Review of Blow Out (1981) by The A — 15 Feb 2011

A sound man who wastes his time working on sound effects for.

B-movies accidentally captures a possible murder of a Governor, whose car immediately crashes into a lake. The sound man attempts to rescue the passengers trapped in the car but instead rescues a young woman who was with the Governor. After the Governor is pronounced dead, mysterious figures come and keep the sound man and the woman out of the media spotlight and soon gets lured into a political conspiracy and paranoia.

This is one of De Palma's absolute greats. It's a Hitchcockian paranoia suspense thriller that is clearly inspired by the 1966 classic British Blow Up Antonioni and references many other classics in the thriller genre but this film holds its own. Filled with the stylish camerawork and skilled filmmaking of De Palma and a very believable performance from Travolta makes this one tense and gripping thriller that reminds you of the great works of Hitchcock. It's got the right mood and sense of paranoia throughout the film and you feel a sense that someone's always watching these characters and their every move while merging political elements into the plot.

If you are a fan of clever plotting and satisfying thrillers, this flick is for you but it has its share of flaws. One major flaw was the casting of Nancy Allen, who is hot by the way, but turns out an annoying performance, trying too hard to look dumb, and an underwhelming ending fails to hit to you emotionally.

But all in all, this is one of the rare works in modern suspense thrillers that work because everything is done right.

B+.

8/10.