Steel (1997)

• Year: 1997
• Released: 15 Aug 1997
• Country: United States
• Adwords: 1 nomination
• IMDb: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0120207/
• Rotten Tomatoes: https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/steel
• Metacritics: https://www.metacritic.com/movie/steel
• Available in: 720p, 1080p,
• Language: English
• MPA Rating: PG-13
• Genre: Action, Adventure, Crime
• Runtime: 97 min
• Writer: Louise Simonson, Jon Bogdanove, Kenneth Johnson
• Director: Kenneth Johnson
• Cast: Shaquille O’Neal, Annabeth Gish, Judd Nelson
• Keywords: los angeles, california, superhero, soldier, dc comics, military,

	2.9/10
	28/100
	20% – Audience

Steel Storyline

John Henry Irons is a weapons designer for the United States military. However, when his project to create weapons that harmlessly neutralise soldiers is put to the shelf, he decides to resign in disgust, only to discover that criminal gangs are using the same weapons that he helped manufacture on the street. Bent on righting a wrong, Irons uses his resources, and his Uncle Joe’s equipment in his junk yard, to fight back against the man who has been selling them to those gangs: Nathaniel Burke. Now, John creates an alter ego, the super-hero known as “Steel”, to combat evil. To do so, he forges an impenetrable suit of armour, and wages war on crime. Who can stop the massive metal hero?

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Steel Movie Reviews

I don’t know whether to laugh or cry

Oh man, I don’t believe this. Perhaps with the exception of “Barb Wire”, I don’t think I have watched anything that comes anywhere near this. When I come to think of it, “Barb Wire” is actually better than this, because I could laugh while watching it. This film is so bad it reaches a certain quality of lousiness only reserved for the very worst of bad ideas. I mean – Shaquille O’Niell in a steel suit with a super weapon made from the contents of a lost-and-found at the scrap yard? Please!

Sort of like “Iron Man” meets “Sanford and Son”.

“Steel” is, by accounts, a bad movie. It’s IMDB score is currently an appalling 2.8 and it was on IMDB’s infamous Bottom 100 List until recently. Why is it no longer on the list? Well, the new standards say that a movie must have 10,000 votes to be eligible for this list of worst-rated films…and “Steel” is 103 votes shy…meaning it may just be on the list in the near future if it can get more votes….and would rest about #22 on the list. And, incidentally, Shaquille O’Neal was nominated for the worst actor Razzie for this performance. So why did I watch it? I have a weird passion…to see all 100 on the list…because many are simply hilarious and aren’t intended to be! So is “Steel” as bad as its score would indicate? No. Now it is NOT a good film….but I can think of hundreds of worse movies. Certainly NOT a ringing endorsement!

When the film begins, John Henry Irons (Shaquille O’Neal) is in the army and there is a test of a new super-weapon. The baddie in the film, Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson), did not listen to John’s instructions and there’s an awful accident. Nathaniel is rightfully tossed from the service and John quits because he wants to work on weapons that neutralize the enemy…not kill them.

Skip ahead a bit of time and suddenly an LA gang is using a weapon based on the technology that John and Nathaniel developed. John realized that Nathaniel must have gone evil and is about to make a killing selling these dangerous weapons to the highest bidders. So, it’s up to John to create his own super tools–with not only a high powered neutralizing gun but a steel suit to protect him from Nathaniel’s evil weapons.

So is it terrible? No. It’s not good…but not terrible. O’Neal is a bit wooden, I admit it, but he also is pretty cute in his scenes with his grandma….and I think the film would have been better with more of these sorts of scenes. The plot is a bit silly and in many ways, the film comes off like merging “Iron Man” (with O’Neal being a brilliant inventor and superhero like Tony Stark) and “Sanford and Son”, as John’s hideout is in a junk yard and his costume, in part, is made from junk. The bottom line is that the film isn’t much fun BUT it didn’t seem awful or painful to watch…which disappointed me because I was hoping the film would totally embarrass O’Neal.

Its NOT the comic book.

How could it be the comic when much of Steel’s early comic life was tied to Superman. Steel was one of the four possible Supermen who appeared right after Superman was killed by Doomsday in the comic book. There is no Superman, no Doomsday, almost nothing from the DC universe in the film, except the character itself.

This is not a bad thing especially since the Steel comic could have been created with out having come from Superman. The plot line of where and how Steel comes to be is a close approximation of what a Superman-less origin might have been.

I don’t think its a movie that wants to be any more than it is which is a fun little romp in a super hero sort of way. Shaq is fine as Steel which he plays to the best of his ability. Allowing that the character never had much depth the central performance is everything it should be. The rest of the cast is a great deal of fun as they chew scenery and try not to take anything too seriously.

So sue me I like this movie. Its a fun rainy day popcorn movie of the highest order. It had no calories and nothing in it will stick anywhere in your head.

Try it. Its mindless fun.