It is my understanding most law enforcement officers never have to fire a shot in the line of duty at any point in their career. Poor Jamie Lee Curtis ends up shooting dead a gun-waving robber on the first day of the job in 1990’s Blue Steel. When I stopped to think about it, the most interesting things that happen to cops in movies will occur either right when they started or when they only have days until retirement. One wonders if the time between those is a bit of a bore.
This picture was directed and co-written by Kathryn Bigelow. It has some well-composed action sequences, which seem to foretell the work she would later to on Point Break. Unfortunately, it has many elements which stretch credibility to the breaking point (which, once again, seems to foretell Point Break).
While I may have believed Curtis as the police rookie, I didn’t believe many of the plot developments involving her, nor many of the decisions made by her character. In the chaos of a supermarket robbery she tries to stop, her gun falls to the floor and is pocketed by Ron Silver, a commodities trader who just happened to be shopping there at the time. This unleashes in him a desire to kill, making him one of the least believable serial killers I have ever seen on the screen.
Silver is not a bad actor, but he simply can’t sell this. There are moments where he is supposed to be a raving lunatic, but he looks like Michael Nesmith of the Monkees having a breakdown. If you watch this movie, imagine a toque on Silver’s head and see if you agree. The least believable moments have him conversing with voices in his head. I know we’re supposed to be thinking of the Son of Sam killer, but I found it unbelievable.
The script seriously ramps up the crazy by having Silver successfully seduce Curtis while conducting his reign of terror. She had been put on leave as result of the supermarket incident, yet is suddenly brought back as a detective when it is discovered her name has been etched into the shell casings left at the scene of Silver’s shootings. This is a strange version of the “falling up” career move. Maybe she just needs to get unwittingly involved with a second serial killer and they’d bump her up to captain.
For movies such as this, I have come to accept six-shooters seeming to have the magical ability to reload themselves. Even if the reloading is supposedly edited out, I doubted Curtis nor Silver had extra boxes of ammunition on them, and that’s the only way the ridiculous volume of shots exchanged could have been possible. I was also willing accept Curtis punching out a paunchy male cop who is a head taller than her, and even that his uniform can somehow fit her. In reality, she would have looked like she’s wearing a circus tent.
Admittedly, Blue Steel isn’t significantly different from similarly sexed-upped thrillers of the late 80’s and early 90’s. The major problem is not only did I only believe its premise, but the characters who find themselves in it consistently fail to behave like how normal carbon-based lifeforms might.
Consider this moment: Curtis and another detective (Clancy Brown) are watching a park at night to see if Silver will dig up a gun he’s buried there. Curtis sees a light in the woods and handcuffs Brown to the steering wheel while she runs off to investigate. There’s no reason for this, except to leave her partner helpless when it is revealed Silver set up a decoy to draw away Curtis. But that would mean Silver somehow knows Curtis would impair her partner to go off on her own, a move that doesn’t make any sense and so it doesn’t make any sense Silver would anticipate this. Great, now Curtis is dealing not just with a diabolical schizophrenic but one who is psychic.
Please note I refrained from any Zoolander references while reviewing this film.
Dir: Kathryn Bigelow
Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown
Watched on Vestron blu-ray