Blue Steel (1990)

Directed by Kathryn Bigelow. Starring Jamie Lee Curtis, Ron Silver, Clancy Brown, Kevin Dunn, Elizabeth Peña, Richard Jenkins, Louise Fletcher. [R]

A cold, stylish cop thriller, well-made and acted with a certain mad conviction, but unable to overcome its preposterous narrative and unnatural dialogue. Plot holes run rampant, starting with the one that puts Curtis’ rookie cop in hot water with her precinct on her first day on the job—she shoots and kills an armed convenience store robber, but since the perp’s gun wasn’t found at the crime scene, her superiors doubt her version of events even though there were multiple witnesses on-hand to corroborate the presence of the gun! One of those witnesses (Silver) was somehow able to swipe the weapon and slip away in the aftermath, and he turns out to be real sicko, gunning down innocent people left and right with her firearm, although the movie is unclear if he’d always been a predatory monster or only started killing after getting his hands on the gun (he’s shown evidently hearing voices in his head…how long were they there?). Adding to the contrived plot, the killer puts the moves on the rookie and they start dating(!), so now the cop movie clichés and mad killer clichés can get some company from bad romance clichés and stalked-woman-in-danger clichés. Hardly a moment can be believed in the last half-hour or so (including Curtis climbing into bed with a detective she works with), so filmcraft and the sharply-etched (if not always plausible) characters are all that’s left keeping it barely afloat. Somewhat effective at achieving its goals, but too frustrating throughout to give it more than the mildest of recommendations. Oliver Stone co-produced. Matt Craven and Philip Bosco make brief appearances; Tom Sizemore plays the convenience store robber.

52/100