Blue Steel is a tough, no-nonsense, solidly entertaining 80’s cop film bolstered by Kathryn Bigelow’s heightened sense of kinetic, stylish direction, all the more strengthened by the crisply efficient and downright nasty screenplay co-written by Bigelow and Eric Red (The Hitcher, Near Dark, Cohen & Tate). Released in 1989, the film received solid reviews from critics but failed to make a big impact at the box office, which is a shame because it’s the sort of police yarn that rarely gets made outside of TV procedurals these days — the stripped down cop story with zero pretensions and all sorts of gritty integrity. Shot by future Michael Bay and Zack Snyder cinematographer Amir Mokri and fully utilizing that glorious old-school slow-motion technique, Blue Steel has that awesome, oh-so-80’s slick-and-gritty feel, made popular by the likes of Bigelow and craftsman like Tony Scott and Renny Harlin. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis as a female officer who has to contend with a serious psychopath (played with devilish relish by the late Ron Silver), the film has a fantastic supporting cast including Clancy Brown, Tom Sizemore, Richard Jenkins, Kevin Dunn, Philip Bosco, Elizabeth Pena, Matt Craven, Mike Starr, and Louise Fletcher. Brad Fiedel’s score is incredible, amping up the tension in almost every instance; he’d later go on to score Terminator 2: Judgement Day and True Lies. The film gets very intense, exploring dark sexual violence (later glimpsed in Bigelow’s Strange Days) through the prism of a backwards love story, and the various bloody shoot-outs have that R-rated heft that’s so clearly lacking in most modern action films. Red and Bigelow’s script steers clear of moralizing, presenting a black and white world of good vs. evil and I’ve always loved the gripping sense of resolve that Curtis’ character brought to the narrative; she’s a woman of action, and no matter how beaten down, she’s not going to stop until she gets her man. The German import Blu-ray, it should be noted, is Region Free, and offers an excellent picture transfer and audio upgrade.
Podcasting Them Softly 