Kathryn Bigelowhas become one of the most renowned and celebrated women in the film industry for her critically acclaimed films such asThe Hurt Locker, which made her the first woman filmmaker to receive an Oscar for Best Director. Many of her early genre exercises, likeNear DarkandPoint Break, stand out among her best as well. But one of her greatest movies starsJamie Lee Curtis, and is underappreciated in the context of Bigelow’s impressive career.
Blue Steelis a 1990 action thriller that follows Curtis as a freshly sworn-in NYPD officer, Megan Turner. Turner guns down an armed robber in a convenience store on her first day of duty, and a witness of this confrontation (Ron Silver) becomes violently obsessed with her in the wake of the incident. The film succeeds in the confines of what could act as a straightforward action thriller, butBigelow and Curtis add layers toBlue Steelby subverting and deconstructing major fixtures of gender politicsthat are present both interpersonally and institutionally, as well as throughout many of our favorite action films cut from this cloth.
Kathryn Bigelow Transformed a Cop Thriller Into an Exploration of Gender Politics With ‘Blue Steel’
For all of Bigelow’s critically-praised films,Blue Steelis one that has somehow managed to slip through the cracks. Bigelow’s confidence in making a movie that acts asa dissection of aperfunctory type of crime thrilleris what makesBlue Steelsucha thrilling, subversive genre piece— one that deserves more recognition. Bigelow’s stylish, moody direction calls attention to action films as an extension of social politics. There is a sensual and almost psychosexual element to how Bigelow frames firearms throughout the film, packingBlue Steelwith commentary aboutthe relationship between masculinity and violence. The film’s throughline asks a question of the viewer: how would the other characters in this story react if Turner were a man? Would her superior officers be harsh on a male cop’s decision to shoot the robber in the opening scene?
Turner sits as they litigate everything from how many bullets she fired to whether the assailant even had a gun in the first place. Their skepticism reads loud and clear as stemming from a perceived notion that she is out of her element on account of her womanhood. This dismissal of Turner’s actions and feelings continues as the stalker plot grows in intensity, withfew of her colleagues believing that she is in any serious danger. This is where Turner —and the audience — must accept that the men who are supposed to be on her side are ostensibly going to fail her, and she cannot rely on them.
‘Blue Steel’s Triumphant Ending Is a Double-Edged Sword
Curtis’ horror movie background, especially her iconic portrayal ofLaurie Strode inHalloween, made her aposter-child of the Final Girl cinematic trope in the early years of her career. Thishorror tropeoften revolves around a fairly meek, innocuous female character whose vulnerability is challenged when she is left the only remaining survivor of a slasher villain’s massacre. This Final Girl must overcome her fears to survive. The classic horror films of the 70s and 80s often featured male heroes coming in, sometimes at the last possible minute, to triumphantly save the Final Girl and dispatch the killer. Laurie Strode puts up a fight, but it is Dr. Loomis who ultimately shoots Michael Myers off the balcony, saving the day (untilHalloween II, which resolves in a similar fashion).
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“It was the boogeyman.”
Blue Steelis couched as a crime thriller, but the structure of the movie resolves into more of a horror story as Silver’s obsessive stalker character grows more deranged and violent. The film sees Turner up against a tide of masculine arrogance and violence that threatens her own life, and she knows she cannot wait for a man to come around and save her. Turner is armed and ready to fight back.Clancy Brown’s chauvinist detective character, who gradually warms up to Turner, is the one who needs saving and is the one who is attacked while nude and left in a vulnerable, exploitative position for Turner to discover and seek vengeance.Bigelow subverts the typical gender dynamics of thrillers and horror films with this choice, and sets Turner up for a thrilling showdown that sees the heroine take matters into her own hands.
But the film’s mature perspective on themes of violence, vengeance, and womanhood is not compromised with a sentimental ending. Turner gets what she was after, but everything still feels broken. You’re left with a sense that she will continue having to fight these battles, underlining the central theme of the film thatwomen are not heard, seen, respected, or acknowledged in male spaces. The film is cynical in this respect, but audiences are assured by Curtis' strong performance that Turner will be strong enough to keep the fight going.
Blue Steel
Blue Steel is a thriller film centered around a rookie police officer who becomes embroiled in a dangerous cat-and-mouse game with a psychopathic killer. As she struggles to prove her innocence and catch the criminal, she faces personal and professional challenges that test her limits and resolve.
