Hugh Jackman is a fantastic actor who has chosen his roles pretty well up to this point. Until Real Steel. A movie about robots smashing each other in the face. Think Rocky with metal-jawed giants. And Jackman plays the Mickey character, training a fighter up.
Jackman recently spoke to Access Hollywood about Real Steel, revealing:
“This is the first time they’ve really connected with one of my films. I don’t let them watch ‘X-Men’. Most of the time they don’t really ask me much about my job. They come on set, but it’s just dad, it’s normal. This is the first time they were like, ‘We love this!’ And they wanna take their friends. They have all the action figures. My son sleeps with Adam the robot.”
“I read this script for the first time with my son… I was like being a bad parent and instead of reading ‘Tintin,’ I read ‘Real Steel’ and my son made me read it to him for the next 10 nights. So, I knew we were on to a winner then.”
A winner, really? I saw the trailer for Real Steel a few weeks ago, and I have to say it was one of the worst trailers I have ever seen. It was just horrible. There wasn’t one moment that made me think, “Yes, I have to see this film.”
I know it’s for kids and all that, but so are the Pixar films, Harry Potter, and The Golden Compass. And yet they contained elements I could enjoy. Real Steel doesn’t.
Perhaps this quote from Jackman provides the answer. This is a film for kids that can also be enjoyed by parents. As I’m not a doting father Real Steel clearly wasn’t made with me in mind. No. It was made with Jackman’s son in mind. Which could work, I guess.
