This past weekend I was out in Los Angeles to attend a press junket for the movie Real Steel which opens in theaters on October 7, 2011. Some people might think press junkets are boring. NO WAY! Not me. I think it’s fascinating to hear straight from the people who were involved in the film. It’s so fascinating to me to hear about all the behind the scenes stuff and interesting tid bits from the set. I won’t like, meeting people like Hugh Jackman, Sugar Ray Leonard and director Shawn Levy (Night at the Museum I & II, Date Night…) is fantastic too.
FYI… Hugh Jackman is just as dreamy in person as he is on screen. 🙂
To be honest with you my first impressions of Real Steel, prior to seeing the movie, is that it was a cross between Rock ’em Sock ’em Robots and Transformers, with Hugh Jackman in tight shirts tossed into the mix to appeal to women. I am happy to say that I was severly WRONG. Real Steel is NOTHING like I thought it would be.
Here is the movie’s trailer.
Real Steel stars Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, a down on his luck former boxer who travels across the country with boxing robots hoping to score some winning bets. Charlie had a promising boxing career, that is until boxing as we know it transformed into robot boxing. People no longer wanted to see two men in the ring fighting it out. They would rather watch high tech robots dueling it out in the ring instead.
Charlie can’t seem to catch a break. He finds himself working with junk yard robots that never seem to last much longer then a few fights. He also owes a lot of money from bad beats to a few people who wouldn’t think twice about beating Charlie within an inch of his life to retrive their money.
At a road side carnival where Charlie’s latest attempt to make some cash fails he learns that his former girlfriend was killed in an accident and he is needed at the court house right away in order to take care of the custody of the young son he had with his ex-girlfriend.
Charlie care barely take care of himself yet alone a young boy. Especially since he has no relationship with his son Max, played by the very impressive Dakota Goyo (Thor, Resurrecting the Champ...). Charlie was prepared to sign over full custody to his ex-girlfriend’s sister until he realized her could make some money in the deal. He stoops so low as to sell his son off to his ex-girlfriend’s sister’s very rich older husband. The deal was that Charlie would get $50,000 upfront (enough to purchase a robot he really wanted) and an additional $50,000 when the boy was returned to them by the end of the summer.
Charlie had no intention of having any kind of relationship with Max. He hasn’t up to this point in his life, so why bother starting now. Charlie’s game plan was to drop Max off with his long time friend, Bailey (played by Evangeline Lilly of the series Lost and the Hurt Locker). But Max has other plans. He wants to join Charlie on the road with his Robot, Noisy Boy. Max happens to be a huge fan of robot boxing. Charlie has no choice but to bring Max with him.
After Charlie looses yet another robot he takes Max to a junk yard to find piece to create a new robot. While they are there Max comes across an older robot, fully in tact. The robot actually saved his life (I won’t give that part of the story away). Charlie wants no part of this older robot, so Max takes him to be his own. The robot is named Atom.
Charlie and Max soon learn that Atom is not an ordinary robot. He’s got something special about him. He might be smaller then other robots on the circut, but this little guy can pack a punch.
Can Atom help Charlie repair his relationship with Max? Will Charlie ever find redemption? Will he ever be ablet o pay off his debts before it’s too late? To learn the answers to these questions you’ll need to go see Real Steel in theaters October 7, 2011.
I can tell you that my initial thoughts about the movie (before I saw it) were way off. The movie was NOTHING like I expected. I thought it was going to be nothing but robots fighting. There is plenty of awesome robot action, but the movie is so much MORE then that. It tugged at my heart strings. I felt tears welling up in my eyes on a few occasions, both because I was sad and because I was over joyed.
Real Steel stars Hugh Jackman. After meeting him in person I can tell you that he’s one of the nicest people I’ve ever met. He ALWAYS smiles! The whole time he was talking to our press group he never did not have a smile on his face. I will post about the Hugh Jackman interview in the next few days.
Ladies… Hugh Jackman in tight shirts and bulging muscles. Need I say more? 😉
Dakota Goyo who plays the part of Max is an amazing young actor. I was VERY impressed by him. He really stole the show as far as I’m concerned (yes, even more so then Hugh’s pectoral muscles – ha ha). He did a fantantic job in this film. That young man is going places. I can see he’s going to be making many films after Real Steel. If you have ever seen the movie The Champ with Ricky Shroeder, he puts Ricky to shame!
Believe it or not there is actually some romance in the movie too. Not a lot but just enough to leave your heart all a flutter.
This movie had it all… action, romance, humor, excitement, Hugh Jackman in tight shirts ( 🙂 ), and some awesome robots who kick some serious butt.
The robot fighting scenese were incredible. Boxing legend Sugar Ray Leonard choreographed the fighting scenes as well as taught Hugh how to box for this movie. The robots and the boxing are sure to draw in the boys and men. I’m not a fan of boxing but I found myself totally into the boxing matches in the movie. The robots you see in the movie are sometimes actual robots that were built especially for the movie, and other times they are computer generated. Sugar Ray Leonard choreographed all the boxing sequences so they are completely realistic and believable.
I love robots. I’m a geek. I admit it. Geeks are cool!
The music really adds to the film too. I find that soundtracks are equally as important to movies as all the other aspects. This movie has one heck of an awesome soundtrack. I was surprised to find songs by Eminem, Limp Bizkit, Timbaland, 50 Cent, Beastie Boys and Foo Fighters in the movie. The movie is over flowing with high energy songs that really enhance the fighting scenes. My 12 and 14 year old LOVE the soundtrack. I also have the soundtrack on my iPod and computer. In fact I’m listening to it as I type this.
I think men and women alike will enjoy this film. The whole family will find something about the film they really connect with. I can’t wait for my kids to see the movie, as well as my husband. I would caution that the robot fighting scenes might be a bit too intense for young children. There is also an incident where Hugh Jackman gets roughed up, as well as his son. There is also some bad language in the movie, but sadly it’s no more then most kids hear on the school bus. There is no nudity (sadly Hugh only takes his shirt off once – ha ha). The romance is only consumated with a simple kiss.
Hugh took his kids to see the movie and his youngest is 4. Sugar Ray’s young children saw the movie too. Personally I would think ages 8 and up might be better suited for this movie. I’m sure parents know their kids well and will know if something is not appropriate for their younger children. If this movie came out when my daughter was 4 or 5 I know she would be perfectly fine with this film. My son at that age wouldn’t be (it would have been too intense for him). My daughter liked the move The Mummy when she was 3. Not much phases her. Ha Ha.
Throughout the next week or so I will be posting our interview with Hugh Jackman, Sugar Ray Leonard, director Shawn Levy and many more interesting interviews and information about the movie.
This is one seriously awesome movie and I can’t wait for my readers to see it.
Do you plan on seeing Real Steel? If so I would love to hear from you, especially after you’ve had a chance to see the movie too.
If you’d like to follow the movie or learn more please visit the following pages.
www.Facebook.com/RealSteelMovie
www.Twitter.com/RealSteelMovie
Kimberly
*I was not compensated for this post. I was a guest of Walt Disney Studios and shown an advanced screening of the film. All opinions are entirely my own.
LexiLouWho! says
Oh! I actually wanted to see this movie when I saw the trailer originally… seemed like something I could take my son to see that we would both like. Now I *really* want to see it! 🙂 (Hugh is just a HUGE added bonus for me!)
Xenia @ Thanks, Mail Carrier says
I have to admit that I wasn’t thinking this sounded at all like a movie I would want to see (a tad too macho for me)… but now that I’ve read your review I just might have to put it on my list! Thanks for the great post!
Lee says
Kim this is such an action packed review! I can’t stress enough to people to go see this movie!
Lee
Melissa says
Such a great review!
Kelley says
I don’t know if I want to see the movie in theatres or not, BUT you got to meet HUGH JACKMAN!!!! YAY!!!!!!!! He’s the handsomest and kindest of the Hollywood hunks by all accounts, and he can act too. I’m so envious. sigh . . . . can you hear my fangirl heart all a flutter?
Kacebelle says
Hugh Jackman! :::drool::: Thanks for the review! Can’t wait to check it out!
criss says
thaks for a great review!! I will see this movie I love hugh jackman ; )
criss says
and by the way you should sent this review to rotten tomatos!!