in love with this machine and you have no idea if it’s even aware.

The third star of this film are definitely the fighting robots â€" all of them. I’m not usually one to go ga-ga over a bunch of over-sized children’s toys, but they really did an amazing job creating these machines. They didn’t miss any details  â€" the unique designs, the colours, the sounds, and the imposingness of them all worked. These machines seemed to take on a life of their own which helped to create  an unbelievable boxing world full of flash and glamour. If you have a boy between the ages of 13 and 18, take them to see this movie â€" they’ll lose their minds!!!

This movie pretty much belongs to Hugh, Dakota and Atom, the robot Max brings back from the dead, but I would be remiss if I didn’t mention some of the supporting actors. One of the main “bad-guys” is an arrogant jerk named Ricky, played by Kevin Durand (Smokin’ Aces, Wolferine, Robin Hood) â€" I wasn’t sure where I’d seen him before, however after watching Real Steel I won’t forget him anytime soon. Not only is he a great actor, he is a great guy (and from Thunder Bay no less). Another Canadian in the film is Evangeline Lilly (Hurt Locker and TV’s Lost). She plays Charlie’s friend, business partner, and former love. Lilly did an excellent job playing Bailey Tallet, the daughter of Charlie’s dead boxing coach, who Charlie has been taken advantage of for a number of years.

I must give kudos to Montreal-born director, Shawn Levy, for creating yet another fun feel-good film. He seems to be the go-to guy for that genre having directed both Night at the Museum films, Date Night, and Cheaper by the Dozen.

I give Real Steel 4 stars out of 5, and look forward to seeing it again when it comes out in theatres on October 7th.

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