Real Steel (Possible Spoilers)

[The Glyphstone]

So, I just got back from seeing this. I liked it.

It's formulaic, sure, and doesn't pretend to be anything original. Underdog story, Rocky with robots, father-son bonding tale, and a sprinkling of rich/poor class dynamics, heavily flavored with product placement (seriously, Dr. Pepper was almost an uncredited title character). But some formula movies are like a fast food combo meal - you choose them because they save you time and money, with each ingredient being more or less a self-contained food. Other formula movies are like stew; while each ingredient is perfectly edible on its own, when you mix them all together along with some broth and spices, you end up with something tastier than the sum of its parts.

Real Steel is a stew movie; it takes its tropes, carries them proudly, and comes out with a decent result - the kid isn't too annoying, the romance sideplot isn't too forced, and the robot fight scenes are surprisingly well-animated. The backstory talks about how robot boxers replaced human ones to fulfill our lust for serious violence in the ring, and considering as many matches end with decapitations or dismemberment as they do 'knockouts', you can imagine it happening.

Plus, for those who know the movie is loosely based on an old short story, which was also turned into a Twilight Zone episode, you'd know about the Twilight Zone twist the original versions had. I wondered if they would give a nod/homage to that here, and they actually did - plus, they did it in a way that was telegraphed early on, and integrated into the plot well enough, that it didn't feel forced at all.

Overall, I'd give it Pi^e out of sqrt(-i) squamous tentacles up, or a solid B to B+.

[Eldonauran]

Loved this movie. Best boxing movie I've seen in a while. :smallbiggrin:

[The Glyphstone]

Does it have a lot of competition on that front besides whatever the latest installment of Rocky was?

[Mindfreak]

This has got to be one of the best new films that I've seen this year. Before going to see it I thought it would be all robot fights with little plot but I was pleasantly surprised. I found the romance to come out of nowhere though and I was expecting that Atom would be one of those alive AIs. Like Johnny 5. But I liked it better that he hadn't turned out like that.
The game is also surprisingly good for a game based on a movie. It takes a regular boxing game and adds what I like best, the ability to break your opponent. Plus, it allows you to chain simple moves together to create devastating combos and you can use the special moves you see in the movie. Like Noisy Boy's Gravity Up-Town or Atom's Jumping Punch. Recovering from knock outs is challengingly difficult but not so much that it isn't fun. Plus you have to be careful with your moves and plan ahead or else your power core will deplete and you'll be open to attacks.
I gotta say, this movie really got the gears turning in my head and gave me tons of ideas.

[The Glyphstone]

Yeah, the inevitable video game tie-in could actually be a good fighting game.

It'll actually just be a weak Street Fighter clone with robots, of course, but it could be good.

[ThePhantasm]

Wasn't this movie originally called Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and they changed the title?

EDIT: Nevermind, this was based on a Matheson story. I had heard there was a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie coming out and somehow thought this was it...

[The Glyphstone]

Wasn't this movie originally called Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots and they changed the title?

EDIT: Nevermind, this was based on a Matheson story. I had heard there was a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie coming out and somehow thought this was it...

You're only half wrong - when this movie was announced to be coming out, everyone who hadn't heard about the Matheson story started making jokes about how it was Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots: The Movie.

[AtlanteanTroll]

I found the romance to come out of nowhere though and I was expecting that Atom would be one of those alive AIs. Like Johnny 5.
Romance with Hugh Jackman. Isn't this why half the audience went to go see the dang movie? :smallwink:

[The Glyphstone]

My issue with the romance was that the implied attraction between the two was at a complete dissonance with the dialogue - if the two basically grew up together in that gym, wouldn't that make them less likely to have feelings for each other, not more?

[CarpeGuitarrem]

Well, this movie certainly looked really dang cool, so I'm glad to hear it is.

[KillianHawkeye]

heavily flavored with product placement (seriously, Dr. Pepper was almost an uncredited title character)

I dunno, aside from the one scene where the kid stayed up all night tinkering and the next scene that showed what he accomplished, I didn't see any super obvious Dr Pepper shots.


My issue with the romance was that the implied attraction between the two was at a complete dissonance with the dialogue - if the two basically grew up together in that gym, wouldn't that make them less likely to have feelings for each other, not more?

I think we all know from Lost that the best way to screw up a romantic scene is to involve Evangeline Lily.

[The Glyphstone]

I dunno, aside from the one scene where the kid stayed up all night tinkering and the next scene that showed what he accomplished, I didn't see any super obvious Dr Pepper shots.



Wasn't it Dr. Pepper that Charlie kept giving the kid cans of to stay awake when they were driving on the road?

[KillianHawkeye]

No, I'm pretty sure it was an energy drink of some type. Possibly Red Bull, but I didn't see any clear shot of it.

I remember that the kid complained that his "heart was pounding" after first drinking it.

[The J Pizzel]

That was just some energy drink. The main product placement was Dr. Pepper during the programming scene and the HP logo on tons of the computer equipment around the final match.

I though it was a fun movie. Tropes and cliche's were everywhere, but it was still fun. The little kid was borderline annoying but they kept it in check. The love/hate relationship between the boy and dad was kind of jarring at first, but it settled a little bit after the found Atom. I didn't care about the actual romance, it seemed like it was just added as an afterthought.

Most obvious trope: Checkovs Gun - the old hillbilly in the first scene that he ran out on without paying. You knew he was coming back later.

I also enjoyed the foreshadowing when they talked about how when Jackmen fought that big fight early in his career (the one she had a clipping of) and the girl explained how he looked when he fought, then at the very end when the slow motion occurs and both the boy and lady see it in him again was really nice.

Lastly, the score. Danny Elfman's music was, once again, amazing.

Hey Glyphstone, what was the homage to the Twilight Zone episode? Anything do with the little boy asking Atom if he could understand him?

[Karoht]

So, I just got back from seeing this. I liked it.It was fun and clever, I thought.

Movie Bob put up a very solid review for it for anyone unconvinced. But ulimately it was highly entertaining. And the trailers don't even show off the best bits.

Took my ladyfriend with me. About 1/4 of the way through we were both demanding a sequel. Not that it needs one that is. It's actually very good as a stand alone story.

[Starbuck_II]

Saw this in October, loved it then.

The main dude was stupid sometimes in his actions in the beginning.
But I really liked ATOM.

I liked that the kid thought he was alive. I 1/2 expected it to actually gain true AI.

[Silverraptor]

Loved this movie myself. I was almost half disappointed that Zeus won narrowly, but it somehow makes it better.:smallbiggrin:

[The Glyphstone]

Hey Glyphstone, what was the homage to the Twilight Zone episode? Anything do with the little boy asking Atom if he could understand him?


In the original story, and the episode, the robots are much more humanoid androids. Right before the big fight, the boxer/trainer (named Steel here) discovers that his robot has blown a crucial part and can't fight. Rather than forfeit the match and his fee, he straps on enough robot parts to disguise himself as his own droid and actually fights the robot opponent.

The homage, in this case, was Charlie boxing-by-proxy against Zeus in the final rounds.

[KillianHawkeye]

Saw this in October, loved it then.

Umm... unless something has gone horribly wrong with my calendar... it's STILL October.... :smallconfused:

[The Glyphstone]

Umm... unless something has gone horribly wrong with my calendar... it's STILL October.... :smallconfused:

So as long as he saw it less than 24 days ago, he's still right. :)

[KillianHawkeye]

So as long as he saw it less than 24 days ago, he's still right. :)

It just seems like a weird thing to state, since the movie was released this month (Oct 7 according to imdb). There's literally no other month that he could have seen the movie at this point.

Plus he's speaking about October as if it were in the past tense, hence the confusion.

[Seerow]

I saw the movie weekend before last, and it was the best movie I've seen this year. Definitely worth the expense of actually seeing it in the theater. I was pleasantly surprised to see a good intermixing of plot and robot fighting (I figured we'd either get nonstop robot fights, or see the transformers route where it's all about the people and the robots show up once or twice in the movie), but instead it managed to pull off balancing the two in a satisfying way.

The big thing that got me was the energy the movie managed to infuse into the matches though. Like the whole theater was getting into the fights, there was cheering, clapping, booing, almost like we were all there actually watching these fights take place live rather than watching a movie. I've rarely been in a movie that evokes that kind of reaction from a crowd (excepting like midnight premier features where hardcore fans are falling over themselves to be the first to see it), and having those reactions around you makes the movie all the more engrossing.

[Starbuck_II]

It just seems like a weird thing to state, since the movie was released this month (Oct 7 according to imdb). There's literally no other month that he could have seen the movie at this point.

Plus he's speaking about October as if it were in the past tense, hence the confusion.

I live a week in the future sometimes. :smallbiggrin:

[KillianHawkeye]

I live a week in the future sometimes. :smallbiggrin:

Cool. So what are this weekend's Powerball numbers? :smallbiggrin: