Watching "Steel" is like sitting through one of those sunny "let's save Mother Earth" grade-school pageants: The intentions are certainly the best, even though the performances and most of the productions values are second-rate and often downright laughable. Your sentimental side begs you to be kind to this sort of entertainment, even as the analytic part of the brain tears the show to shreds. Adapted from an unsuccessful comic book, "Steel" radiates messages of positivity and racial harmony when it's not struggling to be "Batman in Da Hood." Shaquille O'Neal plays John Henry Irons (get it?) who helped develop high-tech weapons during his Army days, alongside kindly Lt. Susan Sparks (Annabeth Gish) and nefarious Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson). When Burke's tomfoolery with one of the "sonic cannons" the trio wound up crippling Sparks, Irons left the Army and returned home to inner-city L.A., which writer-director Kenneth Johnson sees as a kind of "Sesame Street" with a few nasty gang members hanging 'round. After the superguns turn up in the hands of criminals (guess who put them there), Irons, Sparks and feisty Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree) team up to create an urban superhero who strolls the streets in a suit of steel and brandishes a giant hammer that doubles as a ray gun. "He's like the Tin Man on steroids!" squawks one gangsta, not inaccurately. "Steel" is every bit as silly as it sounds, and yet it's not entirely without merit. At a time when African-American kids have their choice of the sex-starved heroes of "Booty Call" or Bill Bellamy's super-stud in "How To Be A Player" as role models, it's heartening to see someone like O'Neal giving them another option. The movie also deserves points for showing how Sparks, though paraplegic, becomes an invaluable asset to the team because of her brilliant mind and friendly supportiveness. There's also a bit of cute comic relief from Irma P. Hall (the scene stealer of "A Family Thing") as Irons' grandmother, who dreams of opening a restaurant called Black and Bleu that would combine soul food with classic French cooking. On a technical level, however, "Steel" is more like "Tin Foil." Its visual effects can't hold a candle to those in "Spawn" and the tacky music that underscores the action sounds like it was stolen from a "Starsky and Hutch" episode. Like Michael Jordan in "Space Jam," O'Neal is most comfortable when he's smiling or running around. Delivering lines and dredging up emotions overtax his talents, and some of his reaction shots are unintentional hoots. But even with a multitude of sins, "Steel" might provide a perfectly enjoyable afternoon for the under-12 crowd. Perhaps they'll overlook O'Neal's wooden acting and find the movie's well-meaning heart. James Sanford
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