It's impossible to hate this low-budget Italian rip-off of "The Terminator." Between the non-stop action scenes and the testosterone that permeates every frame, HANDS OF STEEL is a decidedly watchable hunk of mid '80s Eurotrash.In a near-future when pollution has created severe health and weather issues for the American people, a cyborg assassin named Paco Queruak (rhymes with "Kerouac," oddly enough) is dispatched to kill the country's leading environmental activist. However, Paco's human side prevents him from taking the blind, wheelchair-bound old man's life. Instead, he softens the killing blow so that it merely wounds the environmentalist. Paco then goes on the run, both from the FBI and from the evil industrialist Turner (John Saxon), who hired him for the hit.He hides out in a small, isolated town in his native Arizona. There, Paco befriends Linda (Janet Agren), a rugged blonde who owns a combination motel and eatery. Paco earns first the fear and disgust, but later the respect, of a local gang of arm-wrestling truck drivers, who he quite literally beats at their own game. When the bad guys begin to zero in on Paco, getting Linda seriously wounded, one of the truck-driving arm-wrestlers sacrifices his life to save hers.After much fighting and killing, it's down to Paco and Turner, who is armed with a laser that Paco slaps away from him. Paco says, "Turner, you got it wrong about controlling my mind. You only own a man when you control his heart." To drive his point home, Paco reaches into Turner's chest with his cybernetic arm and pulls out the man's heart. Now it's just Paco and Linda, who has grown to care about him. But Paco is torn between his human and robotic sides. To its credit, the film ends right there, on a refreshing note of ambiguity.OK, so Paco's car is red in its first scene but magically turns white for the rest of the film. OK, so the characters barely qualify as one-dimensional. OK, so the female cyborg sent after Paco makes fight sounds you'd have to hear to believe. OK, so the entire film has the look of an Italian backlot trying to pass itself off first as New York City, then as rural Arizona. But still and all, for what they were doing, the damned thing works! It held my interest for its full 95-minute running time. What can I say? HANDS OF STEEL is the best arm-wrestling-cyborg-assassin-with-a-heart-of-gold film ever produced.

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.

Evil international industrialist Francis Turner (John Saxon in top-rate smoothly villainous form) is determined to stop the interference of a world-leading ecological scientist, so he sends cyborg assassin Paco Queruak (an acceptable performance by the beefy Daniel Green) to kill the man. However, things go awry when Paco's human side takes over and he refuses to carry out his assignment. Director Sergio Martino relates the derivative, but entertaining story at a snappy pace, makes the most out of the bleak Arizona desert locations, maintains a pleasingly rough'n'ready macho sensibility throughout, and stages the thrilling fight set pieces with skill and aplomb (the dynamic and eventful last third in particular really delivers the rousing goods, with a fierce fight between Paco and a female cyborg rating as a definite exciting highlight). The nice cast of familiar Italian B-pic veterans helps a lot: George Eastman excels as arrogant and obnoxious arm wrestling trucker Raul Morales, the lovely Janet Agren contributes a sturdy turn as sympathetic motel owner Linda, Claudio Cassinelli does well as ace hit-man Peter Howell, and Donald O'Brien has a quick bit as bitter crippled scientist Professor Olster. Claudio Simonetti's moody, yet lively and funky synthesizer score hits the stirring spot. An immensely fun flick.

"An international industrialist is determined to stop the interference of a world-leading ecological scientist. The industrialist hopes to continue his profitable, but environmentally unsafe practices, by sending his cyborg assassin to kill him. His plans take a turn when the cyborg's human side takes control and he refuses to kill the scientist, thus threatening to expose the evil man's enterprises," according to the DVD sleeve's synopsis.Poorly produced in Italy, and poorly dubbed in English as "Hands of Steel" - this is a, consequently, poor "Terminator" movie imitation. Star cyborg Daniel Greene (as Paco Queruak) is a handsome bodybuilder. Cool blonde Janet Agren (as Linda) brings out his "human" side. George Eastman and Claudio Cassinelli (his last feature) are okay; and, John Saxon phones one in. Mr. Greene's battle with the female cyborg is the highlight.** Vendetta dal futuro (3/26/86) Sergio Martino ~ Daniel Greene, Janet Agren, Claudio Cassinelli