If Rocky Balboa and Optimus Prime got together to write a screenplay for the next great action movie, Real Steel would be the inevitable outcome. Released on Friday, October 7th, the action movie starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy.
Real Steel opened to throngs of people ready to be pulled in by a captivating combination of new and old. The characters feel real and relatable, even when discussing the challenges of robot boxing in the Professional Leagues.
The special effects and action sequences are all-new with creative robot designs and fight sequences. Yet, the viewer remains left with a dwindling sense of familiarity towards the film’s characters and plot, a sense of déjà-vu that is not necessarily unwelcomed.
Much of the movie’s success is due to the exemplary acting displayed by newcomer Dakota Goyo. In his first leading role, Goyo plays Max, a boy whose mother recently died in an accident, forcing him to live with his dad Charlie Kenton (Jackman) for the summer. The viewer’s first impression of Charlie occurs when he tries to charge a few young girls $5 for a photo with his robot, Ambush.
After having both Ambush and Noisy Boy (a bot Charlie spent his last $50,000 on) went down from a series of rookie mistakes, things looked grim for Charlie. Charlie’s downward spiral of destroyed robots and unavoidable debt quickly becomes the center of the first part of the movie. Enter Charlie’s estranged son Max, who seems determined to set Charlie on a path to victory and to convince him to keep him. When Max finds an old Generation 2 sparring bot named Atom in a junkyard, things begin to change.
Max has what seems like childish confidence in Atom’s change going into the first fight for the boy and the machine.
To the audience, though, Atom is quickly becoming more than just a machine. Max’s inexperience at handling robots proves a challenge, but Goyo’s acting really makes the viewer feel the anxiety and tension in the moment. When Max challenges what is popularly believed to be the greatest robot of all time, Zeus, his temerity and courage easily stimulate emotion in the viewer.
Goyo uses his age, appearance, and clear acting finesse to develop a likeable character everyone can root for.
