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Blow Out Movie Review

Blow Out is a 1981 neo-noir mystery thriller film directed by Brian De Palma and starring John Travolta and Nancy Allen. It is an obvious improvement upon the original film.

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“It’s a good scream.

It’s a good scream“

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A movie sound recordist accidentally records the evidence that proves that a car accident was actually murder and consequently finds himself in danger. That is the premise behind this neo-noir that pretty much acts as a remake of Michelangelo Antonioni’s ‘Blowup’, but with the photography medium changed to audio recording.

I personally really did not care for the original film. Antonioni’s films are not my cup of tea and that movie was a waste of potential given that the premise was ripe for excellent thriller filmmaking. Thankfully, the remake came out in the early eighties and delivered much better on the promises of this terrific premise.

This is a thematically rich movie with a strong emphasis on sound recording, remixing and the interaction between images and sounds. Filmmaking is at the core of the movie as it is also littered with references to other films of the same genre while also dealing with some political elements, in particular the JFK assassination.

The film is at its best when dealing with sound recording while the political themes came too late in the game and those were solid, but more could have been done with them. There is also a big emphasis on serial killer chills in the third act and I found that section to be the best along with the intriguing opening with the car crash that was gorgeously filmed and quite intense. The ending overall felt very dark in its unexpectedly admirable grim outcome.

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John Travolta delivered an excellent performance in the main role. I wouldn’t have personally expected him to be cast in such a role, but he did deliver and the character as a whole worked as he was well written. I also really liked Nancy Allen as Sally. The two share an interesting, charming even dynamic and her eventual death was quite tragic. John Lithgow is the villain in one of his earlier films, the earliest that I’ve seen him in myself, and he was fantastic in the little screen time that he received.

While Blow Out is mostly very strong, I personally would have gone with even more action scenes. They should have gone into full suspense thriller territory instead of devoting the majority of the second act to excessive conversations. The dialogue is pretty good, but again the movie needed more twists and turns and even more thrills in my opinion.

The cinematography in the film is excellent, very dark and suitably noirish in atmosphere. Some of the imagery is strikingly memorable with the aforementioned car crash sequence being instantly iconic in my book. The movie’s aesthetic is grim, but definitely successful in evoking the genre’s roots.

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I also really appreciated the score that was very intense and some of the themes do stick with you. The sound is obviously excellent as the movie is all about recording and mixing. The directing by Brian De Palma is efficient while the editing and pacing are mostly fantastic. Again, even more could have been done with this amazing premise, but it’s miles above the original, so I was eventually satisfied with it.