Real Steel

Released: 2011
Drama, Action
Director: Shawn Levy
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly
Running Time: 127 minutes
Rated: PG-13

The breakdown:   A down on his luck father finds out his baby mama's died and he has rights to the child if he wants him.  Set in the future, robots fight instead of humans in the boxing ring and the father needs cash really bad.

A small time robot fighter/promoter finds out his son's mother just died and he has to get to court so he can sign off his rights to the boy's aunt, who really does want the child.  He sees him as a burden and has had nothing to do with his son since he was born.  The father's career is not doing well and he owes a lot of people, a lot of money.  He makes a deal with the aunt's husband to "sell" his rights to them for $100,000.  The deal is set and the father will have to put up with the kid just over the summer while the aunt and husband are off on vacation in another country.  The husband gives the father $50,000 up front and promises the rest of the money will be delivered when the boy is handed over to them at the end of the summer.

In the meantime, the father buys a new robot and immediately gets it trashed in the ring against a stronger opponent.  The kid and father break into a junk yard and the boy salvages an old long forgotten about robot fighter that's very out dated.  The boy develops an attachment to the robot and cleans him up to get him ready to fight.  The father knows this robot is old and is really only good for shadow boxing, not actually fighting.  The boy and father end up bonding over getting this robot ready to fight and it starts to win battles.

I won't tell you the rest, even though, the story is very predictable, if you do want to see it.  Fortunately for the ladies there is the required shot of Jackman with his shirt off and he still looks incredible.  Personally, that was the best thing about the movie, but it's not the worst movie I've ever seen either.  Like a lot of other movies I've seen lately, this one just falls into the mediocre category.  They're just making too many movies these days and anything on screen will do for most production companies it seems.

I give it 2 out of 5 for a shirtless shot of Jackman and some good special effects with cool looking robots.  I should mention this is also based on a short story called "Steel" by none other than the amazing Richard Matheson.