I had been wanting to see Blue Steel for a long time, since I was a teenager. I had seen a commercial for a showing on the weekend late night movie, but had chosen to watch SNL instead because some actress was hosting.
I rented it over ten years later, and was in for a profound disappointment. Although it had a stolen gun premise that has made for such great films as Stray Dog, it suffers from horrible execution.
Although it has some decently directed action scenes, Blue Steel suffers from an abysmal, genuinely stupid script. The stupidity sets in from the very beginning, with a major plot hole being the basis of the entire film. The lapses in logic continue throughout the film, cumulating to sink any verisimilitude the film might have had.
Compounding the failures of logic in the script is the mediocre acting. Jaime Lee Curtis is unconvincing as a rookie police officer, while Clancy Brown lacks charisma as the homicide detective paired with her. Although the late Ron Silver has some chilling moments as the psychotic murderer, he at times succumbs to overacting. His scenes on the Stock Exchange floor are laugh inducing.
The film does benefit from good direction and photography. The viewer definitely gets a preview of the skills that would win Kathryn Bigelow a Best Picture Oscar. What a pity those skills had to be saddled on a piece of junk like this.
I rented it over ten years later, and was in for a profound disappointment. Although it had a stolen gun premise that has made for such great films as Stray Dog, it suffers from horrible execution.
Although it has some decently directed action scenes, Blue Steel suffers from an abysmal, genuinely stupid script. The stupidity sets in from the very beginning, with a major plot hole being the basis of the entire film. The lapses in logic continue throughout the film, cumulating to sink any verisimilitude the film might have had.
Compounding the failures of logic in the script is the mediocre acting. Jaime Lee Curtis is unconvincing as a rookie police officer, while Clancy Brown lacks charisma as the homicide detective paired with her. Although the late Ron Silver has some chilling moments as the psychotic murderer, he at times succumbs to overacting. His scenes on the Stock Exchange floor are laugh inducing.
The film does benefit from good direction and photography. The viewer definitely gets a preview of the skills that would win Kathryn Bigelow a Best Picture Oscar. What a pity those skills had to be saddled on a piece of junk like this.