Ever since Director Stuart Gordon brought “Robot Jox’’ to the screen back in 1990, I’ve always thought that a movie about robot boxers was a great idea. After all, one of my favorite games growing up was Rock EM Sock EM Robots. “Robot Jox” certainly owed something to the old Mattel game and probably drew upon “mecha” from Japanese anime as well. Those ideas have been given big budget treatment in Shawn Levy’s new film “Real Steel” set to hit theaters this October.
And the film looks pretty good featuring an impressive cast led by Hugh Jackman. In “Steel,” Jackman plays Charlie Kenton, a former professional boxer turned robot-boxing promoter. When Kenton falls on hard times, his estranged 11 year-old son thinks he can help. The boy finds an older robot that is identified as Adam or Atom in the trailer. Kenton is skeptical that the smaller sparing robot can compete, but based on what I can tell from the second trailer now available online, the underdog just might have some special skills in the ring even against larger formidable opponents. I seem to remember that a similar theme ran through “Astro Boy” that was adapted pretty well back in 2009, only to flop at the box office.
Director Shawn Levy (“Night at the Museum” and others) has a pretty good track record. His last movie “Date Night” made very good money, almost $100 million domestically, and was a funny action packed adventure. “Real Steel” will be a departure from Levy’s comedy roots and feels more like a science fiction event film that could capture the “Transformers” crowd. And it looks a lot more family-friendly than the last “Transformers” sequel that contained base sexual content I found completely out of place and unnecessary. “Real Steal” goes wide on October 7, 2011.
Hugh Jackman rocks! He’ll bring in the ladies. The robots will bring in the men.