In the amazingly hyperbolic finale, DePalma conflates patriotism, dirty tricks, violence against women, and slasher movies into a single sick joke.
Comment
08/20/09
Blow Out (1981)
89
%
Tomatometer
How does the Tomatometer work 
Reviews Counted:36
Fresh:32
Rotten:4
Average Rating:7.5/10
Consensus: With a story inspired by Antonioni's Blow Up and a style informed by the high-gloss suspense of Hitchcock, DePalma's Blow Out is raw, politically informed, and littered with film references.
Synopsis: While outdoors recording sound effects for a movie, audio technician Jack Terri hears a tire blowout and a car crash. Before the car sinks into the river, he manages to save the female passenger... [More]
Starring: John Travolta, Nancy Allen, John Lithgow, Dennis Franz
Director: Brian De Palma
Reviews for Blow Out
There are some neat performances, particularly Travolta's convincing bid to be taken seriously after years of being dismissed as frivolous beefcake.
03/27/09
A forgotten gem.
03/27/09
Top CriticAn homage to Blow Up that far outstrips the original in emotional immediacy, political sophistication, and visual style.
03/27/09
This 1981 release is one of Brian De Palma's more interesting and better-made thrillers, though it's even more abjectly derivative than his Hitchcock imitations.
03/27/09
With attractive leads and a stylish flair for suspense, De Palma misses sustaining involvement by his distracting allusions to prior films.
03/26/09
Top CriticIt’s a great movie.
05/28/08
Top CriticOriginal for sure story of Travolta's movie sound effects guy recording a real murder.
02/21/08
No review available.
01/20/08
Blow Out is not known as one of Brian De Palma's horror movies, but of all his films, it's the one that feels most like a nightmare.
08/26/06
Where Antonioni's images made you think, De Palma's merely make you blink, and the baroque plot confuses as often as it frightens.
06/24/06
A well-crafted Hitchcockian-style thriller with De Palma again in top form. It's a mystery why this fizzled at the box office in the summer of 1981.
01/24/06
No review available.
07/24/05
No review available.
01/07/05
One of Travlota's best performances. "Great scream."
01/01/05
A movie which continues [De Palma] practice of making cross-references to other movies, other directors, and actual historical events, and which nevertheless is his best and most original work.
10/23/04
Top CriticNo review available.
10/08/04
Of all De Palma's movies, Blow Out is the one I most like to see over and over.
10/06/04
Blow Out is the work of a high-spirited, irrepressible director who takes the effects movies can produce far more seriously than he takes the characters they seem to be about.
08/30/04
Top CriticWhat’s Hot On RT
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