Heartless is a very grim fairy tale and I don’t mean the brothers Grimm. Ugly duckling Jamie has been plagued with large prominent birthmarks all over his body giving him low self esteem and lack of confidence to seek companionship. The birthmark on his face is heart shaped, caused by his dad when he kissed him on the head at birth (or so his dad told him). His main passion is photography and he spends his days frolicking about snapping pictures of rundown buildings and trash in east London. When he’s not doing that he’s being chased by demon molotov cocktail wielding gangsters. Yes, literal demons. Or are they? By the end of the movie I’m not so sure. Yes, it’s one of those movies.
I don’t mean that in a bad way, but Heartless definitely tries to juggle a lot on its plate. This isn’t necessarily a weakness as this movie does an amazing job playing off on sheer moodiness. The movie does have horror themes but it offers so much more, the majority of the movie is painted with such a dark grim picture of despair, with no peaceful or beneficial outcome in sight. “There is no God” and “Suffering is eternal” are along some of the numerous disparaging remarks uttered in the movie by various characters which bring the point home, but amidst this despair is always the faintest glimmer of beauty and hope.
There is hope for Jamie, as he somehow comes into contact with a strange character known as Papa B. Papa B has the power to take away Jamie’s much loathed birthmarks, but for a price. Why does Jamie make such a foolish deal with such a shady character who openly admits he exists to cause chaos? Yes, this can be seen as very stupid, but I looked at in a fairy tale context. Many dumb deals in fairy tales have been made out of pure desperation, and this case is no different.Papa B also has this weird Indian little girl following him around; her role in the movie is mainly to goad Jamie into committing acts of murder.
See, the terms for that skin treatment was Jamie has to bring Papa B a human heart at the doorstep to any church (heartless…get it?). There’s even a very well done scene of pure dark humor when an arms dealer working for Papa B assigns Jamie the weapon he has to use to cut the heart out with (which just so happens to be an old hunting knife of his father’s).And this is all in about the first less weird half of the movie.
I got to say this movie was a fun little trip. I found it pretty entertaining, even when things from a story point perspective didn’t fully mesh. I was mainly watching for the experience, and in the end it has a proper moral like all good fairy tales.
It’s nice for once to see a movie that I was excited about that didn’t turn out to be crap.When I saw the first trailer for Real Steel I got really excited, probably more excited than I should have been, but how am I supposed to feel about a movie based on Rock’em Sock’em Robots?I would encourage everyone to see this film and support it so I won’t go into a lot of plot detail but instead try to explain how this was executed.
This movie is based on a few sources.First, is the 1956 short story “Steel” mentioned in the opening credits of the film where the world of boxing is dominated by robots after human boxing is made illegal.An old boxer now pilots a boxing robot and is in financial trouble and can’t find the money to fix his aging robot.This is the basic premise of both the short story and the movie.While I’m not a fan of short stories converted into movies, but when your source material is also a Twilight Zone episode you know you’re dealing with winning material.Second, the bulk of the boxing storyline is heavily based on Rocky.The unprofessional boxer fighting the world champion for a shot at the title has been used in many stories but in this instance the references to Rocky are clear.The champion bot’s name is Zeus, one step above the Greek god Apollo, the champion in Rocky, and the final boxing sequence is actually an exact replay of the final fight from Rocky IV.
With these two sources we have a setup and an ending but no plot in-between.The bulk of the film is not about where this mysterious robot came from or robot rights or Hugh Jackman making his big comeback.The story is about a son getting his father back and the whole robot boxing setup is just a plot devise to facilitate their interactions.
The film was directed by Shawn Levy whose work I’m not a big fan of, however I know that he can do good work because he did Night at the Museum.The real production star was screenplay writer John Gatins whose screenwriter filmography to this point has included only films that tell interpersonal stories against the backdrop of a sports theme like Dreamer and Hardball.In my experience the strengths and weaknesses of a screenwriter are rarely taken into account when they are hired but in this instance Gatins was the perfect man for the job.
As of writing this sentence Real Steel is getting rave reviews which I support but don’t entirely agree with.Half way through I felt like something was missing and I suspect that there was a lot left on the cutting room floor to make this film work.There are so many characters and unanswered questions both about character and robot origins and also about the world the story is set in.How did such an amazing robot end up in a junk yard, is anyone going to come claiming ownership, the robot seems like he might he sentient, is he, what about all that money Hugh Jackman’s character owes to people, are they going to come looking for him now that he’s famous, is it legal for an eleven year old to own a 1000 pound giant killer robot?You can see there was a little left out.But while this movie leaves a thousand unanswered questions, it did not distract the viewers from the central themes of the movie by answering a single one and starting a subplot that would interrupt the overarching story.
The characters in this film were well cast and well written.If this was an action movie as it was advertised casting wouldn’t have been as important but as it turns out dialog was incredibly important and the actors had to show a wide range of convincing emotions.I was especially impressed with Dakota Goyo who played the son.Uncharacteristically for child actors he actually portrayed an eleven year old at age eleven.He pulls off both tough backtalk and cute little kid perfectly, and this is important because he’s the main character.
What’s that you say?The only person on the cover is Hugh Jackman.The only credited actor on the poster is Hugh Jackman.How can I say Goyo is the main character?While Rango was an adult movie marketed to kids, this was a kids movie marketed to adults.This was a family film that was marketed as a violent action film and it is already proven to have hurt attendance numbers.The entire movie is about Goyo finally getting the father he always wanted and at the same time having a father son bonding experience through their robot boxing adventures.Jackman’s character is only there because while a small child can own a killer robot, sadly he still can’t drive, and the plot demands an adult to drive the kid and his robot to fights.The fatherhood theme is also evident from the very beginning as the young girls from the beginning of the movie are actually the director’s daughters.
For those who take a more careful look at this movie they will see many references to sports movies, Rocky was mentioned; The Best of Times has a few similarities.There are more than a few references to the previously mentioned Rock’em Sock’em Robots like upper cuts that knock off heads and controlling robots with joysticks.They also did a wonderful job creating the prober atmosphere emphasizing both the corporatized product placement of professional sports and the flashy and mechanical savvy world of street racing.Director Shawn Levy has been quoted on his attention to detail in this film especially with regard to the near future setting saying, “The cell-phone we used five or ten years ago looks different from today, but a diner still looks like a diner."And for the techies in the crowd the visuals were amazing with near seamless transitions between models and CGI.I would like to point out that that John Rosengrant was credited in the opening credits for animatronics.That this one guy half way down the list of special effects guys in the ending credits gets recognition up there with the stars, producers, and director at the beginning should tell you something about the effects.
I don’t pretend this movie is perfect because it isn’t, but it’s one of the most fun and energizing movies to come out in a long time, especially for kids.Every kid from the audience I was in was clapping and cheering with the boxing crowds in the movie.I’m a little disappointed that there is already a sequel in the works because this movie is so good on its own, but I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it.This movie is well worth my $7.50 and I would watch it again in a heartbeat.I recommend this movie for everyone.
