Blow Out Reviews

Blow Out is one of those influential films in the horror genre that rarely anyone had heard of. People should know what Blow Out is and to me, it’s one of the few good American giallo films ever made. It has great acting, great scares and thrills, and not just one but TWO great performances from Travolta and Lithgow! This film has been referenced, parodied and even influenced by both pop culture in general and future horror films

De Palma pours the sum total of his talents into what is now viewed by many to be his magnum opus, "Blow Out". John Travolta (in a career-best turn) impeccably portrays a movie soundman and surveillance expert who inadvertently records the assassination of a Presidential hopeful. Operating as an instigating progressive for the narrative, the electrifying murder itself, dissected and rewound within the film, boldly unveils the complex, mysterious, illusory and seductive power of filmmaking as the obsessive, fanatical process that it truly is.
By way of exploring a vast litany of themes including paranoia, voyeurism and technology, De Palma realises his most downbeat, loaded homage to Hitchcock, and yet, whilst derivative of American cinema of the 1950s and 1970s, "Blow Out" also references British cinema of the 1960s, particularly its namesake, Antonioni's art film "Blow-Up". Exposing the machinations of filmmaking and politics with reverberating narrative depth, "Blow Out" employs intricate, nuanced layering through a cynical, conspiratorial and carnal prism, meaning that De Palma's tendency to veer towards style over substance with his work does not apply here; his cinematic pathology, psychology and choreography converge flawlessly, achieving thematic resonance by navigating his fantasy world (divided personalities, porno set pieces, technical gimmickry, split-screens opening up a self-contained world and new perspectives of situations, movies-within-movies, socially relevant characters at cross purposes, variable identities, sensibilities and worldviews that match his own) whilst acknowledging stark, blunt-edged reality through gymnastic camera work, black-comic dialogue and emotion-laden imagery.
Coded, stunning photography, dense plot and suspenseful set pieces are all harnessed by De Palma to expound his trademark audacious perfectionism, sinister elegance and stylistic flair, but "Blow Out" crystallises its pop culture allusions in baroque, fluid form, sustaining alacritous momentum before adopting an unhinged pace at its heart-stopping climax and profoundly tragic end executed with precision detail. Scathing in its dissection of the very landscape it celebrates, the tonally sardonic examination of corruption and dissent within government pervades through every aspect of the film, which is generally unrelenting in its multi-faceted, voluptuousness, however, with more political overtones than sexual, De Palma is able to earnestly explore crime and horror through a new darkly poetic lens. "Blow Out" is a personal culmination of recurring ideas, themes and styles imbued with poignancy and ripened artistry that evokes all of De Palma's dynamic yet flawed previous work and expertly supersedes it, crafting a capacious, virtuoso aesthetic experience that will render you at once unequivocally destabilised, mesmerised and emotionally destroyed.

Nowadays, Brian de Palma is pretty much forgotten but back in the 70's and the 80's, he was a major movie director. Anyway, I always had a weak spot for this director and, in my opinion, this movie is easily one of his best. Apparently, Quentin Tarantino even said that this film is his favorite Brian De Palma movie and Tarantino cast John Travolta in ‘Pulp Fiction’ because he liked his performance in this movie so much. Basically, it is a typical de Palma thriller, the style where he had the best results and it was obviously also an homage to 'Blowup', the great flick directed by Antonioni. However, even though the plot follows the same structure, the directing style was quite different. As a result, I thought that the mood was just great and the story was quite spellbinding. Back in those days, Travolta, before disappearing into oblivion in a few years later, delivered here a decent and believable performance. Of course, since you are dealing with an American thriller, at the end, you have some rather preposterous twist(s) and action scenes but, for once, it didn’t bother me much. To conclude, it is a rather spellbinding thriller and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in de Palma's work.