Blue Steel (1989)

Bigelow, Bullets and Basic Questions - Blue Steel review by griggs

For a cop thriller where the missing gun is basically screaming for attention, Blue Steel treats basic investigation like optional garnish. The logic is flimsy enough to come with its own safety warning, and several plot turns survive only because everyone involved has agreed not to ask the obvious question.

Still, I had a good time. It moves like it’s being chased by its own bad decisions, barrelling from one crisis to the next with barely a pause for oxygen. Kathryn Bigelow gives the whole thing enough style and momentum to stop the nonsense from setting solid.

Jamie Lee Curtis carries it well: tough, rattled, and far more believable than the script always deserves. Ron Silver is much better as menace than seduction, which does make the romance angle feel less “dangerous obsession” and more “please change your locks immediately”. Clancy Brown, meanwhile, is oddly lovely as the rare man here not setting off every alarm in the building.

Messy, daft, and full of cracks — but it rattles along with enough pulp energy to earn its keep.