Steel is a 1997 American superhero film based on the comic book character John Henry Irons. The film stars Shaquille O'Neal as Irons and his secret identity of Steel, Annabeth Gish as his wheelchair using partner Susan Sparks, and Judd Nelson as their rival Nathaniel Burke. The plot centers on an accident caused by Burke which leaves Sparks paralyzed. The result of the accident results in Irons quiting his job. Burke begins mass-producing weapons and selling them to criminals. In order to stop Burke, Irons and Sparks create a suit of armor that leads Irons to become the superhero Steel.
Written and directed by Kenneth Johnson, the film separates itself from the comic book series with original protagonists and antagonists. On its initial release, Steel performed poorly at the box office and received negative reviews from critics, noting the "cheesiness" and bad acting in the film.[1]
Plot
John Henry Irons (Shaquille O'Neal) is a weapons designer who invents high-tech laser guns and protective armor for the United States military and an adorable handshake for his partner Susan "Sparky" Sparks (Annabeth Gish). One soldier, Nathaniel Burke (Judd Nelson), decides to show just what Irons' weapons can do and sets one of Irons' laser guns at the highest power setting, firing the device at an abandoned building. However, the weapon backfires and also destroys the building the team is situated in. Sparks 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 in Sam becoming a paraplegic, Irons resigns in disgust. Meanwhile, Burke hatches a plot to sell Irons' weapons to criminal gangs, recuiting an video arcade manager to help him carry out this deed.
Irons witnesses a bank robbery organized by gang members wielding Burke's modified guns; they escape before he can interrogate them on where they obtained the weapons. The gang does not tell Irons anything when confronted directly in their hideout. Irons visits Sparks in a veteran's hospital and takes her to his own assembled labratory, where he hopes he and Sparks can create weapons needed to combat the criminals. With the help of Uncle Joe (Richard Roundtree), they forge a suit of armor and the weaponry necessary for Irons to carry out his war on crime and become the vigilante "Steel". However, during his crusade against crime, Irons is pursued by the cops and is forced to return to his lair. The next night, the robbers arrange to rob another bank. Irons, as Steel, tries to stop them, but is hindered by the robbers' weapons. When Irons returns to his grandmother's (Irma Hall) house, he is arrested on the charge of being an action hero.
Meanwhile, Burke prepares to auction off all his modified weapons to every criminal organization in the world over the internet. When Irons is released from jail, Sparky is captured by Burke's thugs. Irons, as Steel, attempts to infiltrate Burke's headquarters, but is captured himself in the process. When Burke continues with the auction, he is tricked by Steel, which allows him and Sparks to rebel and decimate Burke's lair. Burke himself is killed when a laser he fires towards Steel reflects back towards him due to Steel's suit. Now that Burke's lair and weapons are destroyed, Irons' grandmother can finally make her soufflés without intrusion.
Cast
Production
Production of the film Steel started with music producer Quincy Jones and his partner David Salzman.[2] Both Jones and Salzman were fans of the Steel character, especially Jones, who found personal reasons to support the project.[2] Jones stated that he found children's "perspective on the future has changed for the worse, and I hate seeing young people who don't believe in the future. Steel — and I don't want to use that word 'superhero,' because he doesn't fly or anything like that — represents a role model. Let's just call him a `super human being.'"[2]
Writing
Kenneth Johnson was the screenwriter and director of Steel. Johnson was originally uninterested in doing a superhero film, turning down offers to film adaptations of The Bionic Woman, Alien Nation, and The Incredible Hulk previously.[2] Film producer Joel Simon described that Steel was different, stating that he was "a knight in shining armor in a contemporary setting".[2] Johnson removed Steel's cape from his costume to reflect this.[2]
Johnson described Steel's persona as a "blue-collar Batman" and removed Steel from his comic book storyline and replaced it with protagonists and antagonists of his own invention.[2] To aid with the urban aspects of the dialog Johnson took a copy of the script to South Central Los Angeles and spent a day with a group of kids to ensure that the language of some of the characters was more believable.[2] Throughout the film and script, Johnson created several allusions to his previous television series Alien Nation.[3]
Filming
The filming schedule consisted of fifty one days with thirty-two full nights of shooting in downtown Los Angeles.[4] The shooting schedule presented difficulties for the director due to the schedule of the star Shaquille O'Neal. O'Neal was already committed for playing in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and training at the Los Angeles Lakers camp in Hawaii.[2] This left Johnson with five weeks to complete filming all scenes with O'Neal.[2] O'Neal had one read through of the script before the Olympics and then worked with acting coach Ben Martin in between games to work on his character. When O'Neal returned to act with the rest of the cast, he had all his lines memorized.[2]
Music
As well as acting in the film, Shaquille O'Neal contributed to the soundtrack for the film. The single "Men of Steel" has him featured along side rappers KRS-One, Ice Cube, B-Real, and Peter Gunz. The soundtrack was released on Quincy Jones' record label Qwest Records and included songs featured in the film and songs inspired by it.[4] The album charted in the United States on the Billboard 200 at number 185 and on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums at number 26.[5]
Release
Steel was released on in the United States on August 15, 1997.[6] Steel was considered a large box office bomb on its release with an estimated budget of $16 million, the film grossed just over $1.7 million at the box office.[6]
Reception
Steel was received negatively by American critics on its original release. The film ranking website Rotten Tomatoes reported that 13% of critics had given the film positive reviews, based upon a sample of 23.[1] Leonard Kladly of Variety wrote that the film is "too broad and episodic to attract anything other than the most undemanding crowd".[7] Peter Stack of the San Francisco Chronicle described it as a "tolerable stinker of a film" that "plays like a Saturday morning cartoon".[8] Lawrence Van Gelder of The New York Times stated that the film is "slow to gather momentum and generates little excitement or tension".[9]
Despite negative reception of the film, critics praised Annabeth Gish in the role of the wheelchair-using Susan Sparks. The New York Times called Gish's role a "strong performance".[9] The San Francisco Chronicle noted that she "becomes the first woman-in-wheelchair action hero in a Hollywood movie, too. Gotta give Steel some credit for that."[8]
References
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