Real Steel

Welcome to World Robot Boxing or How I Spent My Summer Vacation.

It's "Rocky" meets "Transformers" where real men like Hugh Jackman play "Rock'em Sock'em Robots" on a mega scale. Jackman is a washed-up fighter, an absentee father, and a bad bet who uses a custody battle to finance his next project. The son is adorable in a boy-and-his-dog type story line. Most will be attracted by the robot bashing bouts, but they will be sucker punched by the touching father/son bonding message. Kids who like robots and video games will love this steel-on-steel pounding action ride. Yes, parts are violent, but it's really cool bloodless robot violence. See how a junkyard G2 shadow-boxing sparring robot with a pint-size manager can advance from the no-holds-barred underground arenas to a "David and Goliath" match for the World Title. It's high-tech versus old school, but Alien won't divulge the outcome. "Real Steel" is the real deal, a big-time knockout with a heart. Audiences will be rooting for a "Real Steel II: The Return of Atom".


Alien gives it 3 ½ "The Little Bot That Could" stars out of 4.