'Real Steel' pits robots in fights for glory, but sci-fi has a long list of memorable fight scenes and brawls

By Jeff Michael Vice
Special to MSN Movies

All we ask is that there's some actual fighting in this robot movie! We don't know about you, but we were let down at least a tad by Michael Bay's "Transformers" films, which didn't deliver on their promise of robot-on-robot action nearly often enough. OK, that sounds a little bad. We just wanted to see Autobots and Decepticons actually fighting, and less of the dopey human intrigue and such.

And that's why we've got some hopes for "Real Steel." Director Shawn Levy's new science-fiction/action film stars Hugh Jackman as a former boxer who "coaches," or controls, mechanical fighters participating in a robot-boxing circuit. And it is based, albeit loosely, on a Richard Matheson short story that became a beloved "Twilight Zone" episode (1963's "Steel").

Bing: Check out showtimes and more for 'Real Steel'

The first few looks at the film brought back fond memories of the old Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots game, though recent trailers have played up the estranged father-son relationship. We'd be fine with it being a sci-fi version of "The Champ," as long as the filmmakers give us some solid action as well.

By the way, science-fiction cinema has a long-standing tradition of featuring terrific throw-downs, fight and brawls. Here's our list of some of the more memorable ones, including a couple of recent films as well as those from a couple of comic-book-related movies.

('Real Steel'/Walt Disney Studios)