Film Review: ‘Real Steel’ Overcomes Harebrained Premise With Heart, Quenching Hollywood Wizardry

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CHICAGO – Try selling a friend on paying to see a movie with you about machine-operated boxing where humans control robots for money.

HollywoodChicago.com Oscarman rating: 3.5/5.0
Rating: 3.5/5.0

Just call your friend on his Motorola DynaTAC retro brickphone and say: “Hey, Billy! Remember all those swell nights we had as kids when I smoked you every time in Rock’em Sock’em Robots with our two dueling robot boxers mechanically manipulated by us? There’s a new movie out that pays homage to all those times you wasted trying to decapitate my robot’s head.”

StarRead Adam Fendelman’s full review of “Real Steel”.

From that vapid premise alone, you’d likely have better luck snagging a date to a film about vaginal dentata.

But fret not, friend: there’s hope yet for Disney’s sci-fi sports movie “Real Steel,” which is a sovereign testament to the power of the absurd. What if instead you were pitched to see a high-tech “Rocky” starring Hugh Jackman (Wolverine in the “X-Men” movies) from executive producer Steven Spielberg and producer Robert Zemeckis (the “Back to the Future” movies) with original music by Danny Elfman? Now’s your interest piqued?

It should be, because big Hollywood names aside, this Michigan-filmed family movie overcomes an initially harebrained-sounding story line with just enough thrill, modern-day ocular wizardry and even fragments of heart-warming emotion to convert most initial skeptics into believers.

“Real Steel” stars Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis, James Rebhorn, Marco Ruggeri, Karl Yune, Olga Fonda, John Gatins, Gregory Sims, Sophie Levy, Tess Levy and Charlie Levy from director Shawn Levy, writers John Gatins and Dan Gilroy, executive producer Steven Spielberg, producer Robert Zemeckis and composer Danny Elfman. “Real Steel,” which has a running time of 127 minutes and opened on Oct. 7, 2011, is rated “PG-13” for some violence, intense action and brief language.

StarContinue for Adam Fendelman’s full “Real Steel” review.

Hugh Jackman in Real Steel
Hugh Jackman in “Real Steel”.
Image credit: DreamWorks

StarContinue for Adam Fendelman’s full “Real Steel” review.

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