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Today has been a confusing day, but an enjoyable one because I caught Real Steel with some old classmates.
I originally hadn't wanted to watch it because the trailers were all about the robot fighting, but what the trailers didn't tell me was that this show has a lot of heart. It's a show about the underdog, robot or human, making it good. It's about a father and son bonding, relationships being repaired all over the place. It's about the juxtaposition of old and modern America and finding places between the two. It's a simple story with a lot of potential.
The story is simple enough that even though I missed the first 10 minutes of the show, it was still easy enough to catch on. Don't mistake that to mean that the movie has throwaway scenes; it just means that the movie understands what it is about. Every scene has a direction, and tells you clearly where it was coming from. That's a lot more than what I can say about movies nowadays.
The characters were awesome too. Hugh Jackman made the main character, Charlie, super-likeable. He's still an a-hole, but at least he's redeemable. He reminds me of Dean Winchester in the earlier SPN seasons - broken, just a touch wry about it, and with a soft gooey centre. And getting to watch Hugh Jackman box... *fans self*
The other main character, Max, is someone that I can actually believe is a kid. He geeks out. He drinks too much Dr Pepper and gets high. He takes a robot for walks. He dances. He's not put on a pedestal to be an angelic figure - when he finds out Charlie got money for taking him for a few months, he demanded a cut. Why not? he's never really seen Charlie as his dad, and Max mostly calls him Charlie throughout the show.
That's another thing I liked about the show. Although there was some yelling about Max being too young to know anything, he was allowed to make his own decisions. And the show had him being proven mostly right about them. That's so rare. I love it.
The women could have been portrayed better, but they could have been a lot worse. Bailey Tallet is a woman in love, but at least she knows when to push back. And it's touching how Charlie uses her as a living touchstone to kick him back onto the right path. Plus I love love love how well Evangeline Lilly brought her to life - it would have been easy for her to make the character overwrought, but she avoided that. Amazing.
Also let it be stated for the record that it's my personal canon that Farra Lemcova the rich Russian lady built Zeus, one of the robots on the show. Tak Mashido's just there to pilot the thing. It's like how F1 drivers don't build their own cars. =)
Talking about robots! The animation of the robots is really amazing. I'm a Transformer fan and I had nothing to complain about how the robots moved here. And the way each robot moved played into their programming. Not to mention I love how fluidly Atom, the main robot, moved. Made his training (by humans!) and fighting a very cool thing to watch. More importantly, the robot showboating didn't overshadow the show, it added to it. How rare is that!
To top it all off, the scenery in the show was luscious. Rodeos, open roads, brightly lit stadiums, wrestling rings - they were all amazing. It was also a very cool juxtaposition of the dusty roads and the restless spirit against the shiny technology and urbanisation.
In conclusion: there are just so many things to love about the show. Don't let the trailers trick you!
I originally hadn't wanted to watch it because the trailers were all about the robot fighting, but what the trailers didn't tell me was that this show has a lot of heart. It's a show about the underdog, robot or human, making it good. It's about a father and son bonding, relationships being repaired all over the place. It's about the juxtaposition of old and modern America and finding places between the two. It's a simple story with a lot of potential.
The story is simple enough that even though I missed the first 10 minutes of the show, it was still easy enough to catch on. Don't mistake that to mean that the movie has throwaway scenes; it just means that the movie understands what it is about. Every scene has a direction, and tells you clearly where it was coming from. That's a lot more than what I can say about movies nowadays.
The characters were awesome too. Hugh Jackman made the main character, Charlie, super-likeable. He's still an a-hole, but at least he's redeemable. He reminds me of Dean Winchester in the earlier SPN seasons - broken, just a touch wry about it, and with a soft gooey centre. And getting to watch Hugh Jackman box... *fans self*
The other main character, Max, is someone that I can actually believe is a kid. He geeks out. He drinks too much Dr Pepper and gets high. He takes a robot for walks. He dances. He's not put on a pedestal to be an angelic figure - when he finds out Charlie got money for taking him for a few months, he demanded a cut. Why not? he's never really seen Charlie as his dad, and Max mostly calls him Charlie throughout the show.
That's another thing I liked about the show. Although there was some yelling about Max being too young to know anything, he was allowed to make his own decisions. And the show had him being proven mostly right about them. That's so rare. I love it.
The women could have been portrayed better, but they could have been a lot worse. Bailey Tallet is a woman in love, but at least she knows when to push back. And it's touching how Charlie uses her as a living touchstone to kick him back onto the right path. Plus I love love love how well Evangeline Lilly brought her to life - it would have been easy for her to make the character overwrought, but she avoided that. Amazing.
Also let it be stated for the record that it's my personal canon that Farra Lemcova the rich Russian lady built Zeus, one of the robots on the show. Tak Mashido's just there to pilot the thing. It's like how F1 drivers don't build their own cars. =)
Talking about robots! The animation of the robots is really amazing. I'm a Transformer fan and I had nothing to complain about how the robots moved here. And the way each robot moved played into their programming. Not to mention I love how fluidly Atom, the main robot, moved. Made his training (by humans!) and fighting a very cool thing to watch. More importantly, the robot showboating didn't overshadow the show, it added to it. How rare is that!
To top it all off, the scenery in the show was luscious. Rodeos, open roads, brightly lit stadiums, wrestling rings - they were all amazing. It was also a very cool juxtaposition of the dusty roads and the restless spirit against the shiny technology and urbanisation.
In conclusion: there are just so many things to love about the show. Don't let the trailers trick you!
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