Review of True Grit (2010) by Thomas B — 21 Jul 2016

Grade: Safe C-.

Real Steel is an action movie containing not only boxing robots, Wolverine and good effects, but also a truly thought out plot that may not be too original in fairness but still a nice enough movie in any case. With high octane fights and acting not too bad to say this is made up with lots of CGI, The producers of this film really don't do a bad job in getting it all together and one of them executive producers is none other than Steven Spielberg.

The film itself is a good length and although it made me feel slightly sleepy at times, it still conjures up good things. Hugh Jackman is OK as the main character Charlie and his son played by Dakota Goyo is actually well cast, as Goyo seems to fit well with the story and he could be a young actor to look out for in the future. Evangeline Lilly is charming as ever and although not at her full potential as an actor here, she still brings a certain air of calm headed coolness and seems a refreshingly different pace in the film.

Shawn Levy directs this and his eye is not immediately on point it can seem and parts can be a little, say dodgy with too much action in certain parts but then none at all for a good length of time. I felt the heavy metal score placed down on this film was not one that drew me into the fighting, it only caused me to want the fight to end but I can see for some that they would find it more exhilarating than me. It is written well and the two guys who do the screenplay(Dan Gilroy and Jeremy Leven) don't hurt the movie but don't provide any assistance to the already seen type of plot.

The effects are one thing that stand out in this movie and on reflection they are very nice and it's no wonder it got an Academy Award nomination for Best Visual Effects. It may seem or feel that the effects could over shadow the true feeling in the film but I felt any emotion the characters show is shown well enough through all the big budget stuff. It's not over dramatic storytelling(although the ending without spoiling is well, cheesy cheesy and more cheese), you'll notice if you see how the movie starts slow but really picks up a pace and although not rushing into it's ending, seems to want to finish without a bang.

My review may seem as if I did not enjoy this, or maybe even like I liked this much more than I did but in truth I found it kind of OK and although not quite Good, still acceptable in the vast CGI action movie catalogue, that seems to get bigger every year. I gave it a C- and that may seem harsh and I know for sure that some people will read this and completely disagree with what I have been saying but you have to like action to like this, not just Sci-Fi story telling, you have to like straight all out fighting.

The film has true heart there is no doubt, one last thing I want to say about this is that you can feel for those involved and Hugh Jackman although maybe not at his absolute best, still draws you in. Give it a go even if you don't enjoy all out action because it may just surprise you how much you actually liked it, not easy to like but possible and it is wrong to say only a certain demographic would enjoy this.