I am excited to let everyone know that Real Steel will be released on Blu-ray and DVD on January 24, 2012. I have been anxiously waiting for it’s release ever since I had the opportunity to see the film back in September. My family didn’t have the opportunity to see the movie, but they knew all about it. It was nice to finally sit down with them Friday night and watch Real Steel.
In case you haven’t seen the movie yet, here is a brief synopsis of the film.
Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) was a boxer with a promising career. He probably wouldn’t make a champion, but he sure knew how to give some of the world’s best fighters a run for their money.
The sport of human boxing took a dramatic turn. Spectators wanted to see more carnage. That is when the underground robot boxing groups came into the mainstream, pushing human boxers out of the limelight. People no longer wanted to pay to see two men fight each other. They could see that at the local pub. Instead they wanted to see huge, foreboding robots fight each other to the death.
Once human boxing disappeared Charlie was left with nothing. His only means of income was promoting robot boxers made out of scrap metal the pieced together. He was down on his luck and out of money. To add to the mix he learns that his ex-girlfriend had past away leaving him to deal with his estranged son, Max (Dakota Goyo).
Charlie had no interest in Max, but he did have interest in Max’s Aunt Debra’s wealthy husband’s (Marvin) money. Unbeknown to Aunt Debra, Charlie and Marvin struck a deal. Charlie would take Max for the summer, allowing Marvin and Debra to go to Italy, and return Max to them at the end of August for a price – $50,000 up front and $50,000 when he returns Max. Marvin agreed.
Charlie and Max do not get along too well. Charlie is used to being on his own, and Max is an 11 year old trying to come to gripes with the loss of his mother and the fact that his biological father “sold” him to his Aunt and Uncle.
Charlie takes the money he received from Marvin to purchase a robot, Noisy Boy, in hopes of making money. That plan didn’t work out too well and Charlie was forced to find another robot.
One night when Charlie and Max were stealing robot parts from the dump, Max finds an out of date robot buried in the mud. Charlie thinks that the robot is junk, where as Max seems much more.
With the help of Max, and his found robot Atom, Charlie embarks on a once in a life time opportunity to reclaim some of the glory from his earlier years. At the same time Charlie and Max are given a second chance of building a relationship.
To find out more you’ll have to pick up a copy of Real Steel.
Here is the movie’s trailer for your enjoyment.
I LOVED this movie. When I first heard about it I honestly thought it was going to be Rock ‘em Sock ‘em Robots meets the Transformers. It was nothing like that. It’s not a robot movie either (although the robots in the movie are awesome!). This is more about a father and a son trying to build a relationship from nothing.
It goes without saying that Hugh Jackman made for wonderful “eye candy” 
and he was the perfect choice for the part of Charlie. The real scene stealer is Dakota Goyo. That young man is AMAZING! He was THE PERFECT choice for the part of Max. I have a feeling we’ll be seeing a lot more of that young man in the years to come.
The robots were cool to watch. The movie has a kick-butt soundtrack too.
You have to check out the bonus features when you see the movie. You MUST watch Countdown to the Fight: The Charlie Kenton Story. This feature gives you the background story for Charlie. It tells you about his horrible childhood and his promising boxing career. Hugh Jackman and the other cast members are in their Real Steel characters for this clip. I found it very interesting. It takes the movie to another level knowing Charlie’s story.
I always love to see deleted scenes. It makes me wonder how different the movie would have been if they were kept in. There was some deleted scenes from the beginning of the film which I think they made the choice deleting them from the film. I think they seem to drag a bit.
There is another series of deleted scenes based on a sub-plot in the story regarding Max and butterflies. Most of the scenes I would have kept out of the film too, but there is a scene where Charlie and Max are roughed up and robbed and Max is worried about a butterfly his mom gave him. Thankfully Charlie had it. He also gave Max insight into why the butterfly was important to his mom.
There are bloopers as well as some interesting bonus material with boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard.
Real Steel also has the Second Screen option. Second Screen extends the film experience with interactive content that you can control including photo galleries, flipbooks puzzles, behind the scenes material and more. The application is available for iPad and your computer.
Here is a brief video clip that shows you some of the Second Screen material for Bambi. If you are reading this post via e-mail you can see the video by CLICKING HERE, or by visiting my site.
I was SO LUCKY to attend the press junket for Real Steel in Hollywood back in September. Here are some other movie related posts you might find interesting. Simply click on the subject line/title to be taken to that page.
Chatting with Hugh Jackman - Hugh talks about Real Steel and more.
Chatting with Sugar Ray Leonard - Sugar Ray was the Boxing Choreographer for the film.
My original movie review for Real Steel - A more in-depth review.
I had the chance to meet Atom and Noisy Boy, two of the robots that were used in the film. They were HUGE!
ou can find more about the movie at www.StealGetsReal.com, and on Facebook, www.Facebook.com/RealSteelMovie. The movie is even on Twitter, www.Twitter.com/RealSteelMovie.
Kimberly
*I received a free screener copy in order to do this review. There was no compensation. The opinions expressed are my own.
I can not wait to see this. We debated whether or not to do a special movie day with our eight year old son. In the end we never made it, but now we have to watch it on DVD.