Blue Steel (1989) starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown, Elizabeth Peña, Louise Fletcher directed by Kathryn Bigelow Movie Review

Blue Steel (1989)   3/53/53/53/53/5


Jamie Lee Curtis in Blue Steel (1989)

Dirty Jamie

Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) had not long graduated from the Academy when she is called in to action when she goes in to deal with a hold up at a supermarket and guns down the criminal who turns to shoot at her. But on the floor of the supermarket is Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), a Wall Street trader, who takes the criminal's gun when he falls to the floor. It leads to Megan's suspension when it appears she shot and killed an unarmed man but it also leads to Eugene becoming obsessed with her, tracking her down and dating the woman he sees as his saviour. But at the same time he feels empowered by the gun he kept and engraving Megan's name on the bullet cases starts shooting random people which inadvertently leads to Megan to being unofficially made a detective alongside Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) to look into the case as she might be a target.

Switch off you brains folks because if you watch 80s movie "Blue Steel" and pay attention to the detail you are going to end up in fits of laughter. It is what happened to me the first time I watched this Kathryn Bigelow movie and unfortunately having watched it a few times since it still falls apart thanks to the writing which is full of WTF scenes. To give you an example we have a rookie cop who is suspended because they can't find a gun, despite various witnesses, yet shortly after is handed a temporary detective badge, that must be the most impressive promotion going. There are other scenes as well which leave you scratching your noggin as to what the intention was including a subplot surrounding Megan's parents.

Ron Silver in Blue Steel (1989)

This has the knock on effect of making "Blue Steel" a visual movie from Jamie Lee Curtis looking hot as a cop, although she is another actor who is too thin in the face to wear a police hat. There is also Ron Silver who really turns it on when it comes to how psychotic his character is with the voices in his head. Plus there is Clancy Brown whose curly hair is simply a shock. In fairness all the actors commit to their parts even if the writing of the characters is not always consistent especially when it comes to the character of Megan Turner who seeing she is a cop does some seriously stupid things.

What this all boils down to is that "Blue Steel" does not work when you concentrate on it, there are too many unrealistic scenes and inconsistencies. But as a cop movie with a tough and sexy female cop it is entertaining with some simple elements which entertain.






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