Real Steel

This is a confused movie. It’s quite evident that the director couldn’t make his mind up as to the demographic he was targeting. I mean, you see the trailer, and it looks like Rocky meets Transformers. Then you troop in to watch the movie, your expectations higher than Jay and Silent Bob put together after a marathon session and you get weird sentimental moments over a robot. There are boyfriend-girlfriend moments, father-son moments, boy-robot moments and more boy-robot moments. Emotional moments over a bloody robot. And one that can’t even think for itself, like the ones in Transformers. Beat that.

Someone should’ve told the director that Hugh Jackman shirtless is all it takes to bring the ladies in. As Twilight proved, they're not particularly fussy about the kind of movies they watch. :) He didn’t have to generously sprinkle what is essentially a feel good underdog action movie with unnecessary emotional moments. And they come at all the wrong times. They come when a fight is lost, when a fight is won, when there has been no fight- in short, like the gigaloop, they come at all the inappropriate moments.

Nevertheless, the movie is worth a watch. The robots look good, the fight sequences are well-shot, there are enough moments of fond nostalgia for Rocky fans who have whole-heartedly embraced CGI but refuse to leave behind their upbringing, including a particularly adrenaline-rush inducing homage to Rocky’s taunt to Ivan Drago in Rocky IV. Which is fitting, considering that the owner of the big bad robot is a Russian. There are also enough moments of robots bashing robots for those souls unfortunate enough not to have watched Rocky (and I include all of today’s kids in that).

And, most importantly, the movie made me crave for a time when I can make a robot fight for me. And isn’t that what good movies are supposed to do? Aren’t they supposed to either make you wish that you were a part of the movie or make you thankful that you weren’t a part of them? To lift your emotions or to make you cringe at what you see? 

On that count of not inspiring indifference in me, I award it a 6.5 out of 10. Which means, while it may not qualify as a real steal, it's enough of a steal to warrant hauling your ass up to Malad for a 11 p.m. show.