Review of Blow Out (1981) by Marcel S — 05 May 2011

Rightly regarded by many as Brian De Palma's masterpiece, Blow Out is a fast-moving, extremely dark thriller about a B-movie sound man who becomes involved in a political assassination. The plot itself sounds mediocre, but it's in the way De Palma unfolds the story that makes it distinctive -- crafting a tale in which hope for our heroes runs out fairly early, and we're left to watch their desperate attempts at proving the truth become crushed and swept under the rug by forces far more powerful than they are.

Everyone's on their A-game here, including leads Travolta and Nancy Allen, Director of Photography Vilmos Zsigmond (sticking to De Palma traditions here by giving us a lot of diffusion-heavy, lens-crazy, almost liquid camerawork) and composer Pino Donaggio, who creates a score that does everything that a good score should.

Sit back and watch a flick by a man who truly understands the language of film.