In the near future, two grown men knocking seven shades out of each other is no longer enough to entertain - boxing now takes place between giant robots.
After another luckless defeat, robot trainer and ex-'real boxing' contender Charlie Kenton's (Hugh Jackman) life is made all the more complicated by the arrival of his estranged son Max (Dakota Goyo).
On the search for the parts to construct a new fighter, Max unearths an old sparring bot. It's surely too lightweight to be a contender, but he manages to convince his dad to revive it back at the workshop. With training and love from the father and son team, can the unlikely competitor become ultimate champion?
DreamWorks weighs in with a picture that proves surprisingly resilient against low blows from its critics. Excuse the ridiculous foundation of the film, and you'll come across a heart-rending tale of parenthood and underdogs-against-the-world.
While Evangeline Lilly is crowbarred in as a love interest, credit must go largely to Jackman for managing to capture some human interest in what is essentially a CGI-fest piggy backing on the success of the Transformers franchise.
Director Shawn Levy doesn't quite crack the genre in his first foray into sci-fi, but with blots on his CV including Cheaper By The Dozen, this blend of Rocky Balboa and The Iron Giant can be considered a marked improvement.
Real Steel is a Film programme that first aired in 2011 and has been classified a 12 certificate.
