Watching a movie with the full D-Box experience can be an expensive investment in your entertainment. Not only do you have to pay our high movie ticket prices, but some theaters will charge you almost double for the D-Box seat, and sometimes you have to tack more money on for 3D. For that reason, we’re reviewing every D-Box theatrical release from this point forward.
This month: Real Steel
Real Steel is designed from the ground up to be a crowd pleaser. It’s a come back tale, a sports movie, a romance and a father son film… what’s not to love? When Real Steel opens we’re introduced to a drunk Charlie Kenton (Hugh Jackman). Charlie is an ex boxer and is currently the owner and operator of a beat up robot named Ambush. Charlie is so down on his luck that he can’t even manage to get Ambush a fight against another robot, instead Ambush is pitted up against a bull twice his weight. Yes that’s right. In the first act of Real Steel you will see a giant two ton robot punch a bull square in the face and it is AWESOME.
It isn’t long before Charlie learns that his ex girlfriend has died and left him his son, Max (Dakota Goyo). Max has never spent time with Charlie and obviously resents him for the years of neglect. Forces of greed push Charlie and Max together on a father son road trip where Charlie will fight his robot in under ground arenas only to lose and bring him to the breaking point. It’s then that ATOM, a sparring robot is brought into the lives of Charlie and Max and together they bond over repairing it, training it, and bringing it to fights.
It’s clear where this movie is going to go from the start and if you’ve seen a trailer you know what this movie is about. Yes at it’s core it’s Rock’em Sock’em Robots, but there’s nothing wrong with that. This is a movie full of great fights, great thrills and despite being completely pedestrian in nature, is just a lot of fun. If you judge a movie based on what it tries to do, then this movie scores in trying to entertain. You’re not going to get a deep story, but you’re going to get what you expect and you’re going to get that done at an incredibly high level.
The robots are the sci-fi driven stars of the film. They have flare, personality and character. The special effects are so good that it’s hard to distinguish when the robot is a puppet and when it’s CGI. It’s a really great blend that brings a lot of life to these machines. The special effects help create a realistic world that’s just a little over a decade in the future and because of that it’s incredibly grounded. Nothing in the film looks completely outlandish or out of place, rather it all looks like a natural progression of current technology.
The D-Box motion code for Real Steel is pretty great. There’s a lot of motion in the film with driving, fighting and robots dancing around. Yes there are also dancing robots and when the chair moves with them to the beat, it’s a fun moment. You’ll feel a lot of punches, throws, and impacts through the seat, but there isn’t a real sense of motion. There are two types of films when it comes to motion code and some are the movement simulating thrill rides like Tron Legacy, Fast Five, or Inception. In those films you’ll feel like you’re moving with the characters on screen and it works. Then there are films that have a more impact driven feel like Real Steel, Resident Evil: After Life or Harry Potter. These films give you the sense of weight, force and jolting sensations that the characters are feeling, but lack the sense of fluidity.
Real Steel isn’t a bad motion code film. It’s actually rather good. There’s a lot going on and in some cases it can really jar you in a great way, but far too often there’s simply nothing for the chair to do. There’s a moment in the movie when after a fight we’re told that it was barely a minute and a half long. Basically you’re getting two minutes of strong movement and then more nothing.
What I’m trying to say is that this is an incredibly well crafted code, but not a particularly exhilarating code. You’re going to feel the force of a nitrus powered piston fist driving into your chest, but you’re going to feel that over and over. It’s a little repetitive.
Real Steel is still a great popcorn flick without the motion code. Really it’s up to you if you want to feel the punches or not. I’m glad I did spend the extra eight dollars to do it, but I’d have enjoy the film either way.
