Real Steel

Real Steel is one of those movies I would be quick to dismiss simply because it looks ridiculous, but as it turns, the ridiculous nature of the movie works for it, and is quite enjoyable. Quite, instead of quite, simply because it's not that great of a movie but it doesn't fail to entertain. I could go on and on about differing levels of being entertained, and the quality thereof, but it's too much: this movie doesn't really deserve it.

I'm in the mood for something light, and Real Steel is perfect. The picture quality is astounding, and everything looks grimy as it should in the near-future world where human boxing has ceased to exist. Indeed, humans have been replaced by robots, as our desire to see violence and carnage increase to an unacceptable level that couldn't be satisfied by more extreme sports or underground fight clubs. And if movies are to be believed, we'll have highly advanced, ten foot tall robots that can duke it out and entertain the masses.

Not once do we concern ourselves with some kind of Terminator-style robot uprising, although it seems simple enough. The "big boss" of the movie fights almost autonomously, continually learning and adapting during its fights. Essentially, become more human in nature but that's OK, because it's not nearly as advanced as a real human. Charlie (Hugh Jackman) and his son find an old training robot with some nifty shadow features, and you know where that's going. Charlie is a retired boxer, and we look forward to his robot shadowing him during the big fight - you know it's inevitable. It's man versus machine, a longtime obsession of ours, most recently highlighted by the best Jeopardy contestants taking on a supercomputer of sorts, Watson.

The main attraction are the robot fights, of course, and there are plenty. It's best not to focus on the human characters behind the controls: Charlie sells his child to his sister-in-law's husband, so that the husband can take a summer-long vacation in Italy or something. This is the first time Charlie has met his son, and they bond quickly over their love for intense robot fighting. Who couldn't bond over that, really? The fact that money was exchanged over this child was never really addressed, as we get a corny, nicely wrapped up ending that mirrors Rocky eerily. In fact, you might consider this a modern-day remake, but replace Rocky with a robot. The movie ends quickly after the final fight, so that you don't have a chance to forget the awesome robot action, and to remember the inane plot that lead to the fight and the wonderful special effects.

I just wanted to make a comment regarding the futuristic world we're put in. Surprisingly it's not too far off: less than a decade really. Going by this timeline we should start seeing our first generation of robots in the next year or so. The movie doesn't take a lot of liberty - aside from the robots themselves - in the tech in this alternate future. Cell phones look more advanced (and not ridiculous) and the most noticeable are some of the neat controls inside cars. Touch screens, holographics: it's all plausible a few years down the road. Just look at the progress in those devices in the past  five years. So there it is, good old fun robot action set in a neat and realistic future, combined with a terrible plot and characters, and you have a good romp of a film.