STEEL (1997)
A movie review by Michael J. Legeros
Copyright 1997 by Michael J. Legeros
(WB)
Directed by Kenneth Johnson
Written by Kenneth Johnson
Cast Shaquille O'Neal, Annabeth Gish, Judd Nelson, Richard
Roundtree, Irma B. Hall
MPAA Rating "PG-13"
Running Time 105 minutes
Reviewed at The Carmike, Raleigh, NC (18AUG97)
==
How's this for diminishing returns? In BATMAN AND ROBIN, George Clooney battled Arnold Schwarzenegger. In SPAWN, it was Michael Jai White versus John Leguizamo. In STEEL, the third and presumably *final* superhero stretch of the summer, Shaquille O'Neal dons a high-tech, hand-crafted suit of armor to combat the earth-shaking, world-shatter- ing, super-duper-ultra evil menace of... Judd Nelson? Holy economical casting! The latest synergistic teaming of Warner Brothers and D.C. Comics is a strictly third-rate affair, with a forgettable hero (Shaq, all size and smiles in his ridiculous costume) performing forgettable feats (stopping a mugger, shooting back at bad guys) while in pursuit of a forgettable villain (Nelson's revenge-seeking arms dealer, whose sole super-power appears to be the ability to stifle laughter among those actors sharing scenes with him).
Pure cheese, but it's well-intended. There's lots of family love and a majority of minority characters and one disabled person (Annabeth Gish) that the story makes a bit of an embarrassing big deal about, but later redeems itself by giving her a kick-ass laser-firing wheelchair. (Let's see *her* action figure go up against Share-a-Smile Barbie.) The amount of gratuitous violence is quite reasonable and there's enough scattered laughs to hold a bored parent's attention. (I enjoyed Richard Roundtree's SHAFT reference, a couple of hilarious comments about the Internet, and one whopper of an Ahnuld gag at the end.) If only the lack of realism wasn't *quite* as distracting. I know, I know, not exactly a valid complaint in a movie based on a comic book, but, good God, a Man of Steel with an exposed mouth and lower jaw? And who spends half of his time engaged in gunfights? Sigh. Written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, an old TV hack whose credits include "Alien Nation" and "The Incredible Hulk." Eat the hot dog, don't be one.
Grade: D+
-- Mike Legeros - Movie Hell http://www.nonvirtual.com/hell
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