Minor spoilers ahead.

When I first heard about the premise of Real Steel, it made me think of another movie, 1990’s Robot Jox starring Gary Graham and Anne-Marie Johnson.  If you choose to go watch Robot Jox, I cannot refund your life wasted doing so.  It’s awful, and I worried that Real Steel’s only redeeming quality would be Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman.  I was wrong.  Real wrong.

Ex boxer turned robot boxer owner/operator, Charlie Kenton has his last robot destroyed and is deep in debt to the wrong people.  He goes to court to sign over parental responsibility for his eleven-year-old son, who he doesn’t know at all, to his ex girlfriend’s sister and her husband.  Charlie notices her husband’s gold watch and offers to sign over his parental rights for 75 thousand dollars.  Her husband says it’s a deal, but Max has to spend the summer with Max while they go on vacation.  Charlie agrees…for 100 thousand.

I’m not going to go through the entire plot of the movie, but Charlie redeems himself, and proves he’s really not a bad guy, just a good man down of his luck and hiding from his failings and mistakes.

This is the classic underdog story.  Okay, maybe Rocky was never so detestable as Charlie seems early on, but the comparison really does hold up.  You will cheer for Charlie, Max, and the underpowered robot Atom as they train and fight their way to the top.

Real Steel was awesome.  It has heart, is really well acted, and the robot effects are absolutely amazing.  One of the best movies I’ve seen this year.

I really hope this movie has a sequel, or more appropriately, a round 2.

Thanks for reading!