The Mystery of the Rusty Steel
Rusty (Johann Urb) and his brother Mike (Paul Campbell) head to Romania together when Rusty inherits their late uncle's fishing boat. It is certainly not the luxury boat which Mike expected as it smells worse than a prison cell and it is full of junk. But as they rummage through the junk they find a diary which mentions a boat called the Chancellor which was sunk containing a load of gold. With the aid of an attractive translator they try to track down the gold but they are not the only ones looking for it and they find themselves in dancer.
This morning I was watching an old movie from 1961, it was called "Tintin and the Mystery of the Golden Fleece" and it involved Captaine Haddock being left an old boat in a will which others are interested in as it involves some missing gold. Now less than 24 hours later and I find myself watching "Rusty Steele" another movie which features an inherited boat and combination of mystery and adventure when it comes to some missing treasure. Whilst the movies have a similar basis they are very different movies and whilst better than I expected "Rusty Steele" comes off second best.
So what does that mean when it comes to "Rusty Steele"? Well firstly it has that feel of a semi-low budget independent movie, the sort of movie which has better production values than a low budget movie but has an awkwardness going on when it comes to the acting and flow. For example the fight scenes are extremely choreographed and edited which means that they are there but they do little to get you off the edge of your seat. It is sadly the same when it comes to the treasure hunting storyline as not only does the movie start with a spoiler but as I pointed out it is kind of been done before.
Sadly there is a knock on effect of this with distinct split in the characters with on one hand Paul Campbell giving the movie some comic relief whilst Johann Urb is the movie's hunk with some scenes which feel like they play on this side too much. But the characters are generic and the acting is frequently forced which adds to that general sense of feeling forced.
What this all boils down to is that as a basic adventure movie involving lost gold "Rusty Steel" is okay. But it is only okay at best and has that semi awkward feel of a movie made on tight funds which leaves it lacking polish.
