Real Steel Review

 I watched Real Steel to try and get a feel for Shawn Levy’s directorial style before Starfighter comes out. Also I’ve had this one on my personal watchlist for a while. Throughout the over two hour runtime, I never felt like the film dragged.  Adapting a Richard Matheson story to the screen isn’t always easy (see What Dreams May Come and I Am Legend) but screenwriter John Gatins infuses the action with enough heart to keep things moving. While the story owes much to 1979’s The Champ, the relationship between Hugh Jackman’s washed up boxer/roboboxer and his estranged son genuinely moved me. 

With both Spielberg and Zemekis as executive producers and backed up by the combined powerhouses of Amblin and Disney, I’m surprised that this film didn’t do better.  I vaguely remember that the marketing wasn’t especially memorable. Certainly not enough to get butts in theater seats. The robot effects are on par with Bay’s Transformers and coming out around the same time as the third installment, this film might have suffered from robot fatigue. While the film doesn’t set itself up for a sequel, it would’ve been cool to see a Rocky II style rematch between the two main robots. 

Alien Series Special Editions

 I have owned the Alien Quadrilogy/Ripley saga on multiple formats (VHS, DVD, Blu-ray) for decades and have never been motivated to pop in Alien 3. It was probably the disappointment of having watched it during the original theatrical run that soured me on a rewatch. The release of the Assembly Cut on HBO/Max combined with the knowledge of what an incredible Director Fincher became, led me to give this berated film another try. Coming in at thirty minutes longer than the studio butchered theatrical version, the Assembly Cut gives the characters more time to develop and the set designs to shine. The bleakness of penal colony planet has given way to a striking world clearly inspired by the German Expressionism of Fritz Lang’s Metropolis and even David Lynch’s DUNE. Some great decisions were made in this version, including showing Ripley’s sacrificial fall omitting the chest buster.  Whereas the cast is a Who’s Who of British acting royalty, the standout characters are Charles S. Dutton and obviously the incredible Sigourney Weaver during the peak of her career. 

Alien 3 benefits from the contrast effect of lesser films later in the series with the exception of Alien: Covenant and Alien: Romulus. Alien Resurrection and AVP are pure 90’s cheese which stray far from the signature bleakness and hopelessness of the first three films. The Assembly Cut isn’t perfect with some pacing problems and mismatched score cues, but provides a degree of redemption for a much maligned entry in the Alien universe.

For Alien Resurrection I caught the extended cut on HBO Max, and honestly, I don’t remember enough about the theatrical version to say if it’s an improvement. Critical consensus says no. This one is a guilty pleasure. Sure the swimming CGI alien is wonky, but Ripley as a kick-butt Alien Terminator? Yes, please!