Real Steel

"Courage is stronger than steel."

2011 2h 7m EN

👍

7.2

SOLID

🍅

60%

FRESH

😬

METACRITIC

⭐

7.1

IMDB

★7.2TMDB · 9,612🍅60%Rotten Tomatoes●56Metacritic★7.1IMDB · 378,495

ActionScience FictionDrama

Synopsis

Spoiler shield

Charlie Kenton is a washed-up fighter who retired from the ring when robots took over the sport. After his robot is trashed, he reluctantly teams up with his estranged son to rebuild and train an unlikely contender.

“Courage is stronger than steel.”

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Cast

Hugh Jackman
Charlie Kenton
Dakota Goyo
Max Kenton
Evangeline Lilly
Bailey Tallet
Kevin Durand
Ricky
Anthony Mackie
Finn
Hope Davis
Aunt Debra
James Rebhorn
Marvin
Karl Yune
Tak Mashido

Credits

Behind the camera

Director: Shawn Levy
Writers: Dan Gilroy, Jeremy Leven, John Gatins
Languages: English
Countries: United States of America, India

Want more? Switch to Cinephile mode in the header for DP, composer, budget, box office, production companies, keywords, and release history.

Did you know?

Fun facts 🍿

1 / 8

MONEY

Did you know

$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.

MoodPlayr · trivia#01

2 / 8

ERA

Did you know

Released 15 years ago.

MoodPlayr · trivia#02

3 / 8

WORLD

Did you know

International production across 2 countries: United States of America, India.

MoodPlayr · trivia#03

4 / 8

CAST

Did you know

333+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.

MoodPlayr · trivia#04

5 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Directed by Shawn Levy, shot by Mauro Fiore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.

MoodPlayr · trivia#05

6 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.

MoodPlayr · trivia#06

7 / 8

DIRECTOR

Did you know

Editor Dean Zimmerman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.

MoodPlayr · trivia#07

8 / 8

CAST

Did you know

Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo and Evangeline Lilly carry the top of the cast.

MoodPlayr · trivia#08

Cinephile deep dive

The take

Shawn Levy directs. Mauro Fiore behind the camera. Danny Elfman scores. Dean Zimmerman cuts. Profitable at the box office. Produced in United States of America, India. Dialogue in English.

Trivia

Things worth knowing

1$110M budget — tentpole studio territory.
2Released 15 years ago.
3International production across 2 countries: United States of America, India.
4333+ people credited in cast and crew — a small city's worth of labour.
5Directed by Shawn Levy, shot by Mauro Fiore. Note their partnership — DPs and directors often return to each other across a career.
6Original score by Danny Elfman. Worth a dedicated listen after — most great films lose half their impact without the score.
7Editor Dean Zimmerman shaped the rhythm. On an edit-heavy film, the editor does more to control your pulse than the director.
8Hugh Jackman and Dakota Goyo and Evangeline Lilly carry the top of the cast.
9Marketing tagline: "Courage is stronger than steel.".
10IMDB entry: tt0433035 — still the authoritative cross-reference for credits and trivia.
11Classified under 11 themes, including "future", "sports", "parent child relationship", "fight".
12Released under 14 different titles around the world.

The technical file

Cinematography: Mauro Fiore
Original score: Danny Elfman
Editing: Dean Zimmerman
Production design: Tom Meyer
Costume design: Marlene Stewart
Makeup / hair: Ann Masterson
VFX supervisor: Erik Nash
Sound: Craig Henighan
Stunt coordinator: Garrett Warren
Runtime: 127 min · 2h 7m
Aspect ratio (typical): 1.37:1 (Academy)
Status: Released
Budget: $110,000,000
Box office: $299,300,000
Return: 272% of budget
Original language: EN
Certification (US): PG-13
IMDB: Real Steel (2011)
Rotten Tomatoes: 60% 🍅 Fresh
Metacritic: 56/100
IMDB rating: 7.1/10 · 378,495 votes
MPAA: PG-13

Awards

Nominated for 1 Oscar. 2 wins & 6 nominations total

Also by

Shawn Levy

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Trailers & featurettes

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Community reviews

What people are saying

John Chard2019-08-01
★ 7/10
No splitting this Atom, it has got a rock solid heart. Real Steel is directed by Shawn Levy and collectively adapted to the screen by John Gatins, Dan Gilroy and Jeremy Leven from a Richard Matheson short story called Steel. It stars Hugh Jackman, Dakota Goyo, Evangeline Lilly, Anthony Mackie, Kevin Durand, Hope Davis and James Rebhorn. Music is scored by Danny Elfman and cinematography by Mauro Fiore. Set in the near future, robot boxing is a big crowd pulling sport. After a struggling robot operator is introduced to an 11-year-old son he has never known, they stumble upon a discarded robot at a junk yard.... We can all moan about the mimicry of an idea and the clichés that dominate Real Steel, but you really got to hand it to the makers for what they have achieved. They have crafted a family film that's very much perfect in this day and age. The story is one that any adult Sylvester Stallone fan can acknowledge and appreciate, the human heartbeat pleasingly steady, while the premise of big colourful robots beating the crap out of each other delights youngsters and us adults who are still young at heart. Film pretty much does what any other film of this type does, lays on the syrup in the last quarter where second chances and family strife come thundering through the plotting. Undeniably it's hugely derivative, events are joystick operated to get an emotional response from a family audience, while product placement reins and the script often sags under the weight of unoriginality. But it does uplift the spirit and getting to the end is easy since it's so much berserker fun. Yes it's the robot Atom, the people's champion, yes it's David vS Goliath and yes! It's Balboa vS Creed. Nothing wrong with that really. The cast don't really have to offer up much beyond being adequate within the context of the material, though a muscular Jackman finds good paternal chemistry with young Goyo. In fact Goyo is pleasingly not annoying, always a bonus is that. Inevitably the robots are the stars, they're a triumph of design and visual effects and a sight for sore eyes, while Levy has a good handle on staging the fight sequences - even when cribbing from Balboa. The near future look is terrific as well, with Fiore's colour photography very appealing. Coining in over $290 million at the worldwide box office (over £180 million in profit), Real Steel found the family audience it was looking for, proving once again that there is a market for simple and effective popcorn carnage. It's not high art or intelligently scripted, but was anyone seriously thinking that was going to be the case here? If you want brains with this premise then seek out Twilight Zone episode "Steel", starring the excellent Lee Marvin, otherwise just sit back and enjoy the ride and let the botty bots and human interest raise the pulse and gladden the heart respectively. 7/10 Home format release is a sparkling print, extras are annoyingly short but the blooper reel is fun, we get a stunt deconstruction, and we learn about the influence a certain Mr. Spielberg had on the production.
Gimly2020-05-19
★ 3/10
I wonder if this was originally written to be a Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots movie, but when they couldn't get the rights they just decided to make it anyway. In either case, it's not very good. Amazing that you could take a movie about anthropomorphic robots and manage to still make it into a cliche sports film. Final rating:★½: - Boring/disappointing. Avoid where possible.