The popularity and success of superhero films has had its ups and downs. In the mid-90s, the genre was declining, falling into cheese-infested cliché messes like Batman & Robin and Judge Dredd. But one film has been described as the death knell of the genre: Steel. Based on the DC Comics superhero, the film was made to try and establish John Henry Steel as both his own character and as a role model, at least in the eyes of the film’s producer, Quincy Jones, who described Steel as not a superhero but more of a “super human being”. What’s the difference? But the film itself is just another victim of poor writing, clichés, and lousy acting, with the cast led by Shaquille O’Neal, who Steel’s look was partially based upon.
The film’s choice of director was Kenneth Johnson, who was completely uninterested in directing a superhero movie, turning opportunities to direct takes on The Bionic Woman and the 1970s The Incredible Hulk show. However, Steel caught his attention, describing him as a “blue collar Batman”. So he completely chucked out everything from Steel’s comics and made a completely new origin story. In the comics, Steel was an ally to Superman who tried to help him defeat Doomsday, only to be knocked out and Superman to be killed. He rose again and decided to become a superhero in memory of the Man of Steel — by becoming the literal man of steel.
In the film, Steel is a soldier and weapons designer who built an impressive sound cannon, aided by his partner Susan “Sparky” Sparks (Annabeth Gish). During a demonstration to a US Senator, a soldier named Burke (Judd Nelson) who goes to great lengths to prove he is an asshole, pushes the weapon up to eleven and causes mass destruction. The Senator gets killed and Sparky’s legs are crushed by rubble. Burke is dismissed from the military, but takes Steel’s weapon designs to a criminal named Big Willy (*snorts*), who runs a video game company to finance his R&D projects. So, the army didn’t confiscate the designs or imprison Burke for reckless endangerment?
Anyway, Steel returns home to his soufflé-obsessed grandma, and streetwise cousin. Burke sells the new weapons to street gangs who loudly rob banks using lasers and the sound cannon. Determined to stop them, Steel retrieves the wheelchair-bound Sparky from a retirement home, and decides to become a superhero using their own weapons, aided by his Uncle Joe, played by noneother than Shaft himself Richard Roundtree.
So, dressed in the silliest looking armour he could make in a montage nine years before Iron Man did it, Steel takes to the streets to fight crime. At least the costume’s mobility suits Shaq, matching perfectly with his stiff acting. And it might just be me, but everything about Shaq’s costume is stolen from somewhere else – he looks like a mix of Batman and Iron Man, he stole Thor’s hammer but also turned it into a gun, has some of James Bond’s tech, and possibly harvested both Inspector Gadget and Bionic Commando’s gizmos as well. And he moves as quickly as C-3PO on a people mover.
Shaquille O’Neal delivering lines as flat as possible or like he is in his famous TV ads, but has a sense of odd charm to his performance. Judd Nelson’s acting is somewhere between “Can’t be bothered to ham it up” and “God, why did I sign up for this movie?” The film’s only real saving grace is Annabeth Gish’s performance. The most engaging scene involves Sparky falling out of her wheelchair and fights to regain control of both her body. Of course, later on she turns her chair into a badass missile-launching weapon.
The film is just full of cliché after cliché. You have the do-gooder hero, generic evil businessmen, the tech wizard (three of them), everyone knows Steel’s identity despite the attempts to hide it, there is a semi-tragic backstory, the training montage, and even the zingy one-liners, which just don’t work when Shaq is the one saying them.
There are loads of others issues like stupid plotholes, the cheese factor is off the scale, and the strange focus on Steel’s grandma determined to make the perfect soufflé and she requires people to whisper so her cooking doesn’t set too early. The film also makes vocal nods to other better superheroes, or just Batman and Superman since they were the only superheroes both known to audiences and having formerly successful film franchises. The actors also visibly cringe and glare at whoever is making the references.
And yet Steel is surprisingly enjoyable, but strictly as a funny film to waste time and laugh at. The key issue with Steel apart from all of the above is that it decided to adapt a superhero by removing everything connected to the comics. Why then bother? Change the name and alter the costume to avoid a lawsuit, and you would’ve had an original superhero film that may have been looked on more fondly in later years. Now, if Steel is to appear in the DC Extended Universe, let’s hope they don’t contact Shaquille to reprise his role.
Have you seen Steel and what are your thoughts on it? Should Shaquille O’Neal stay away from films? Leave a comment below or on our Twitter feed.
