Rate STEEL (1997)

It's hard to enjoy STEEL even as a guilty pleasure. It takes 40 minutes for weapons designer John Henry Irons to become a superhero and, while there are cheesy one-liners, they're said too quickly and there are no pauses. One of them is "It's hammer time!" That's M.C. Hammer's catchphrase! I can't believe that Steel... well, steals. There are funny moments... some intentional, some unintentional. There's one where I can't tell what the intention is: After a mugging, the title character gives the victims back their things and, after some heroic words, he gets ready for his dramatic exit. He goes up the escalator. Ummm... OK? And the scene where he (slowly) chases a guy down the streets and then through rail tracks is one of the worst action sequences I've seen in a long time. While it's clear that Shaquille O'Neal was cast because of his popularity as an athlete (of course that some of the jokes are about basketball) rather than acting talent (it's hard to take someone seriously as an actor when the poster only shows their nickname), I wouldn't say that this is a "That non-actor doesn't belong here, so stop shoving them down our throats!" type of vehicle. He struggles during the emotional moments, but he has enough charisma to be a good sidekick. Actually, why wasn't Susan "Sparky" Sparks the protagonist? She has a cooler equipment and a more interesting arc. Annabeth Gish's performance is decent and she and Shaq manage to have chemistry, even though it's never clear if their characters are supposed to be friends who become love interests or just friends. Richard Roundtree's performance is good and the theme music is catchy, but the villain is boring.

3/10
-------------------------------------
You can read comments of other movies in my blog.