Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on December 2011

In a world where human boxers have been outlawed and replaced by robotic pugilists, a former boxer (Hugh Jackman) and his young son (Dakota Goyo) stake their future together on a rusty hulk they find in a junkyard. You may find it odd, considering the transgressions of the Transformers travesties, to hear me recommend a movie about boxing robots. But I found myself enjoying this one, maybe because it deftly combines Sylvester Stallone’s tried-and-true Rocky underdog sports formula with the equally tested estranged-father-and-son trope. It’s got heart, and its beautifully choreographed battling-‘bot sequences are way easier to follow than those meaningless TF set pieces. Yes, there’s a bit of manipulation and cliché, but I liked it that the robots are just robots, designed to do one thing: batter other robots into scrap metal. They are not overly anthropomorphized, they don’t talk, they are not cute, they don’t spout pop cultural references, and, perhaps again taking a clue from the Italian Stallion, they are emotion-free. Sorry. At one point in the finale where Jackman is giving his embattled bucket of bolts a pep talk, the kid deadpans, “Dad, you’re talking to a robot.” Priceless.