Director Shawn Levy 's' Rocky V Robot Wars 'film looks fabulous technology - but it will push all the right boy' own buttons? Watch the first round of shots here

We 're almost two thirds of the way until 2011 and so far it' s been, if not exactly a vintage, a surprisingly decent for fanboy fare. While there 's something really thought-provoking (eg 2009' s District 9 or in the last year \ my buttons, providing a better price's inception), there were many films that all have the right boy \ been pushed "entertainment than any would have expected: I 'm thinking (especially) source code, Thor, Captain America and Rise of the Planet of the Apes The first looked like Duncan Jones \.'s foray into director-for-hire area, but turned out to be pleasing strange, eerie thriller with a classic Hitchcockian edge, a terrific cast and surprising heart be. The next pair did all that celebrated two of Marvel 's fewer properties can be expected, and this was one very silly, but intensely watchable update the long-running intelligent apes saga. Now, as we head into it in the fall, let \ hope's that our luck holds out, because Real Steel is another of those movies that on paper Flops but when you actually see images of the thing looks surprisingly decent.

The basic idea here is Rocky V Robot Wars, starring Hugh Jackman as a retired, down-on-his-luck ex-prizefighter who decides to build and train a machine to take the popular robot boxing championships. A featurette has just been released to go to the Jackman and cooperation in the background of the story, although I 'm not sure if it really takes a lot to explain. It 'sa strong whiff of two-player "beat-em-up" video game on the battle scenes, with all the colorful fists gave hunks of metal in the competition for the crowd' s attention as a kind of techno Tekken. This is the kind of movie that would be Arnold Schwarzenegger in 2011, what if he were 30 years younger: Jackman in his absence is probably the best available substitute.

Do we really need another movie about giant fighting robots after the execrable Transformers: Dark of the Moon? Probably not, but at least on this occasion the combatants have the good sense to keep their mouths closed. Michael Bay has taught us that giant robots only know how to speak in irritatingly faux-portentous soundbytes, so this is presumably a blessing. It's probably more of a concern that the director here is Shawn Levy, he of the Night of the Museum films, Cheaper by the Dozen and . oh Lord have mercy . the Steve Martin Pink Panther remake. Is this really the guy to add those little touches of class and insight which will make the film stand out?

Real Steel 1950 has decent sci-fi credentials, based on the Richard Matheson story of steel in 1956. The U.S. writer wrote the book I Am Legend, which was the basis of the three films, the Will Smith version of the 2007 Vincent Price horror The Last Man on Earth by 1964, and Charlton Heston vehicle The Omega Man in 1971. Levy has said that typically Mathesonesque dystopian setting of steel is cut out and replaced it with a hotter "Americana" feel that better suits the film 's emphasis on a father (Jackman) re-bond with his estranged son. This doesn 't exactly good - why is it that Hollywood seems to always play so desperately, to the prosaic, "Universal' aspects of a story, if such a ham-fisted tinkering usually only reduce their impact? At least we 're probably spared the grisly old battle vet cliche to be here (I' m thinking of the lovely Burgess Meredith in Rocky) since Jackman 's character in part that fits the glove, but you get the impression that Levy nor can a couple of hokey stereotypes up your sleeves.

On the positive side, Real Steel looks technically fabulous, and I 'm love set the imagination and attention to detail in the design of the various robots. If 2011 is a year of no-brainer semi-brilliance, it might just be worth it, hope that Levy can deliver a well realized popcorn movie (such as one that 's just kitschy contrast). Real Steel comes out in theaters in the U.S. on 7 October and the UK a week later. It can punch above their weight this year 's schedule, or you expect to be prostrate laid the film on the screen before the first round?