Watch Hands of Steel For Free

To me, this movie is perfection.

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

It would only be fair to say that Hands of Steel is a film that shows the influence of James Cameron's The Terminator (1984). Moreover, in the early 80's there was a cycle of Italian low-budget sci-fi movies and this is a pretty good example of one of those. An immoral businessman has created a cyborg to kill an ecologist whose activism is at odds with his plans. At the key moment of the assassination attempt, however, the cyborg's human side takes over and he refrains from killing the man. He goes on the run to the Arizona desert and this leads to both his master's henchmen and the police chasing after him.The director of this one was Sergio Martino who is best known for a string of excellent giallo flicks he helmed in the early 70's. Like most of his fellow Italian genre directors though he had to go with the flow and make films in whatever genre happened to be popular at the time and by 1986, muscular sci-fi action flicks were in. He does a pretty good job here it has to be said and the resultant movie is pleasingly entertaining throughout, with arm wrestling competitions, professional killers, a truck chase and several punch-ups. The film is helped too by the presence of two B movie stalwarts John Saxon and George Eastman. The latter is particularly stand-out in a juicy role as a nasty trucker villain. Additionally, we have a good soundtrack from Goblin member Claudio Simonetti that adds an additional layer of class. Needless to say, this all adds up to a pretty good slice of Italian sci-fi action.

Developed by an evil organisation, cyborg Paco Queruak (Daniel Greene) is sent to assassinate a political activist but resists his programming at the last moment. On the run from both the FBI and those who created him, Paco finds employment with Linda (Janet Agren), the beautiful owner of a remote roadside bar and motel. His solitude is short-lived, however, when he comes to blows with local arm-wrestler Raul Morales (George Eastman) who isn't best pleased about Linda's handsome new lodger and who will do whatever it takes to be rid of him. Unlikely to appeal to most casual movie viewers, Hands of Steel should prove to be of most interest to those with a particular fondness for cheap European sci-fi/action nonsense from the 80s, featuring as it does many a familiar name from the genre. In addition to exploitation legend Eastman (Anthropophagus) and Fulci star Agren (City of the Living Dead), Hands of Steel's cast includes Euro-cinema regulars Claudio Cassinelli (who sadly died during production), Donald O'Brien and John Saxon, all of whom have starred in more than their fair share of Italian schlock.Seasoned writer/director Sergio Martino approach lacks finesse and style but is still reasonably fun, the cheap and cheerful nonsense on offer including a perilous drive through an acid rain storm, a hilarious arm-wrestling bout involving rattlesnakes, an unforgettable smack-down against a female cyborg wearing a nappy and a plastic skirt, a ridiculous action packed finalé in which Paco is hunted by John Saxon armed with a massive laser cannon, and a mind-numbingly dumb 'surprise' ending. Also adding to the fun: a reasonable rip off of the self-surgery scene from The Terminator by Italian FX man Sergio Stivaletti and a nifty synth score from Claudio Simonetti (of Goblin fame).

Paco is an assassin cyborg, who after a failed assassination escapes and starts to regain his humanity in the tender, loving care of motel keeper Linda. All this happens while the bad guys try to find their broken toy in order to get rid of the evidence before the FBI gets on their track.If anything is evident from Hands of Steel, it's the evident lack of budget. It's one of those cheap 80's movies, that are filled with clunky special effects, odd music and strange plot pieces which in the case of this movie revolve around arm wrestling.Hands of Steel is what it is: a cheap, clichéd sci-fi yarn with moments of unintentional hilarity from severally overacted scenes of oozing testosterone and badassery.Surprisingly enough the movie is not totally unwatchable. It has some nice scenes in it and the camp value is high, but it does require a certain state of mind.

ATOMIC CYBORG aka FISTS OF STEEL aka VENDETTA DAL FUTURO aka AND GOD KNOWS WHAT ELSE THIS MOVIE IS CALLED. When you pop in a movie of which, during the opening credits, the original blue-glowing title of it is blocked by a cheap black strip containing white letters showing us an alternative, even more idiotic title... then you usually have a pretty good idea of what you're in for. And what we have here, is the kind of movie that can be liked by only two groups of people: Very dumb macho-males and... people who can occasionally enjoy a good bad movie. And VENDETTA DAL FUTURO is macho cyborg action cheese in its purest form. And above all... it's of the Italian kind AND... it even manages to rip-off both THE TERMINATOR and BLADE RUNNER at the same time. VENDETTA DAL FUTURO contains that one scene from THE TERMINATOR where Arnold Schwarzenegger opens up his lower arm, revealing metal and hydraulics. Just replace Arnie with Daniel Greene, and voilà, one of the highlights in the rich history of Italian Rip-Off Scenes. Another big scene contains a female cyborg that fights like Pris (Daryl Hannah) and dresses like Zhora (Joanna Cassidy) in BLADE RUNNER. Enough said, I believe.Directed by Sergio Martino, he once again tries his very best to earn that precious title 'King of Italian Rip-Offs'. Besides that, the film is just stuffed with hilarious aspects and scenes that will have you shake your head and sigh (or grin, depending on the mood you're in). A few random things, perhaps. The plot: A cyborg develops a conscience and gets chased by the company that created him, the FBI and a bunch of low-life macho-truckers. His creators are bad guys in suits with guns, helmed by a villainous John Saxon (always nice to see the man earn a pay-check even though he clearly, once again, doesn't seem to have a clue what he's doing in this film). The FBI apparently consists out of only one detective duo (a black guy and a white woman) which spends most of their time sitting in their office, trying to figure out who or what it is they're after. The macho-truckers are arm-wrestling morons, spear-headed by the inimitable George"The Ruler Of The Wastelands"Eastman. This man (as an actor) simply looks like a loose cannon in every single movie I've seen him in. For this one, they even dubbed his voice by giving him a ludicrous Latino accent. And he sure was pulling some uncontrollable evil faces during those arm-wrestling scenes.During all this hilarious, mayhemic, predictable nonsense, Cyborg Man even manages to fall in love (!) with good girl Janet Agren. And the feelings were even mutual (ooh, my poor toes curled up so bad that I'm still having cramps). Also, keep an eye out for those numerous ridiculous gadgets in this movie: The Electronic Weapon Identifier of the FBI, which looks more out-dated than a Commodore 64 computer and doesn't come up with answers but lets YOU guess what the murder weapon could be. The Point-And-Locate device of the bad guys, which through ultra-sensitive infra-red technology will display state-of-the-art graphics of the detected body-heat of people inside a building. And I don't know what was funnier: That cheesy and plastic-looking mega-laser-blaster-gun at the end or the silly faces that John Saxon was pulling while trying to handle it.Anyway, every self-respecting low-budget action movie from the 80's must have a chase-scene with a helicopter and a car and lots of shooting, right? So does VENDETTA DAL FUTURO, of course. Only, instead of carefully planning that sequence to make it look good and suspenseful, Sergio Martino just points his camera at the vehicles and let them drive and fly. Insert a few close-ups of the actors shooting out their windows, and hoop-la-la, we have a chase scene. What else can we do after that helicopter-chase? Well, let's bring in a big truck, have it crash the hero's car and then bring in another truck and blow that one up. Only, don't show it getting blown up. Too expensive. Just insert some shots of an explosion and a one-second-shot of something that looks like a burning driver's boot of a truck, and viewers won't notice the difference. VENDETTA DAL FUTURO doesn't really have an ending, but the way it ends is also grin-inducing: The last shot freezes on Daniel Greene's face, displaying an intense and extremely intelligent look in his eyes, and then the following profound text appears "IT WAS A DAY IN OUR NEAR FUTURE THE ERA OF THE CYBORG HAD BEGUN". Very nice.I almost forgot to mention Claudio Simonetti's rather embarrassing musical score. For once, the man really failed to deliver. His score was very Paul Hardcastle, Jan Hammer and Sandra (anyone remember "Maria Magdalena"? Hèhèhè...) and all, but also very third-rate, unimaginative and uninspired. Oh well, every master is granted a few misfires I guess.On a final note, I have this feeling that people like to throw around the term 'exploitation movie' a little too loosely. I can hardly call VENDETTA DAL FUTURO an Italian exploitation effort. 'Exploitation' is a genre on its own. And so are 'Italian Rip-Offs', in my humble opinion. And that's what I consider VENDETTA DAL FUTURO to be. And a deliciously bad cheesy B-action flick while at it. I had fun with it, hence my very generous rating. And as far as Sergio Martino goes, if you only see one of his many infamous Rip-Off Movies in your whole life (and I'm not talking about his Giallo efforts), make sure it's 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK. That one is just too good to be true.