Blue Steel (1990)

ridiculous rating

I'll tell you why so serious

Best movie ever!

The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

NYPD rookie beat cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) kills a hold-up robber on her first day. One of the victims, psychotic Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver) steals the robber's gun. None of the victims can corroborate Megan's story and she struggles to clear her name. Hunt starts killing with the gun and engineers a romance with Turner. A shell casing with Turner's name carved into it is found at the crime scene and she's reinstated working under homicide detective Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) on the case. Eventually, Hunt reveals himself to Turner and later, attacks her and her friend Tracy (Elizabeth Peña).Director Kathryn Bigelow instills a kind of dark brutality to this story. The slow motion action isn't thrilling but has an artistic flavor. Curtis is great and Silver is interesting as a psychopath. There are problems with the story. I can't believe that nobody saw the gun. It would be more believable if it is only a kid behind the counter who doesn't want to get involved. At its best, I'm reminded of other dark thrillers like Se7en but there are a few head-scratchers too.

Yeah, I know. This is an old movie, why write a review about it now? Well, because I just saw it and I was shocked. Kathryn Bigelow did some great stuff, which is a big reason I decided to watch it. Ditto for Ron Silver. Jamie Lee? Eh... Now, I won't lay this on our girl, here, but she plays the absolute DUMBEST cop you could ever imagine. You shoot a man and neglect to secure his weapon on the floor? You shoot him SIX times? What if he'd had an unseen partner nearby? You don't make sure that witness statements are taken before leaving the scene? A man grabs you from behind and you can't think to step on his instep hard enough to distract him? Getting into uniform - with white sneakers? Going after a dangerous killer so you handcuff your partner to the cruiser? So many more - too many to count. She, and Ms. Bigelow, made police look like idiots, and I resent that. Even rookie cops aren't this dumb.

"Blue Steel" is an action-packed cop drama in which a female police officer is stalked by a violent psychopath who terrorises her and also puts the lives of her family and friends in danger. Her ordeal isn't helped by the lack of support that she receives from her employers or the negative way in which most people respond to her choice of career.Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a New York City cop who, on her first night in the job, shoots and kills a gunman who was holding up a supermarket. When the robber's gun falls to the floor, one of the customers, a commodities broker called Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), picks it up and leaves. Shortly after the incident, Megan is suspended from duty because the absence of a weapon suggests that she may have panicked and killed an unarmed man.Soon, a number of dead bodies are found on the streets of the city and it becomes evident that they are all victims of a serial killer who's shooting people at random with bullets which have Megan's name inscribed on them. At this point, homicide detective Nick Martin (Clancy Brown) arranges for Megan to be reinstated in the hope that she can help him to catch the killer.The manipulative Eugene Hunt arranges to meet Megan and starts courting her and soon she starts to fall for him. His obsession with her was sparked by her actions on the night of the shooting and it takes a little time before Megan realises that he's seriously disturbed and very dangerous. The danger that Megan finds herself in then continues to escalate steadily as every effort she makes to stop his rampage meets with the same lack of success.Megan Turner's character is the main focus of this film and she's shown to be someone who, as a child, was made to feel angry and powerless because she grew up in a home where her mother was regularly beaten by her father. Her chosen career was attractive to her because it enabled her to exercise power over others and prevent herself from becoming a victim like her mother. Megan's anger, however, is ever present and so when she's asked why she chose to become a police officer, she replies in a semi-humorous way "I like to slam people's heads against walls". This remark is revealing because it's not the type of comment that any well-adjusted person would make and it highlights just how brittle a personality she is.Jamie Lee Curtis captures her character's mixture of toughness, determination and fear perfectly and Ron Silver makes a very strong impression as the unhinged villain who seems completely unstoppable."Blue Steel" is stylishly made and remains engaging throughout despite the fact that it requires a little too much suspension of disbelief at various junctures in order to enjoy it fully.

With time, I've learned to avoid any film directed by Kathryn Bigelow. These days they often come as half-baked, pretentious or just bad affairs. But there was a time when she used to be an interesting filmmaker, and "Blue Steel" is perhaps her best film. Starting with close-ups of a revolver and partial shots of Jamie Lee Curtis playing to the electronic gasps of Brad Fiedel, it shouldn't come up as a surprise that this is a film about guns, violence and the almost sexual thrills they both can produce.During the film both Jamie Lee Curtis and Ron Silver's characters try to channel those compulsions in different ways. Megan (Jamie Lee Curtis) comes from a dysfunctional family and a violent background. She chooses the way of repression, becoming a policewoman, a job were violence is legal, but only under the right circumstances. Eugene (Ron Silver) also lives in an ambiance of implied violence: his scenes at work always show him shouting and holding papers in the air, surrounded by other brokers in similar attitudes. He instead chooses the way of exteriorizing violence, going in a killing spree with a gun that accidentally falls in his hands.Kathryn Bigelow shots both actors accordingly. Jamie Lee Curtis often appears tight-lipped, her hair restrained in a ponytail and her sexuality contained, if not entirely hidden under a police uniform or male clothes. in the occasional moments when she loosens up a little she still can't help to act somehow aggressively would-be suitors or co-workers. Ron Silver, on the other hand, often appears acting maniacally, letting whatever emotions run through his mind take reign of him."Blue Steel" is, for the most part, a great film. Co-writer Erid Red has a knack for tying together opposite characters and exploring madness, the same way he did in "The Hitcher".***SPOILERS FOLLOW*** Regrettably, there's only one way the film can end, with a showdown where one of the character has to end up consumed by his compulsions, so it's no surprise that the film ends just like that.***END SPOILERS*** On its way to said denouement, the film also often gets too close to offering generic psycho-thriller moments, and Kathryn Bigelow's stylish, detached camera-work can only hide that for a while.But know what? I still like it more than I should.