Review of Real Steel (2011) by Melcher — 08 Oct 2011

This could've been much much better if they just made one adjustment - remove the kid. Seriously one of the most annoying child characters ever portrayed on film. This kid is a shining example of Gen Y at it's worst. All throughout the film I was left cringing at his dialogue and his motivation, this kid was just too much of an arrogant brat to sympathize with or even understand.

As for the rest of the film, visually it's a treat with great CGI and a really interesting mix of beautiful American country side and state of the art futuristic robots. I thought the cinematography was excellent and gave the movie a look and feel unlike anything else. Hugh Jackman was great despite also having a slightly unlikeable character.

As for the story it self, it's basically a mish-mash of a variety of Disney style family orientated films. Father reunites with son, old vs new, good vs evil, the underdog, little guy vs coorporation, etc. At times this movie lays it on so thick that you just want to vomit.

To me this movie could best be described as 2 Stallone films in 1. "Over the Top", and "Rocky" + robots. Again, it's a shame the child character was such a douche which ultimately really detracted from the film.