Real Steel Directed by: Shawn Levy Starring: Hugh Jackman, Kevin Durand, Evangeline Lilly Rating: TBD Release Date: October 7, 2011
TRAILER SCORE: 5/10
MY THOUGHTS: The beginning of this trailer definitely held my interest; I liked the sights and sounds of the semi-futuristic world, and thought to myself, "this might be a good one," but that was only until the CGI Rock'Em Sock'Em robots showed up, dashing my hopes to smithereens. Hugh Jackman looks great, but it's hard to take him seriously amidst the goofy fighting robots. The whole idea has a piggyback/cash-in vibe to it, which makes sense ultimately, as it's coming in on the heels of financial supergiant Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen (the second highest grossing film of 2009, raking in over $400 million in domestic ticket sales).
I suppose this film might have some new wrinkles, but if it does, they're not terribly apparent in this trailer. I don't think I really saw one original idea on display, it all just felt like a rehash. Based on what I've seen so far, Real Steel look like a cross between Transformers and Cinderella Man, albeit with a heavy-duty dose of Transformers.
For the kind of film this looks to be, I think the trailer takes itself way too seriously. Director Shawn Levy is known for family films and comedies (Night at the Museum, Date Night), and he's good at such, so if Real Steel plays to its potential goofiness, and has a comical script, I could see it coming together into an A-OK filmic experience. But, the trailer has nothing in it really that would suggest any levity, any smiles -- in my estimation, it plays as straight-up serious.
The trailer climaxes with Jackman's cheesy cliche, "bring it!" -- by that point in time, I'd entirely lost interest.