Blue Steel (1990)

"Blue Steel" features a solid pe4rformance from Jamie Lee Curtis and the stylish direction you've come to expect from Kathryn Bigelow, but its story about a crazy serial killer preying on a rookie officer is predicated on some sketchy writing. So, Curtis is the tough lady cop who foils a grocery robbery, and Ron Silver the bystander who witnesses the shooting and (by the way) pockets the robber's gun. None of the witnesses come to Curtis' support that she fired in self-defense? From the outset, she's on the defensive from everybody, including her own brothers in blue. And from then on, it's one contrivance after another that lets Silver slip through the cracks. After awhile, you just start pulling your hair.This is forgettable stalker material, but Bigelow at least keeps things moving.5/10

"Blue Steel" is an action-packed cop drama in which a female police officer is stalked by a violent psychopath who terrorises her and also puts the lives of her family and friends in danger. Her ordeal isn't helped by the lack of support that she receives from her employers or the negative way in which most people respond to her choice of career.Megan Turner (Jamie Lee Curtis) is a New York City cop who, on her first night in the job, shoots and kills a gunman who was holding up a supermarket. When the robber's gun falls to the floor, one of the customers, a commodities broker called Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), picks it up and leaves. Shortly after the incident, Megan is suspended from duty because the absence of a weapon suggests that she may have panicked and killed an unarmed man.Soon, a number of dead bodies are found on the streets of the city and it becomes evident that they are all victims of a serial killer who's shooting people at random with bullets which have Megan's name inscribed on them. At this point, homicide detective Nick Martin (Clancy Brown) arranges for Megan to be reinstated in the hope that she can help him to catch the killer.The manipulative Eugene Hunt arranges to meet Megan and starts courting her and soon she starts to fall for him. His obsession with her was sparked by her actions on the night of the shooting and it takes a little time before Megan realises that he's seriously disturbed and very dangerous. The danger that Megan finds herself in then continues to escalate steadily as every effort she makes to stop his rampage meets with the same lack of success.Megan Turner's character is the main focus of this film and she's shown to be someone who, as a child, was made to feel angry and powerless because she grew up in a home where her mother was regularly beaten by her father. Her chosen career was attractive to her because it enabled her to exercise power over others and prevent herself from becoming a victim like her mother. Megan's anger, however, is ever present and so when she's asked why she chose to become a police officer, she replies in a semi-humorous way "I like to slam people's heads against walls". This remark is revealing because it's not the type of comment that any well-adjusted person would make and it highlights just how brittle a personality she is.Jamie Lee Curtis captures her character's mixture of toughness, determination and fear perfectly and Ron Silver makes a very strong impression as the unhinged villain who seems completely unstoppable."Blue Steel" is stylishly made and remains engaging throughout despite the fact that it requires a little too much suspension of disbelief at various junctures in order to enjoy it fully.

worst supposed bad guy ever.............he's like a smiling teddy bear............not even the least hint of scariness.........even when he's supposedly doing gory stuff he acts like he's selling socks at the shoe store.................and jamie lee.......can not play sexy period..........even though she's decent looking and built she always comes off like my aunt or a pta soccer mom........who uhhh sells yogurt................her sex scenes are like watching your mom...........this is something i hope to never see again .............ever.............and please only use ron silver as a boring attorney,real estate salesman or doctor...........you know boring people with no emotion.............and jamie lee...........well...........she sells yogurt..........as she should..............man what a stinker..............

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.