Real Steel

IMDB

The finest works of art are seldom truly understood by the masses. Which is why there are movies like Real Steel for all the mediocre folks to gawk at, and the remaining “more evolved” people to admire and/or dismiss the particular craft of making awesome sci-fi flicks.

You are either a fan of this genre or someone who winces at the fans of this genre. Obviously the latter are just imbeciles though they are adept at arguing they are not. But anyway, the fact is that even such people are sure to be absorbed into the beautiful vortex of expertly done SFX backed by a sensible plot if only they let themselves be open enough to take in something new, something different. And Real Steel is a damn fine starting point for all such people.

Real Steel will not blow you away with its brilliance in the SFX or subtlety in the plot. But it will surely make you want to shout out supporting the hero in the final battle. It will make you want to applaud the son for his childish but very relevant outlook towards life. It will make you want to duck and throw a punch with the hero like any good boxing movie would (which is quite incredible since it is not humans who are boxing here). It will make you want to feel the triumph of the hero at the end. It will make you want to be a part of the story happening on the screen.

Establishing the central character is done without wasting much time. The hero is, well, the ideal filmy loser who doesn’t want to believe he deserves better. The son is the ideal filmy believer who thinks his father can still do things he is capable of even though he is scared to. And bridging these two is the fighter robot “ATOM” whom they find by a freak accident. Now, with all these inputs, it is not hard to imagine the rest of the story. But the journey of the father-son-robot trio absorbs you into the happenings and makes you really believe in the seemingly impossible undertaking of the son. Although there is nothing “Avatar-like” fantastic happening and it is just a plain story of a father finding love and attachment to his son and life, there are plenty of moments that tug at your heart and moments that pump some serious adrenaline. The job done by the director in punctuating the story with these moments is commendable.

Many of my colleagues/friends ridicule me for going to some movies alone. I neither argue with them nor present any justification for these lonely crusades. Some movies are best enjoyed alone. And Real Steel is the first sci-fi movie that I have enjoyed watching alone. Forgiving his past duds, I will be looking forward to Shawn Levy’s next directorial.