Steel (1997)

So much average

The best films of this genre always show a path and provide a takeaway for being a better person.

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

Steel has 2 on IMDb, 12% on RT and all reviews I came across are terribly bad. If I believed everything I read on net I would miss hour and a half of good entertainment. Movie sure isn't Oscar material, but to call it the worst movie of 1997 or the worst DC movie ever is very unfair. It has average story, typical for vigilante vs villain comic-book adaptation. References and one- liners are bit cheesy but in place for this kind of movie. Special effects are far from great, but decent enough for 90's. Actors and their performances, as everything else in this movie are totally OK, on level with better TV movies. The only real flaw of this movie is fact that O'Neal is bad actor, or more precisely, not actor at all. But at the other hand, he's not worse than Schwarzenegger, or Hulk Hogan, or Van Damme, and I don't see it's stopped them for making dozens of pretty successful movies. And however bad Shaquille might be, he has the cutest sidekick ever. Sparky stole the movie. I can not praise this movie cause it's really nothing special, bit it's not especially bad either. And it's surely is extremely entertaining.6/10

With all this madness about superheroes going on right now ("The Avengers" just opened today), I decided to go back in time to 1997, to the poorly received box office flop "Steel." I was 12 back in 1997, but I have to admit that I liked "Steel" then (I also liked the big-budget adaptation of another favorite superhero of mine, "Spawn").15 years later, a lot has changed. For one, I've grown up. I now realize that "Steel" is not a very good movie. I remember around that time, my cousin saw "Steel" in the theaters and told us that it was not a very good movie. The critics and most sensible audience members seemed to agree.But I digress; "Steel" is good for one thing and one thing only: a rainy day, like today. Since I'm not daring brave the over-crowded theaters for fear of being over-run by Avengers fan-boys (and fan-girls), I decided to pop in my 14-year-old VHS copy of "Steel" and relive 1997 like it was just 15 years ago (which, in fact, it was)."Steel" is the live-action adaptation of the second-tier DC Comics character co-created by Louise Simonson and Jon Bogdanove, with NBA star Shaquille O'Neal playing the titular steel-armored, non-super-powered superhero whose real name is John Henry Irons in his civilian identity.I'm not really a fan of the movie anymore (most readers will remember that I'm largely a Marvel Comics reader), but I find the history of the original comic book character to be quite fascinating: as yet another proud, positive black-American superhero in comics, John Henry Irons is a brilliant former weapons designer for a private arms-manufacturing company whose life is saved, both literally and metaphorically, by the mighty Man of Steel himself, Superman. Ironically, a later incident with the powerful super-villain Doomsday costs Superman his life, and Irons's life is changed forever when he decides to don a powered suit of armor of his own making - much like Marvel Comics' Tony Stark/Iron Man - and fight crime himself as Steel (with Superman's logo blazoned mightily on his chest as a reminder of his inspiration) and wielding a powerful sledgehammer, too.The 1997 live-action adaptation removes any mention of Superman (or his apparent death), except for a tattoo O'Neal has on his arm, and goes forward with its own origin story. Certain aspects of the movie are faithful to the comics, but the rest of it is pretty campy and just bloody awful. This time out, Irons is a weapons designer for the U.S. Army and when an ambitious rival, Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson), is involved in an accident that kills a U.S. senator and leaves his best friend Susan "Sparky" Sparks (Annabeth Gish) a paraplegic, Irons resigns from the military in disgust.Irons (whose name is reportedly inspired by the legendary black-American folk hero John Henry) returns to his home in Los Angeles, only to discover that street gangs are out committing brazen bank robberies using the exact same, albeit heavily modified, weapons he designed. With Sparky and Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree) by his side, Irons dons a custom-made suit of armor as the armored superhero Steel. As he dives deeper into his investigation, he discovers that his old rival Nathaniel Burke (who has since recruited young neighborhood street kids to do his bidding) is behind the robberies and the deadly new weapons out on the street."Steel" is pretty cheesy and campy, and I don't mean that in a good way.Unlike most people, I don't think Shaquille O'Neal is that lousy an actor. I think that if he were given the right material, he would manage out OK. At least here, I think he seems perfect for the part of John Henry Irons/Steel; it's just a shame that the rest of the movie, as written and directed by Kenneth Johnson ("V"), is just not very good. In other words, Shaq just needed a better movie. The special effects, the hokey street dialogue, and the performances don't help matters much either. Richard Roundtree and Irma P. Hall do what they can, but aren't given a whole lot to do beyond offering elder-generation advice to the younger folks. Judd Nelson relishes his role as a stereotypical villain, but it's really Annabeth Gish as the physically handicapped yet resilient gadgeteer Susan Sparks who really seems to shine the most in what could have been a very limiting part.I sense that a remake/reboot is, or soon probably will be, in the works sometime in the near future, and that is one "Steel" I just "may" (italicized) fork over $7.50 at my local movie theater to see. Until then, "Steel" will continue to mightily serve its purpose for rainy days (and some late-'90s nostalgia)...4/10

Uncle Joe: Well dip me in sh__t and roll me in breadcrumbs.Without question, 'Steel' is in the running for worst film ever made. However, it is a fun movie to watch to make fun of. You'll be laughing hysterically, but not as the filmmakers intended. Shaquille O'Neal's acting skills are kind of like Adolf Hitler's morals. They're seriously lacking. This movie does have some classic one liners like "Y'all stay cool now." a line Shaq delivers to a couple of old people he returns a stolen purse to, and my personal favorite, "Well, dip me in sh__t and roll me in breadcrumbs!". I highly recommend 'Steel' if you need a good laugh. I think I laughed harder during this than I did during 'Borat'. Grade: F

John Henry Irons is a weapons designer for the military who has been key in the development of a range of experimental weapons that immobilise enemy troops without any fatalities. However when Nat Burke tries to increase the power of the weapon during the test, the result sees a Senator dead and one of his colleagues disabled. The court martial sees Burke kicked out of the military and John decides his days of weapon design are over – returning to LA to work in a small steel mill. However when his weapons somehow make it into the hands of LA's criminal underworld, John decides that it is "on" and takes steps to counter the threat.Universally derided ever since it was even green lit for production, this film does have little to recommend it but still produces very basic distraction if that is what you want. The plot is obvious and goes just where you expect it to and it offers little for the discerning adult viewer (or to be honest the undemanding ones too). The action will please children but it is the wider delivery where it all falls down and, contrary to opinion, it is not all Shaq's fault. The script is clunky for the most part and has lots of injokes, most of which are embarrassing basketball references although, that said, the "Shaft" joke drew a laugh from me simply because it was so unexpected and so disrespectful to the film! This is very basic stuff though and nobody seems that interested in trying to make it more than that.Johnson is happy to deliver a kiddie-friendly superhero movie for the most part and this is all it seems to be. The cast have potential but too few of them have any decent material to work with. O'Neal can't act and that's the truth. He can play basketball and, given the riches this has given him we should not feel too sorry for him here. He says his lines and he stands where they tell him to stand but that is not the same as producing a character and being engaging – neither of which applies in this situation. Gish has little to do and Roundtree seems happy just to be a walking reference. Nelson hams it up in an obvious baddie while Harper, Hall and Ray J (!) are not the ones to address the lack of quality. The only person that I actually noted with interest was Kevin Grevioux, not because of his performance here but more because he is an interesting man who has built a small but varied career.Overall then this is a poor superhero movie but one that has had just about enough money spent on it to make it distract children and undemanding adults. The backlash against has been a bit overly cruel but it is still not any good with basic acting, basic script, basic plotting and action that only aspires to be colourful and noisy.