Blue Steel - Blu-ray Review

[Michael Scott]

Blue Steel



Movie:
Video:
Audio:
Extras:
Final Score:



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Movie
I think it’s been about 6 years since I’ve done a Vestron Video review from Lionsgate. Looking back it looks like the Wishmaster trilogy was the final film of theirs I did before we moved over here at Avnirvana. Well, nothing like ending 2023 with their 31st film, in what can only be described as pure gonzo thriller fun.

The 1990s was a crazy time for thrillers. It was all about sleaze, hot chicks, and big guns, and I was the perfect example of a kid brought up in that time period. My formative years were spent looking over my older brothers shoulders while they watched Cape Fear, Copycat, Misery, etc, and get sent to bed when they noticed me hovering behind them. Not to mention Jamie Lee Curtis was pretty much a stone cold fox in those days and any excuse to watch a 90s JLC movie is fine by me. I don’t really remember Blue Steel very well, but I know I’ve caught at least portions of the film on late night tv over the last 30 years, as I vividly remembered pieces of the film when I saw them, but for the most part this was a virgin viewing of the flick.

Roger Ebert famously said that Blue Steel was basically a mixture of Fatal Attraction and Wall Street, and I can kind of see where he’s coming from. It incorporates the elements of “what the heck did I let into my life?” from Fatal Attraction and the “rich guy does whatever he wants” elements of Wall Street, just in a 1990s sleazy action movie vibe. The plot revolves around rookie cop Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) smoking a gun toting robber (played for about 60 seconds by Tom Sizemore) on her first day on the force. Unfortunately for her the gun goes missing from the crime scene, leaving Chief Stanley Hoyt (Kevin Dunn) with the decision to put her on suspension for what could be an unjustified homicide by cop.

The thing is, the gun was there, it was just stolen by stock broker Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver in all his creepy glory) who has a few bats in his belfry. Eugene is enamored with the power of having a firearm in his hands, and soon decides to move from fantasizing about using it to actually using it on innocent people. Megan is roped into the situation once more when a shell casing turns up at a random murder with her name etched into the brass. Chief Hoyt assigns here to homicide detective Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) so that he can keep an eye on her as they both hunt down the killer. Oh, did I mention that Eugene starts up a relationship with Megan out of the blue, wheedling his way into her life until it’s almost too late for her to realize that she’s dating the serial killer that they’re after.

I’m not gonna lie here. Blue Steel is not some paragon of 90s action thrillers. In fact, it’s not even that good. But what makes it FUN is the 100% gusto of Ron Silver (who I will always see as the villain senator from Van Damme’s Time Cop) as the unhinged Eugene. The man has a penchant for playing psycho villains, and he lets his freak flag fly at full mast for this one. He exudes that perfect amount of charm, aggressive misogyny, and that little flicker of insanity that made him so wildly unpredictable and perfect to hate. Jamie Lee Curtis is solid here, but she was still considered the “queen of scream” at this junction of her career, and wasn’t the massive Hollywood star like she would become in the mid 90s. Still, she’s a good foil for Ron’s crazy, playing a off rookie who wants to get her man.






Rating:

Rated R by the MPAA




Video:

Judging by the image here (and no fanfare from Lionsgate) I’m going to assume that this was taken from an already crafted scan of the film. The film looks generally very good, with a nice clean image that sports solid detail levels and good contrast. There’s a light blue tinge to many scenes, with mahogany wood tones for the interior shots, and a VERY slight dark red push for facial tones. I noticed some mild black crush in the darker shots and there’s some occasional flickers and speckles that pop up for a micro second. But despite those minor quirks, the image really does look quite nice with a nice 1990s “vibe” to it that isn’t in bad shape at all.









Audio:

The only English audio track on the disc is a solid mid range 2.0 DTS-HD MA stereo track. Unfolded with my receiver the mix is quite solid, but isn’t overly impressive. Dialog is clean and clear, surrounds get some ambient use in the city environment, and there’s some moderate low end with gunshots and use of the intense “90s score”. There’s not a whole lot of depth to the mix, but it handles most things rather admirably, but the dynamic range is not that wide. It’s a fairly narrow band that sticks to what its good at.Which means it handles business, but doesn't try to over excel.












Extras:

• Audio Commentary with Film Historian Alexandra Heller-Nicholas
• "A Hired Gun" with Editor Lee Percy
• "The Phallic Woman: Deconstructing Blue Steel" with Film Historian Professor Jennifer Moorman
• "Staring Down the Barrel" with Production Designer Toby Corbett
• A Profound Emotional Response – A Video Essay by Film Historian Chris O'Neill
• Theatrical Trailer
• TV Spots
• Vintage Promo
• Still Gallery

Final Score:
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As I said, I’m in no way going to gush about Blue Steel as a stone cold classic. But it’s that perfect little late night sleazy thriller you forgot about from the 90s with a charming cast, which makes for a fun late night movie watch with a medium pizza and a six pack. Vestron Video’s lineup were never the mega blockbusters (kind of like Cannon Films), but they had a LOT of fun flicks from the 90s in their back catalog and I’m glad that Lionsgate is still putting these films out on Blu-ray. The technical specs are very solid (though it doesn’t look like there’s been a new scan for the video) and there’s a ton of new added extras from film historians added to the mix as well. Solid thumbs up from this 90s fan.


Technical Specifications:

Starring: Jamie Lee Curtis, Clancy Brown, Ron Silver, Kevin Dunn, Richard Jenkins
Directed by: Kathryn Bigelow
Written by: Kathryn Begelow, Eric Red
Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1 AVC
Audio: English: DTS-HD MA 2.0
Subtitles: English SDH, Spanish
Studio: Lionsgate
Rated: R
Runtime: 102 minutes
Blu-Ray Release Date: November 14th, 2023

Recommendation: Fun Watch