Heartwarming Moments: After Superman returned, Steel removes the "S" insignia from his armor. Superman tells him he'd earned the right to wear the "S" shield. D'aw.
The main theme by Mervyn Warren. Say what you want about the rest of the movie, the main theme is an epic and triumphant anthem greatly suited to Steel, even if we're talking about the comics. If the movie had done better, the main theme might have been remembered as one of the great superhero themes of cinema, up there with the John WilliamsSuperman: The Movie theme, the Danny ElfmanBatman (1989) theme and the Jerry GoldsmithSupergirl (1984) theme.
The soundtrack is also filled with bangers, one of them being Men Of Steel, a collaboration between Shaq, Ice Cube, B Real, Peter Gunz and KRS-One.
Broken Aesop: The movie has an anti-gun message, even though Steel uses a weapon that is, by definition, a gun. Moreover, he wants to create more such weapons to stop the bad guys.
Complete Monster: Nathaniel Burke is a slimy, sociopathic ex-soldier defined by his greed. Kicked out of the military for causing an accident with the weapons of John Henry Irons that kills a visiting senator and cripples the good-natured Susan Sparx–-to his utter apathy, blaming everyone else for keeping from from "going places"-–Burke reinvents himself as an Arms Dealer using stolen technology from Irons. Burke, throughout the movie, murders a rival and an elevator full of people with her when she calls him out on his reckless demonstration of his weaponry; has a failed minion of his assassinated; has another used as a live target during a weapons pitch to the criminal leaders of the world; and eventually murders his own associate, to make himself the sole and most powerful arms dealer in the world to let them use his advanced weaponry to wage wars with. Burke even attempts to murder Sparx and Irons's young friend, gloating he wants to see Irons utterly crushed before killing him.
Funny Moments: Not many are in this film, but Steel throwing a grenade to a mook ends up delivering a pretty funny reaction.
Shaquille O'Neal years after this film actually confronted crime as a reserve officer of the Miami Beach Police Department.
The film's tagline "Heroes don't come any bigger" is the same one used for Marvel's Ant-Man years later.
Someone says "the internet is good for much more than just porn". Avenue Q disagrees.
Wesley Snipes was considered for the lead role, but Shaq was chosen because the producers believed his likeness would sell more toys. Shaq wound up being the star of the movie that put the nail in the coffin for DC's dominance of superhero movies (finishing the job Batman & Robin started), whereas Snipes ended up starring in the film that started Marvel's dominance of superhero movies.
Back in its day, a movie like Steel, where a less well known supporting character to a world famous superhero gets his own superhero movie divorced from the main hero he's associated with, was something that had never been attempted before. Nowadays, movies like this have become a bit more common despite critics being divided on whether or not giving supporting allies/villains their solo movies divorced from their main heroes is a good idea. Sony's Spider-Man Universe has become particularly well known/infamous for doing this now with Venom, Morbius, Madam Web, and Kraven, giving all of them independent outings where their famous homebase hero Spider-Man is Adapted Out.
Moral Event Horizon: Burke killing Duvray (for petty reasons) as well as two innocent bystanders in the elevator by sending them to their deaths.
This movie actually predates both Blade and Black Panther (2018) as a superhero movie with a black lead. The major difference is... well, those films aren't Steel. Anyone who'd name this film in the same breath as the other two would probably get laughed out of the room.
On the other hand, this movie was preceeded in the Black Lead department by five years by The Meteor Man, and while not exactly on par with the former two, that movie also had the benefit of not being Steel.
Platonic Writing, Romantic Reading: On paper, Johnny and Sparky are supposed to be platonic; in practice, most of their scenes exude unresolved sexual tension, to the point that many people were surprised that they didn't kiss at the end.
Retroactive Recognition: Martin is played by R&B singer Ray J., the same year he released his debut album, six years before his sex tape with you-know-who launched her into stardom(?) and 23 years before his headphone brand Raycon took off.
So Bad, It's Good: It's trope-heavy, full of cheesy acting, and comes off more as a TV film than a theatrical one. Yet it's hard not to see it as a Guilty Pleasure.
The bad guys' scheme to create and smuggle super-weapons includes them using an item that sells like hot cakes to hide the guns in… arcade machines, such as NBA Jam. Not that there is not still a market for arcade machines, but suffice to say that they would be even more conspicuous after the rise of the Playstation and X-Box.
The influence of the Internet in the plot is very slight and the webpage advertising the Auction of Evil has a very amateur appearance even for that era.
WTH, Costuming Department?: Steel's very rubbery suit of armor isn't half as imposing or convincing as you'd hope it to be.
by Mervyn Warren. Say what you want about the rest of the movie, the main theme is an epic and triumphant anthem greatly suited to Steel, even if we're talking about the comics. If the movie had done better, the main theme might have been remembered as one of the great superhero themes of cinema, up there with the John Williams Superman: The Movie theme, the Danny Elfman Batman (1989) theme and the Jerry Goldsmith Supergirl (1984) theme.