Steel

Steel_720p(480P)

source: Steel

Steel is an awesome movie, a cinematic masterpiece. I have not had as good a time in the theater since I saw Steel. Steel's action is big, but the laughs are even bigger. It is one of the funnier movies I can think of. Shaquille is perfect as the super hero Steel. Every time he is in that ridiculous suit, with his goofy smile, I just have to burst out laughing. The plot is good too, and the action sequences are well choreographed. But the most important part of this movie is the many, many laughs. Richard Roundtree has some great jokes ("I especially like the shaft"). Annabeth Gish is hilarious as Sparky, especially at the end with her wheelchair that rises so she can stand ("You havent seen the best part"). Some guy gets killed because of a discrepency over the meat type in his hot dog. A pin is pulled from a grenade and 27 seconds later it blows up, after Shaq jokes about not being able to make free throws. Why the bad rap on Steel? I have no idea, maybe the angry comic book fans have no sense of humor. This film deserves a lot more credit, and Shaquille O'Neal needs to be back for a Steel 2.

Despite a horrible preview, I felt the movie was not as bad as I expected it to be (and certainly not as bad as many other IMDB users have voted!) Bottom line, nothing new here but a nice story about not giving up on yourself. Shaq is fine as the hero, and Annabeth Gish stands out as his crippled friend. I hope Kenneth Johnson gets more chances to direct, as I like his style. (look for cameos by Gary Graham and Eric Pierpoint, his two stars from the Alien Nation TV shown!)

"Eat the hot dog, don't be the hot dog," best line Judd Nelson's ever delivered. Every superhero cliché known is thrown in and hammed up to the extreme. The father figure killed by the bad guys, the tech whiz buddy that makes all of Steel's gear, the big bad evil high tech corporation, the sidekick in the wheelchair with the touching scene in which Shaq denies help her back up after she falls out onto the floor, and enough horribly brain dead one liners to choke several giraffes.

I liked the movie. I like superhero movies, and this was one of the first to introduce a little known character. It was ambitious. I liked certain sentimental moments in the film. I also like Shaq. I think he has made another positive icon for the youth to inspire to be like and emulate. Black kids are in need of heroes they can relate to, and this movie tried to provide characters which are familiar to the youth. Not perfect characters but characters with flaws. Shaq portrays a young, brilliant weapons designer who's weapons are designed not to kill. I think the movie and all those involved made a noble effort to teach kids not to kill, and that they, too can build and create new technology. Moreover, the kids see that they,too, can be heroes. If it's true Shaq did his own stunts, I'm even more impressed with his performance. I'm a layman and I don't know good acting from bad acting. All I know is I was throughly entertained by this movie. And I recommend it as a family movie. Something kids and adults will enjoy, especially kids.

STEEL is for almost everyone a dreadful movie. On IMDB it has a score of 2,8 and few months ago, when it reached 10,000 ratings, it ended in the Bottom 100 (the list of the 100 lowest rated major releases according to users' ratings). Unfortunately, I am not the typical viewer, since when I saw it when it was 32 ratings shy I gave it a try, but I didn't ended up hating the movie. In reverse, I ended up enjoying it very much and I personally couldn't believe all the hate that surrounded this movie for years. The movie begins with John Henry Irons (Shaquille O'Neal) that is in the Army and he is trying a super-powerful cannon. A fellow serviceman, Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson) set the cannon at the maximum power and there is a horrible accident that destroys a entire building and cripples Irons' friend Sparky (Annabeth Gish). Nathaniel is of course expelled from the Army and Irons returns home to his grandma. Later there is a street gang that robs a bank using the weapons with Burke and Irons' technology. Irons realizes that Burke is dealing with all the weapons smugglers and dealers for letting people using his dangerous weapons everywhere. So it's up to Irons, Sparky and Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree) to stop Burke. And so Irons creates a steel (for some looks like made of rubber) suit and a huge hammer/weapon and goes out at night to fight crime and, as everyone would expect, he succedds in defeating Burke. So why I didn't hated the movie? Well, the plot in my opinion gives a message like ''don't never give up in defeating your enemy, because the day of revenge will come sooner or later''. And I found the soundtrack pretty cool since it gives a nice and nostalgic 90s feel. Despite Shaquille O'Neal is a bit one-note in his performance (and he was even nominated for a Razzie for Worst Actor the following year) and he looks like the largest sardine can ever made with that steel suit, I have to admit it, he was much better than in KAZAAM (his other leading man movie). About the only thing I would agree with most of the reviewers is that the special effects look a bit dated even for 1997 standards, but at the end, for me it wasn't a problem. If this movie would have been made with the same budget of movies like THE AVENGERS or IRON MAN then I would have hated it, but since the budget wasn't that huge the movie was adequate. Don't be afraid to buck conventional wisdom, because I think that there are some that might enjoy this movie just like I did, and trust me, there are much WORSE movies out there!

I finally forced myself to watch as much of this as I could stand when the movie appeared on cable. I tried to find something, anything, to like about this film, but it's simply dreadful. Why do they insist on putting Shaqille O'Neale in movies? However imposing and charismatic he may be in person, and no matter how entertaining he can be in various short TV commercials, he's a dullard and a lug on film. He's got no range, no gravitas, and he's so odd looking in the context of a 'normal' film world that he is actually rather repellent. I know, I know - Shaq is a celebrity, and celebrity sells. Some of the problem is that the director and screenwriter paid millions of dollars to cast a 7 foot 2 inch man in the role of an armored, high tech superhero, and then they threw the premise away on story elements and fight scenes that utterly waste the idea's potential. The DC superhero "Steel" was incredibly powerful, and resourceful: he could fly via boot jets, he fired big steel spikes from wrist launchers, he could pick up and throw railroad box cars, his armor could withstand mortar bursts and artillery fire, and his 'homing' hammer was the neatest visual gimmick since Captain America's shield.And he had a deeply resonant spiritual side as well - he was a man who was brought back from death itself by Superman and destiny, who took up his armor to fight the good fight in a world that needed heroes more than ever. Instead of all this great potential appearing on the screen, we get a big doofus with a bulletproof suit who runs around on foot and uses his hammer like a gun. If I wanted to really frustrate myself, I would imagine the black actor who played the Commander of Deep Space Nine (Avery Brooks) being cast in the role of Steel, and the millions of dollars that went into Shaq's salary being spend on cool SFX and CGI, so that Steel could fight sprawling high tech battles with the bad guys from under the sea to the edge of space, with building, bridges and tanks being flattened like tin foil and and attack helicopters getting knocked out of the sky by the hammer. And I would give Avery Brooks, who can ACT with a dignity and potential worthy of James Earl Jones, room to do well all the things that Shag does so badly: act, emote, express rage and anger and indignation at the perfidy of the bad guys, and make you feel too his strife and extremity and pride. Well, "Steel" killed the franchise, and so we will never know what could have been. Shaq, go back to playing basketball (and making amusing commercials); you do that supremely well. Please stop inflicting movies on us. 1 star added because the idea of a high tech, armored black superhero who came back from the dead to be a hero was such a great idea. Too bad they dropped the ball so badly.

Steel! Oh, yes! This movie is so tough, any movie like "The Godfather" and "Casablanca" will shatter into irreversible broken pieces if dropped on there! Shaq from "Kazaam" takes center stage in this exciting yet funky action film, and he is here to put the bad guys where they belong - in the trash! Seeing this movie makes my heart pump, my veins pop, my head explode (no, not really, but believe me, it is that exciting)! Don't believe me? Go watch "Steel" and see for yourself! Tell me if you think this movie deserves a "1" or a "10!" I give this movie a "10" all the way! Shaq is the man of the court and the screen!

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.