*Face/Off
*Donnie Brasco
*Boogie Nights
*Men In Black
*Jackie Brown
*Copland
*Air Force One
*Con Air
*As Good As It Gets ( You can´t go wrong with Jack Nicholson delivering a brilliant acting performance )
I could probably mention at least 20 films more of this specific year if i wanted to, because the year of 1997 was the true last year of the 1990´s that delivered some of the finest cinema releases of this time period. There are some really good films released in both 1998 and in 1999, but compared to the year of 1997 they just didn´t manage to make the same cinema magic. Now, even if the year of 1997 had some wonderful cinema releases, we have to be honest with ourselves. There were some terrible films released as well that most people have forgotten about in 1997, for example how many of you remember the British 1997 comedy Spice World? This is basically the first film including the pop band Spice Girls? I know, no one remember this film for a very good reason, it is a massive mess. I personally did not see this film in cinema and wasn´t even planning to watch it. But it was showing on a movie channel called TV1000 one day so i just had a look. Let´s just say picking inside my nose would have been more fun than watching Spice World. The comedy scenes are truly awful, the acting? Was anyone acting at all? Anyway, aviod this film at all cost. Let´s stay withi the year of 1997 and mention a superhero movie. Oh, you mean the Batman & Robin film? Actually, no. We are talking about a completely different superhero character from DC comics. In 1997 director Kenneth Johnsson was hired to direct a movie adaptation of the comic book character Steel. I did not see this film in cinema back in 1997, probably because Swedish movie critics were tearing the film apart in reviews. I did rent the film on VHS though, just because i wanted to see NBA basketball player icon Shaquille O´Neal as a superhero. After watching it i had very mixed feelings, probably because i was hoping it would be better than it was. I didn´t watch this film for many years until Spain released a blu ray copy of the film. I decided to get a copy to revisit Steel and see how i feel about this film 28 years later. Have this film become better over the years or is this a horrible superhero movie adaptation no one asked for?
John Henry Irons ( Shaquille O´Neal ) is a weapons designer who invents high-tech laser guns, protective armor. and sonic sounds cannons for the Unites States military. One solider, Nathanial Burke ( Judd Nelson ), decides to show just what Irons´ can do and sets one of Irons´ cannons at the highest power setting, firing the device at an abandoned building, but the weapon backfires and destroys the building where the team is situated. Iron´s partner Susan "Sparky" Sparks ( Annabeth Gish ), is crushed by a large slab of concrete in the ensuing chaos. In court, Irons reveals Burke´s role in the incident, and Burke is dismissed from the military. Because his weapons resulted Sparks becoming a paraplegic, Irons resigns in disgust. Meanwhile, Burke have a plan to sell Irons weapons to a criminal gang. Irons know if these guns hits the streets there will be chaos. With the help from Susan and his Uncle Joe ( Richard Roundtree ), he will become Steel who is designed to fight against any criminals.
I want to make this perfectly clear so no one misunderstood me, i think Shaquille O´Neal was an amazing basketball player and he is truly one of the sports legends of the 90´s. He also seems like a wonderful man, who have a big heart and have helped a lot of charity work and i admire him for this. With that said, i can´t lie and say he did a wonderful acting performance in the 1997 film Steel. Just because you are a world famous basketball player, that doesn´t make you a good actor. Of course you can become a good actor if you work really hard, there have been several actors who proved themselves like Jean-Claude Van Damme did in his 2008 action drama film JCVD. But regarding the film Steel you can tell lead actor Shaquile O´Neal is not a good choice for a superhero lead role in a film such as this. He tried at least, and i guess that´s fun in some ways. I can appreciate a fun terrible film if it actually have some charming scenes in it, or if i enjoy some of the characters in the film. That´s one of the big issues with the film Steel, there are not that many characters here that you will enjoy basically. Except for legendary actor Richard Roundtree ( the original Shaft ) as the character Uncle Joe, i would say that at least i can enjoy his performance in a cheesy, entertaining way. Because legendary actor Richard Roundtree have a magical screen presence, no matter what kind of character he portrait. And actor Judd Nelson ( from the 1985 film classic The Breakfast Club ) is a little bit fun as the villain character Nathaniel Burke . Let´s get into some other issues with the film Steel and as a superhero movie this is a pretty lame attempt to introduce this comic book character. The costume design of Steel does not look that cool, they probably tried to do what they could with the budget the film had. I think if you are telling a story of a superhero you have to make sure the character looks cool. If you don´t, you might think this is a parody instead of taking the character seriously. There are a few scenes where the action is....ok? But it never goes further than that, for the most part the action scenes feels quite dull at certain moments. I can see that director Kenneth Johnson tried to bring Steel to life, and with a better costume design plus a professional lead actor this could have worked. What we are left with is a superhero that feels very 90´s, but maybe not in a positive way. Not a total trainwreck, but i still can´t say Steel is a good film. Steel is if im being kind average at best in certain scenes and yet ends up being pretty terrible.
Rating: DD
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