Real Steel (2011)

In the near future, robot boxing is a top sport. A struggling promoter feels he's found a champion in a discarded robot.

Director:

Shawn Levy

Writers:

John Gatins (screenplay), Dan Gilroy (story)

Stars:

Hugh Jackman, Evangeline Lilly, Dakota Goyo

Nominated for 1 Oscar. Another 2 wins & 5 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Hugh Jackman	...	Charlie Kenton
Dakota Goyo	...	Max Kenton
Evangeline Lilly	...	Bailey Tallet
Anthony Mackie	...	Finn
Kevin Durand	...	Ricky
Hope Davis	...	Aunt Debra
James Rebhorn	...	Marvin
Karl Yune	...	Tak Mashido
Olga Fonda	...	Farra Lemkova
John Gatins	...	Kingpin
Sophie Levy	...	Big Sister
Tess Levy	...	Little Sister
Charlie Levy	...	Littlest Sister
Gregory Sims	...	Bill Panner
Torey Adkins	...	Large Texan Man

Storyline

In the near future when people become uninterested in boxing and similar sports, a new sport is created - Robot boxing wherein robots battle each other while being controlled by someone. Charlie Kenton, a former boxer who's trying to make it in the new sport, not only doesn't do well, he is very deeply in the red. When he learns that his ex, mother of his son Max, dies, he goes to figure out what to do with him. His ex's sister wants to take him in but Charlie has first say in the matter. Charlie asks her husband for money so he can buy a new Robot in exchange for turning Max over to them. He takes Max for the summer. And Max improves his control of his robot. But when the robot is destroyed, they go to a scrap yard to get parts. Max finds an old generation robot named Atom and restores him. Max wants Atom to fight but Charlie tells him he won't last a round. However, Atom wins. And it isn't long before Atom is getting major bouts. Max gets Charlie to teach Atom how to fight, and the ...

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Plot Keywords:

robot | boxing | robot battle | arena | boxing movie | 

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Taglines:

Champions aren't born. They're made.

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Genres:

Action | Drama | Family | Sci-Fi | Sport

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for some violence, intense action and brief language

Details

Official Sites:

DreamWorks [Canada] (French) DreamWorks [United States]

Country:

USA India

Language:

English Ukrainian

Release Date:

7 October 2011 (USA)

Also Known As:

Real Steel: The IMAX Experience

Filming Locations:

Yankee Air Museum

Box Office

Budget:

$110,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$27,319,677, 9 October 2011, Wide Release

Gross USA:

$85,468,508

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$299,268,508

Company Credits

Production Co:

DreamWorks,Touchstone Pictures,Reliance Entertainment

Technical Specs

Runtime:

127 min

Sound Mix:

SDDS Dolby Digital Datasat

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

There are multiple robots in the film that are unnamed. They are as follows:

• The three robots in Crash Palace (in the order they're shown) are Albino, Bluebot and Aquabot.
• The two robots Zeus is shown destroying before his fight with Axel Rod are Danger Zone and Gridlock.
• The two robots Atom is shown fighting in the montage that lead to him being offered the Twin Cities fight are Six Shooter and Blacktop.
• And the robot Zeus fights on the same night as the Atom/Twin Cities fight is Blac Jac.

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Goofs

Throughout the film, Atom's shadow function switches back and forth between mirror and mimic for no apparent reason or command from Charlie or Max. It appears to have no difference except that it is apparent the shadow function goes mirror as the robot and the person are face to face and mimic when the robot is observing the human who's not looking at him.

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Quotes

Max Kenton: His name is Atom. Can we get him a fight?
Charlie Kenton: I don't think he was ever a boxing robot.
Bailey Tallet: He's a G2, built in early 2014. He's a sparring bot.
Charlie Kenton: They must have built robots like this one that could mirror the fighting style of any other robot.
Max Kenton: Okay, so can we get him a fight?
Charlie Kenton: Are you not listening? He's a sparring bot. Built to take a lot of hits, but never dishing out any real punishment.
Bailey Tallet: You can always try sell him off for parts.
Max Kenton: Can't you get him a fight?
Charlie Kenton: "Why can't you get him a fight?" God, you ...
[...]

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Connections

Spoofed in Baal Veer: The Boxing Match (2014)

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Soundtracks

Torture
Written by Jay Buchanan
Performed by Rival Sons
Courtesy of Rival Sons Ltd.

User Reviews

Great movie, good story. Who doesn't like fighting robots??

We saw an advanced screening on Sept 22. I thought it was going to be another one of those cheesy, campy, not really believable, warm fuzzy, type of underdog/rags to riches movies. I was actually surprised. It had some great plot twists, it had a real story line. And while yes, there is some language sprinkled throughout, it did make a good family movie for older kids, 10+ (my opinion). The ending wasn't quite what I was expecting, but looking back I think I liked it better for that. Who wants an ending they can see coming the entire movie?

It had some great comedy moments. The relationships between the actors felt genuine and not overdone or forced.

The robot animatronics was good. The robots themselves were fun and imaginative and definitely made me wish we really had this sport. I would so be there!