I got a real kick out of how cheap and crummy this was. The addition of flexible ductwork and/or John Saxon seems to make any movie automatically futuristic. When Saxon is both the most famous and least horrible actor in the movie you have really got something there. I have to give him credit - he always does his best, Just being a workmanlike performer as he is, in comparison with the poor acting of every single other person in the film, makes him look like Sir Laurence Olivier or Richard Burton. The creaky archaic computer graphics, and the odd clunking noise each letter made as it appeared on screen, the Competitive Armwrestling sub-plot, the grand finale shot at Arcosanti (Paolo Soleri's abortive utopia which even twenty years ago looked like a futuristic ruin) all combine into a weird stew of goodbadness. It isn't often that a movie reaches a real crescendo in its final moment, but this film's "how the hell do we end this?" finale is a real masterpiece of inadvertency. Strangely, I was never bored for a moment as every scene was at least as screwed up as the next. I have rarely witnessed a scene more affecting than the torn-off head of the female cyborg grating out "THEY WILL DEE STROY YEW" in her atrocious accent, an even worse accent than that of Paco's nemesis Raoul. I don't believe I will ever watch this again, nor could I recommend it except as punishment, but it was quite a thing to see once.

This is typically low-grade, silly sci-fi fare with unconvincing special effects and a particularly wooden lead (Daniel Greene). The supporting cast features three Euro-Cult regulars: John Saxon, George Eastman and Claudio Cassinelli (whose last film this turned out to be as, unfortunately, he was killed in a helicopter crash during shooting...but, at least, he manages to preserve his dignity!).

With a script in which a female scientist is hilariously named Dr. Peckinpah, the would-be dystopian elements of the plot (amusingly, the old popular leader is both blind and wheelchair-bound and his fate is even neglected by the film's end!) are jettisoned early on in favor of mostly tepid action sequences (including several irrelevant arm-wrestling bouts and bar-room brawls, a duel of cyborgs in which Greene fights a big blonde bimbo draped in a plastic bag[!] and an interminable climax capped by chief villain Saxon handling a huge laser gun!).

Furthermore, the film's attempts to humanize the cyborg lead (anticipating, amazingly enough, ROBOCOP [1987]!) are pretty dire...but, at least, it's slightly better than Martino's own 2019: AFTER THE FALL OF NEW YORK (1983) - in which, similar to this, the desert location-shooting provided a cheap way of enhancing the film's production values!

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).