A review of the 10/10 Robot Fighting Spectacle | Teen Ink

A review of the 10/10 Robot Fighting Spectacle

May 26, 2023
By RaiyanL BRONZE, Flushing, New York
RaiyanL BRONZE, Flushing, New York
1 article 0 photos 0 comments

The movie Real Steel was released on October 7, 2011 with the main actors starring the movie being; Hugh Jackman as Charlie Kenton, Dakota Goyo as Max Kenton, Evangeline Lilly as Bailey Tallet, Anthony Mackie as Finn, Kevin Durand as Ricky Hope, and Davis as Aunt Debra. The Filmmakers are; Director: Shawn Levy, Producers: Don Murphy, Susan Montford, Shawn Levy, Screenplay: John Gatins, Music: Danny Elfman, Cinematography: Mauro Fiore. The film budget was 110 million dollars made by Dreamworks Pictures. 

Real Steel is a futuristic boxing movie where high-tech colossal robots fight each other in a ring. Former boxer Charlie Kenton, portrayed by Hugh Jackman, finds himself at the bottom of the robot boxing sport, struggling to make a living. Charlie teams up with his son Max, played by Dakota Goyo. They find a scrapped sparring robot, which they build and train to become a Robot Boxing Champion! Atom, the name of the robot, possesses an extremely rare, one-of-a-kind skill: the ability to learn and adapt. The former boxer, Charlie, teaches the robot how to fight through shadow boxing to create the ultimate challenger for the World Champion, The Ruler of The Ring, Zeus! The story starts by introducing a futuristic world where humans no longer box and have been replaced with colossal robots battling in a huge ring. Charlie Kenton who is a former boxer who couldn't succeed in the new era of boxing is faced with financial issues and losing his fighting career. The plot starts to pick up when Charlie reunites with his son Max where they find an extremely outdated and beat-up sparring robot named Atom in a junkyard. They train and upgrade him as they battle through stronger opponents and win more money. The 3 of them evolve together through training, fights, and overall character development. The most exciting part is at the end where Charlie, Max, and Atom face their toughest opponent. This fight tests the growth of all 3 of the characters and the robot boxing world in general. Atom has to battle against Zeus, the world champion. The ultimate test of their skills left a lasting impact on both the characters' lives and the lives of all people watching the world champion fight.

The movie Real Steel uses dialogue and characters as their main creative elements. The dialogue in the movie captures the emotional struggles and journeys of each of the characters. Charlie and his son Max go through a drastic change in their relationship as both father-to-son and best friends. The dialogue effectively conveys the competitive nature of the sport of boxing, even though it isn't human boxing. The writing has a perfect balance of emotional moments, humor, and intensity; which all enhances the engagement with the plot but also how realistic it is to the real-life sport of boxing, and martial arts in general. The characters in the movie are also very relatable with each of them having their own distinct personalities and their own unique struggles. Charlie is a charismatic protagonist but undergoes a personality transformation, he becomes a loving, compassionate, and responsible father figure. Max has an extreme sense of optimism and determination, his optimism and dream are tested multiple times throughout the story as we watch his journey of growth. Atom adds depth to both of the characters in the story by being their extension and their support to achieving their dream, but also challenging them to beat mental barriers such as being negative about him being a sparring robot. Real Steel can be seen as original art and scenario, however, it does take inspiration from other martial arts underdog stories such as the famous one “The Karate Kid”. 

The emotional journey that this movie takes you on is one of a kind. The dynamic between Charlie and Max is a very important part of the film, the growth between father and son on a test of perseverance and determination throughout the story has you rooting for them every fight. The character's personalities and their growth are very relatable and realistic, making the characters in this movie very likable. Last but definitely not least, the visually stunning robot battles, the movie uses CGI and motion capture technology to bring these huge colossal robots to life, creating entertaining robot fights that I haven’t seen in other movies to this day. The detail and design of each and every robot and their fights show off the talent of the people working on this film, and it really is an important part in complementing this film's unique story. Overall this movie is a 10/10 for me and definitely in my top 5 movies of all time. Real Steel and the makers of the film were extremely successful in achieving an entertaining, and emotionally engaging film. The film combines sports, sci-fi, family, action, and story, to create a very unique and entertaining movie. The motion picture is effective in showing off important themes such as perseverance, optimism, determination, and family bonds. The characters and dialogue in the film enhance all the themes listed to create an entertaining and dramatic movie. The visuals of the movie successfully complement the creative elements, themes, and enjoyment of the robot fighting sport. Overall the makers of this film successfully fulfilled their purpose in creating a 10/10 movie in all categories, and the numbers definitely agree as they spent 110 million dollars on the movie but were to make 300 million dollars.


The author's comments:

My name is Raiyan Lakhrach and I’m graduating from a small school in flushing called East West School of International studies this June. I am committed to a school in Connecticut named University of Hartford, and I am majoring in Business. I wrote this review because more people need to watch this unique robot fighting movie and I feel like this review will help.


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