Real Steel
Directed by Shawn Levy
Starring Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goya
Release Date: October 7, 2011

Let’s clear the air right now, readers. Real Steel is on the surface an homage to the popular kids’ game Rock’em Sock’em Robots. It is hard to dispute that fact and I don’t think that the creators can even deny that there are similarities. What you don’t notice is that under the metal exterior lies a rather human story.

Real Steel‘s focuses on Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman), an ex-boxer down on his luck. Once, he went toe to toe with the champ, but as the world changed, so did boxing. Now, only robots compete in the squared circle, but even Charlie’s robot can’t cut a break. Things go from bad to worse when his ex-girlfriend passes away leaving him to care for his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo). Charlie wants nothing to do with the kid and only takes him in exchange for some cash, but eventually he warms to the kid and fights to keep him.