Tomatometer Watch : Real Steel

Once a week (I'm thinking every Wednesday), I will be posting a Tomatometer Watch for one film opening that weekend. I am a big fan of what Rotten Tomatoes does and I'd like to share that enthusiasm with all of you on a regular basis, so here is this week's watch:

"The human body can only take so much, but the steel never stops."

This week, as the title indicates, I am most interested in Real Steel. Don't make fun of me. For anyone who had a Rock Em Sock Em Robots or can't turn Sunday afternoon showings of even the worst of Rocky movies (III and V), there has to be some part of you that is thinking, "Shit, I kind of want this to be good." For the rest of you, maybe you're a Lost fan like me and you can look forward to seeing Evangeline Lilly at the multiplex sometime before the first Hobbit premieres. Perhaps, like me, you understand that, for better or for worse, Hugh Jackman has been known to show up in some good movies from time to time. The Prestige, anyone? As lame as it may sound, I also have to admit that I'm always ready for some melodramatic father/son bonding, not to mention I have an acute inability to stay away from sentimental sports movies. Throw in some science fiction and I'm almost beside myself.

Now let's look at the bad. Hugh Jackman was in Wolverine. Of course he would be but I still haven't forgiven him for that debacle. I'd also like to note that Evangeline Lilly can sure pull off annoying like it comes natural to her. Most people might say that Shawn Levy directing is the worst news, and I can understand that for a number of reasons. He did direct a movie starring Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy.  If one were to look at his credits though, they may notice that his films seem to be getting better (especially if you flip the first Museum with the second). Date Night was fine and I read that he landed the directing chair for Fox's upcoming adaptation of Frankenstein. All the same, this is a Disney movie with a director who is known for family films and those facts may fail to excite some of us.

As of now, the film sits at 65% on the Tomatometer (or, for the uninitiated, 65% of all the critics you have seen it gave it some sort of positive review). There are only twenty reviews right now, so we'll have to see how the film does over the next day and a half. This is just the kind of movie critics generally don't like. When a film couples heavy sentimentality and heavy effects, it kind of stacks the deck against garnering favorable reviews. Of course, this isn't a rule, but truth as I've experienced it. I do have to say there are plenty of good movies critics don't like. It's all subjective and we all know that. I am hoping that this is a movie I enjoy despite my prediction of an underwhelming reaction from critics. 

     

If you'd like to check up on the score, head over to Real Steel on Rotten Tomatoes.