I’m gonna admit it. This movie caught me off guard. The only reason I watched it was because it’s science fiction and I like Hugh Jackman, but I really thought the whole premise was a joke. Basically the classic rock’em sock’em robots game, right?

Wrong.

The movie had a LOT of heart. It was basically Rocky (which I love, by the way – all six of ’em). Literally. The story line totally mirrored it, but in this futuristic world where humans control robot boxers that are able to battle it out to the brutal end in the ring. What caught me so off guard, even though I knew it had to go this way, was just how much it had my heart beating in the final moments of the film, and even finding myself emotional in a few moments.

Besides the whole Rocky thing going on with the robot, I also enjoyed the whole father/son story that played out between Hugh Jackman’s character and the child he had abandoned at birth who was now temporarily with him.

Cheesy? Maybe. But it was still surprisingly good. And probably one of the cleanest PG-13 films I’ve seen in a while. I would totally watch it again.