If you’re one of those boxing fans who watched the Pacquiao vs Marquez fight today, then you would also probably enjoy this movie.  Instead of real life fight between two men, this fight is between two robots programmed to give it all without anybody getting hurt, except probably the losing robot’s handler’s pride.

Real Steel is based on the short story “Steel” written by Richard Matheson in 1956.  The story was staged in the year 2020, where human boxing is obsolete and were replaced by robots.  Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman) is a former boxer who travels around the robotic boxing circuit with his robot, Ambush.  At a rural fair, Ambush was set to fight against Black Thunder, who happens to be a bull.  After making a bet of $20,000 against the promoter, Ricky, Ambush was ambushed by Black Thunder and ultimately destroyed after a moment of cockiness by its handler.  Charlie ran away but not before he was informed that his ex-girlfriend passed away and left him with his eleven year old son, Max (Dakota Goyo).

Broke and with no robot, he headed to court to initially hand over the custody of Max to his aunt Debra (Hope Davis) and uncle Marvin (James Rebhorn).  Upon seeing the rich Marvin, he made a deal with him for $100,000 for the full custody of his son.  With an initial amount of $50,000 handed to him, he was able to purchase a former robotic boxing champ, Noisy Boy.  Heading out with Max to an illegal boxing circuit run by his friend Finn (Anthony Mackie), he demanded to fight against the headliner Midas.  As he was overconfident with Noisy Boy’s capabilities but without learning the manual on how to control the robot, Midas thoroughly trounced Noisy Boy and left him without a functioning robot once more.

On their way back to his friend Bailey (Evangeline Lilly), they stopped over a junkyard to loot some parts or robot to build.  After Max’s harrowing slide, Charlie left Max digging out the robot which “saved” him.  Charlie did not believe in the robot, Atom, as he thinks is too old.  However, after being patched up and gone through a small fight and won, Charlie slowly warmed over the robot with Max’s help.  They gained popularity by being the kid who danced with the robot before the fight and winning against better opponents.  When they were invited to a league match against Twin Cities, they were noticed by the group who handles the undefeated league champion, Zeus.  They gave an offer of $200,000 for the robot which Max instantly turned down.  They won the fight against Twin Cities and Max confidently challenged Zeus’ camp to have both of them fight in the near future. 

The fight happened and on they went looking like David against Goliath.  The odds are against them but after 5 rounds of boxing, Atom trounced Zeus but lost due to the judges decision.  Even though they loss, Atom became known as the “People’s Champion”.

Verdict: 4 out of 5.  Mainly the only thing that is 2020 are the robots.  The rest are still 1990s.  Also, I was a bit turned off by the overconfidence of both Max and Charlie.

Pacquiao vs Marquez Match

So, should I compare the match of Atom vs Zeus to Pacquiao vs Marquez? I didn’t really watched it but Pacquiao is the Zeus in this match while Marquez is Atom.  After 12 rounds of boxing, the judges decided that Pacquiao won the match.  Mixed reactions were seen on Facebook and people were actually saying that there should be a rematch or it should be a draw.  In any case, it was a good fight, win or lose they gave their all.  If you think your bet should win, then he already won because you believed in him and he did his best.