“Real Steel” is bound to attract a theater filled with sci-fi action fan-boys and 13-year-olds; however, it’s the film’s father-son drama, not its cheap tricks and explosions, that keeps the movie afloat. Eleven-year-old Max Kenton, played by Dakota Goyo, is a savvy gamer and smart talker. When his “down-on-his-luck” father finds out that Max’s mom has died, he is left to take care of the son he hasn’t seen in years. Played by Hugh Jackman, Charlie Kenton takes in his son only to get some extra cash from a bribe that would, predictably, come back to haunt him.
Although “Real Steel” certainly relies on sentiment and Spielberg-influenced clichés, there certainly is some pleasure to be had when witnessing the charming nature of Goyo and Jackman’s father-son dynamic. When they first meet, Charlie Kenton is trying to get back on his feet in the futuristic world of boxing, where robots take the place of human fighters in a brutally violent game far more exciting (and safer for humans) than boxing the old school way. Charlie Kenton is, as it turns out, an ex-boxer, and it isn’t until the film’s gorgeous love interest, played by Evangeline Lilly, explains Kenton’s past as a professional boxer to little Max that it all begins to make sense. Max and his father have a tedious relationship at best, and it is through various trials that they grow closer together, training a robot that Max found in a trash heap and climbing to the top of the robot boxing game.
Often times, the frustration that Max has with his father seems honest, but his father’s unrealistically cruel nature and careless attitude wears on the audience’s ability to suspend disbelief, and it begins to feel contrived. Kenton is unlikable and rude and seems to have no redeeming human qualities. Whether it was intentional or not, there was little resolution to Kenton’s poor character, and the film continued onward until everything in the plot ran its course. Regardless, Hugh Jackman is as handsome and charming and talented as usual, and it is still a spectacle to see him kick butt and take names.
In the midst of all the “bot-bashing and nay-saying” between father and son, there comes a genuinely pleasant moment where the theme of “it’s sometimes better to just have fun,” is re-emphasized. After Kenton discovers Max dancing with the robot, the dancing becomes a pre-fight ritual between Max and the robot, even though they are teased and heckled at by their opponents.
The fighting is quick-paced, intense and at times frightening, with the same feel as Michael Bay’s “Transformers.” Steven Spielberg’s handprint is also apparent, with the All-American spirit still present in a futuristic setting not too different from a present-day, blue-collared Midwest, like what a NASCAR crowd in 2020 would be. In an obviously pre-programmed and narrowly hashed out script, the plot is a cookie-cutter copy of all the boxing movies and science fiction quests combined. Although there is nothing new to be seen, it is certainly an entertaining flick with a lot of fun moments that are truly genuine and other times appropriately sentimental.
It may not be a movie couples and film critics are going to enjoy, but it’s certainly something kids, or grown-ups with some inner-kid still intact, will want to check out on the big screen.
