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.
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.