MOVIE REVIEW - Real Steel

Every once in a while you roll into a movie with little or love expectations. It's part of the fun of reviewing movies, especially when you are pleasantly surprised with a gem.

Hugh Jackman stars in Real Steel, and I think it's the years surprise hit so far. This is the movie that appears to be a cross between Rocky, Rock-Em Sock-Em Robots and possibly a cheesy dad-and-son sports flick. And once it is all mixed together, somehow it works. A bit of Steven Speilberg magic was dusted on this as well as the movies producer.

RS is a story set in the near future where boxing by humans is no longer violent enough for the publics taste. So robots are built to box, just as humans were in decades past. Jackman is Charlie, a former boxer himself, who now runs around building boxing robots, getting beat and generally owing shady people a lot of money. He is reunited with his 11 year son, Max (Dakota Goyo) that he has never known after the mother dies. The only thing they have in common is the intertest in robot boxing.

So they set out to build a robot that can maybe help them make a bit of cash to keep them afloat. They then run across Atom. Atom is a robot from 2014 never designed to actually box, but they try to make him a contender. With the help from Bailey (Evangeline Lilly) one of Charlie's former girlfriends and robot builder, they set out to see how far Atom can take them. And learn that Atom may be a bit more human than one might think.

This movie will make you laugh, cry and cheer. This story at first glance may look a bit silly, and maybe it is. But somehow this works wonderfully well. Very nicely crafted to make you a part of what's going on. You feel like you are on the journey with them. Terrific special effects that don't get ridiculous. Also, the robot action sequences are so well done. Not too long, not fatiguing, and not hard to watch or follow say like Transformers.

Kudos to Jackman and Coyo who develop a nice chemistry with a well written script that lets their relationship evolve at a nice pace, and never gets cheesy. Evangeline Lilly gives this a nice soft touch, and a great womanly presence it really needed. She was perfectly cast as the boxing savvy, but still feminine, Bailey. Well done.

Real Steel. This could have gone either way. It was either going to be really, really good, or a complete waste of time. This time, good wins out. Sleeper hit of the year so far.