REAL STEEL: A Successful Science Fiction Film About Boxing Robots

I believed in Real Steel from the moment I first saw the trailer. I simply liked the unusual idea of casting giant robots in the role of boxers. The initial clips promised a dazzling brawl between machines in the foreground, with difficult father-son relationships squeezed somewhere between the rounds, which seemed like a quickly written connector between the fights. It all reeked of Disney-like, childish family cinema and mindless Transformers-style cinema – a completely indigestible and worst possible conglomerate. But I still believed in Real Steel, as I expressed in a blog post, where in my summary of my enthusiasm for the trailer, I wrote: “living, not dying, sit and wait for the premiere.”

I won’t build suspense and will say right away that Real Steel is a well-made piece of cinema. The biggest surprise turned out to be the element I had the most reservations about. Yes, ladies and gentlemen, Real Steel, a film about b-o-x-i-n-g r-o-b-o-t-s (!), stands out because of its screenplay! The characters are interestingly outlined (including the supporting ones) and the relationships between them are unconventionally written, making this strictly entertaining picture boldly flirt with serious drama, without striking a false note or resorting to cheap sentimentality. In many places, I thought I knew how the action would unfold, that the characters would follow clichés and do this or that, but instead, something completely unexpected would happen. The main theme of the film, the mutual discovery of father-son feelings, is followed with greater interest than the ring battles. These fights serve as a backdrop, a secondary element, a connector between the dialogue scenes between the characters, and not the other way around.

Another surprise is Hugh Jackman, who credibly embodies the role of Charlie Kenton, a somewhat bitter former boxer, a cynical loner who, under the influence of his newly reunited son, undergoes a slow inner transformation. Hugh Jackman pales in comparison to the performance of 12-year-old Dakota Goyo, who keeps pace with his older colleague and at times even surpasses him. The teenage actor (we could see him as young Thor, for instance), although he occasionally overacts a bit, plays the younger version of his father in a non-annoying way. Like his father, he is stubborn, feisty, brave, and outspoken—one worth the other. The verbal tirades between Jackman and Goyo are a pleasure to watch because they carry a load of emotions suppressed over the years. And to balance the dramatic family story, a solid dose of humor was added to the dialogues. So, it’s touching, witty, and funny, and all together it makes for an easy-to-digest, heartwarming story with a subtle moral. Adding to that, the film is very brutal—machines pummel each other mercilessly, yet it’s completely bloodless (unless you consider the oil spilling from the defeated robot as blood), making it safe for both adults and children, even those below the PG-13 age limit.

Real Steel takes the “zero to hero” trope and runs with it. We can easily find echoes of Gladiator—the first fight takes place in a small arena, and later Atom moves to the mecca of robot fights in Detroit, a futuristic counterpart to the Roman Colosseum. There’s also a significant influence from the story of Rocky Balboa, specifically using the plot of the first part. The final fight seems to borrow the “strategy” from the memorable “Rumble in the Jungle,” where Muhammad Ali did nothing for several rounds but take powerful blows from George Foreman. Despite these similarities, Real Steel doesn’t come across as a mindless copycat film, as the borrowings and inspirations are skillfully woven into this unique boxing story.

I sincerely congratulate the creators of Real Steel for going against the current trend, creating robots that don’t have feelings, don’t talk, don’t fart, don’t pee, and don’t transform into shiny cars catering to cheap American popcorn tastes. The robots in Shawn Levy‘s film are machines made for boxing, not for saving the world, period. Paradoxically, despite the lack of any expression and human reflexes, the robot Atom moves to tears and brings much joy from watching his actions during training and ring fights. The computer animation of Atom and his opponents is of an incredibly high standard, and the same can be said for the choreography of the fights. All the dodges and punches are clear and understandable to the viewers. There is no chaotic chopping edited by Flash Lightning. The consultant on set was Sugar Ray Leonard himself, which benefited not only the spectacle but also the technical correctness of the movements of the steel giants, as well as Jackman himself. Thanks to this, the imaginative design and animation of the robots go hand in hand with spectacle, realism, and drama. And all this is accompanied by fitting steel/boxing sound effects and sharp tracks by Eminem and Prodigy, among others.