Wolverine was my favorite comic book superhero when I was a kid in the 90′s. When they made the first X-Men movie back in 2000, I adopted Hugh Jackman as one of my favorite actors because of that. As his career continues, he’s trying to do other things. His most recent movie is evidence of that and is based on a short story about robots that was called Steel. When you think of movies about robots, you might think of some kind of Terminator or Transformers type stuff. I don’t believe that too many people would be thinking about a movie with any kind of heartfelt story being involved. Well that’s exactly what they tried to do with the movie Real Steel.
Set in the near future, humans are replaced in the world of boxing by robots. A former fighter himself, dead-beat dad Charles Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is now a promoter in these underground robot boxing matches. He’s in debt and in serious trouble with the people that he owes money to. Even more is added to his list of problems when his ex-girlfriend dies and he is thrust into the life of his young son that he barely even knows. With all of these problems coming at him from different angles, Kenton has to pull his career together and find out how he can redeem himself by trying to fix the professional and personal problems in his life.
Real Steel is a vibrant and lively movie that’s built on its high energy and personality. It’s a family friendly film that focuses more on the relationships in the lead character’s life rather than the fight scenes. They do put a lot of focus on the fights and you won’t be disappointed if that’s what you want to see. As fun as the action might get at times, the soul of the film comes from the actors. These guys put on some impressive and heartfelt performances. This is what you’d like to see as far as casting is concerned. Virtually every actor in this film made their characters believable. I wish the casting of every movie was properly done like it was in Real Steel.
In the end, Real Steel is a movie about fathers and sons. You can say that it’s also about personal growth and how we as people can improve ourselves. This film attempts to inspire and entertain with this story. You can also see all of the effort that was put forth to make this movie work and it pays off in my opinion. There are things in this movie that might be familiar to some, but it’s a film that brings enough of its own personality and heart to the table. It does its best to show off the talent and ability of pretty much everyone involved and I was impressed with how well the finished product came off.