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Blow Out (1981)
 
Review
It
isn't just the title that is reminiscent of Antonioli's
Blow-Up,
it's director Brian De Palma's entire approach. With its high focus
on imagery, compositions and juxtapositions, Blow Out may
well be De Palma's most stylistically ambitious film. And his
wizardry is quite successful, because the film looks and feels
great, like a juiced-up and playful version of the 70s political
paranoia thriller. Made in 1981, the film catches John Travolta
right in the wake of his breakthrough, possibly at his most
confident and good-looking. He has rarely done better, before or
since, when it comes to pure acting performance. He is De Palma's
perfect instrument to modernize and freshen up an otherwise rather
Hitchcockesque thriller – which holds up well and is only a little
short of magnificent. John Lithgow played his first of many psychos,
although as with all of them, you kind of sense the good guy behind
the mask.
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