Yes, I am recommending this movie and yes I am as surprised as anyone. However, if you can get past the silly concept and put your cynicism on hold, the first 3/4 of this movie are as good of a feel good film as anything I've seen in a while. It's a blatant Rocky with robots, and for the most part it works. There are just a couple moments in the final 1/4 that don't ring true that stall this from being just a great, great film. Considering how dumb I thought the trailer was, I can't believe how much I liked it. I liked it a lot.
The story: in the future, boxing match will be held with robots instead of people. Charlie (Hugh Jackman) was a boxer and now prowls the underground boxing circuit with his robot trying to make money and win. Except he keeps losing and ends up owing people a lot of money. Then he gets word an ex-girlfriend has died and Charlie now has custody of his son, whom he has never seen. However, the woman's sister wants custody of the boy instead so Charlie works out a deal with her husband -- $100,000 and he'll give up custody of the boy after looking after him for the summer. After his next robot gets killed in a match, Charlie goes looking in a junkyard and the boy finds an old model sparring robot. charlie helps fix it up and together them go on the underground robot fight circuit, with the boy believing in this old robot and Charlie desperate for money to keep his creditors away, until they work their way up and get a shot at a real title.
Was it good?
Yeah. The concept is silly and if you are cynical parts of this will be ridiculously stupid, but if you can put it aside it is just a fun, fun film with a great underdog story. From Charlie losing his robots and deep in dept to the boy who has become a pawn and who just wants something to believe in. The fight scenes were a little disappointing and the last one didn't work for me at all (is rope-a-dope really a good strategy for robots?), but overall it was just a good feel-good movie with a lot of heart and enough humor to make it a solid film.
*** RECOMMEND ***
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