Blow Out
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Movie Reviews of Blow Out
Movie Review: One of DePalma's best
Summary: 4 Stars
Brian De Palma rips off Michaelangelo Antonioni's Blow Up and Francis Ford Coppola's The Conversation and comes up with a decent thriller about a film sound engineer (John Travolta) who records an automobile accident and becomes involved in a coverup when it turns out the driver was about to be elected President of the United States. Jack Terry (Travolta) is on a city bridge recording ambient sounds for his latest schlock film's soundtrack when he hears a blow out and sees a car go off the road and into the lake. He dives in to find a woman, Sally (Nancy Allen), still alive in the car. He rescues her and takes her to the emergency room, where he finds out that the candidate was driving the car--and Sally isn't his wife. The police proceed to get Jack to "forget" what he saw.
Later, going over his tapes, Jack becomes convinced he heard a sound *before* the blow out--a gunshot. If there was a gun, then this was no accident.
After Carrie and Dressed to Kill, Blow Out continues Brian DePalma's reign as king of the Hitchcockian thriller/rip-off. Although style often triumphs over substance, often the style comments on the substance. His trademark split-screen (which specifically influenced Run Lola Run's Tom Tykwer) is used effectively to present two simultaneous sets of action that would otherwise be unknown. DePalma has also used this method of technical storytelling in Phantom of the Paradise and Sisters.
The acting is solid, as well, with Nancy Allen (then Mrs. DePalma) as the prototypical love interest (or is she?) and an early John Lithgow playing Burke, a homicidal maniac hired to take out Sally (as he takes out seemingly every woman who resembles her). DePalma would use Lithgow to greater effect in Raising Cain, and here he shows the promise of that later film.
SPOILER BEGINS
I must comment on the ending and say that it is one of the most heartbreaking I have seen, and yet works entirely in the context of the film. It really could not have ended any other way, and I laud DePalma for avoiding the typical Hollywood happy ending.
SPOILER ENDS
(and so does this review)
Movie Review: Technically Proficient Tale
Summary: 4 Stars
What Brian De Palma and Vilmos Zsigmond did with the Panavision landscape in this film was incredibly innovative and years ahead of its time. One might think that many of the shots in this film were computer generated. The story is equally impressive and that's the dichotomy about this whole film. Style seems to minimize the substance of the story. The best sequence in the film is when John Travolta splices together the frames of the car and matches them up with the recording he made of the blow out. The rest of the film has a hallucinatory effect to it, which is either good or bad depending on how you perceive the story. Is it a thriller or an allegory or both?Movie Review: A great movie about movie-making and more
Summary: 4 Stars
Yeah, yeah-- more extras would have been nice, but this DVD DOES give you a sharp, sparkling print of a great Brian De Palma movie, one of his best, in fact. So, at this price, why complain? Just turn down the lights and enjoy it.Movie Review: Intriguing
Summary: 4 Stars
Interesting but derivative thriller concerning a sound-effects guy (John Travolta) who becomes involved in a murder mystery when he accidentally records a car crash killing a would-be candidate for governor. He befriends the candidate's mistress (Nancy Allen) and they team up to provide evidence as to whether he was killed or died by accident. DePalma borrows heavily from other, superior sources ("Rear Window" and "The Conversation"), but he still makes this film fun to watch. It drags in some areas, but you're always intrigued and you're left wondering what's going to happen next. However, while DePalma's other 2 films, "Carrie" and "Dressed to Kill" got loaded with features, "Blow Out" only has a trailer. I guess this is because it was the least successful of the three films, but movie buffs and casual viewers should still check out this one. (Trivia: Travolta and Allen already appeared together in another DePalma film: "Carrie.")Movie Review: My favorite DePalma film
Summary: 5 Stars
While it's true BLOW OUT's story cribs from other films, I think this is Brian DePalma's best movie (why is he making garbage now like MISSION TO MARS?!) -- it's right up there with THE UNTOUCHABLES. Travolta gives an understated performance (perhaps one of his best); Nancy Allen is also touching as the hooker with a heart of gold (love that Jersey accent) ; and John Lithgow is suitably creepy as the villian. I also love the opening that lampoons the slasher horror films that were on the rise in popularity when this came out -- very witty satire from DePalma (though I wonder if he meant it as such -- he might have been poking fun at CARRIE, which he also directed).If you like Hitchcockian thrillers, you won't go wrong here. Great premise that reflects the paranoia of the '70s. Too bad the DVD doesn't have any extras aside from the trailer.