Rating: 
Summary: nice paranoia thriller
Review: John Travolta plays this sound effects guy and then something happens..he is then abyssed into a web of thrills and paranoia....and its Directed by Brian DePalma(Scarface, Femme Fatale, Snake Eyes)..though it gets boring with all the circling of the cameras and all that but its a great thriller...a B effort from Travolta leading him up to Pulp Fiction I'd say.
Rating: 
Summary: An easy film to sum up...
Review: Just repeat the following several times.
1) Draggy plot
2) Uninspired acting, especially Allen, who almost sinks it
3) unimaginative (story, direction, etc)
Then get a Hitchcock film.
Rating: 
Summary: So-so Depalma thriller
Review: Like most thrillers by Brian DePalma, and unlike his latest thriller `Snake Eyes', 'Blowout'(from 1981) features a very strong ending that stays with you for a long time. Even though I'm a huge DePalma fan I didn't find the movie that entertaining. It's far from bad but nor is it a great pic. The critics liked it, but it didn't do that well at the box office. However, like DePalmas 'Scarface', 'Carrie', 'Mission:Impossible', 'Obsession', 'Dressed to Kill' and 'Casualties of War' the finale is dynamite. So all in all, maybe three and a half stars.
Rating: 
Summary: NANCY ALLEN STEALS "BLOW OUT"
Review: Nancy Allen (in particular) and John Travolta explode on the screen in Brian De Palma's under-rated 1981 political thriller, "Blow Out". The direction and photography mixed with the tense and windy script make Blow Out a keeper for any fan of thrillers. The supporting cast of NYPD Blue's Dennis Franz and Third Rock's John Lithgow add the extra spark needed to make this film a contemporary classic. Travolta and Allen have never been better!
Rating:
Summary: Classic Film
Review: One of the Best films of the last 20 years, Blow out is De Palma's Masterpiece. Perhaps the best of all Paranoid conspiracy thrillers, it contains a stunning performance from john Travolta and very emotive one from Nancy Allen. Both actors sparkle with onscreen presence and chemistry. It's credentials are stunning , With De Palma, Zsigmond, and Paul Hirsch all behind the camera. Along with Apocalypse Now and Raging Bull, one of the best American films of it's era
Rating:
Summary: Everybody buy it
Review: The reviews below do a fine job of summing up the film and it's virtues;I just want to say a few words about the new DVD version. The good: boy, it looks and sounds great, and the letterboxing (after 20 years of tape versions)is a godsend. The not-so-good: no extras except a trailer. Laurent Bozereau (De Palma fanatic and person responsible for all the great extras on the simultaneously released "Dressed to Kill" and "Carrie" DVDs) says it's because MGM had already pressed it before he ever came on the scene. He says if the disc is a big sales success there'll probably be a rerelease with more stuff somewhere down the line. So c'mon...it's a great movie, the price is right.
Rating:
Summary: A Loser
Review: What a disappointment. The actors went through the motions. I didn't care what happened by the end except that the movie be over. The ending was the best part of the film, though. It was unexpected. I did not find this film suspenseful. I was bored by it.
Rating:
Summary: Technically Proficient Tale
Review: What Brian De Palma and Vilmos Zsigmond did with the Panavision landscape in this film was incredibly innovative and years ahead of its time. One might think that many of the shots in this film were computer generated. The story is equally impressive and that's the dichotomy about this whole film. Style seems to minimize the substance of the story. The best sequence in the film is when John Travolta splices together the frames of the car and matches them up with the recording he made of the blow out. The rest of the film has a hallucinatory effect to it, which is either good or bad depending on how you perceive the story. Is it a thriller or an allegory or both?
Rating:
Summary: BLOW OUT-- another De Palma masterpiece!!
Review: While it may be deriative of other films (Hitchcock's REAR WINDOW and even De Palma's own BODY DOUBLE and DRESSED TO KILL), this still stands as one of his best. A movie sound man (John Travolta in one of his best performances), inadvertantly records an accident while recording effects for a new film-- one that kills the governor. He saves the other passenger, a hooker (Nancy Allen in another great performance that reminds one of her hooker character in DRESSED TO KILL) who tries to help him solve the case. Meanwhile, a killer is on the loose, killing off Nancy Allen look-alikes in a most brutal fashion-- strangling them, and then stabbing a picture of the liberty bell on their stomachs. Travolta and Allen try to put the pieces of the puzzle together by putting together a film of the accident, which is purposefully erased to make it look like Travolta is full of crap. The killer calls Allen to meet her at a subway so she can give him the tapes of the accident, disgusing himself as a TV reporter. Travolta figures out a way to rig a microphone onto Allen so he can hear everything they are saying from his car. When he hears the guys voice, he knows it is not that reporter, and he races to find them before it is too late... In some ways, this is a very complex, disturbing, suspenseful, and often confusing thriller. But that's that way it was meant to be. And you'll see that, at the end, the pieces of the puzzle all really do fit together (despite a very sad ending, you'll figure it out, through the tears). MGM does a great job on the presentation on BLOW OUT, giving you a choice of widescreen or fullscreen on a two sided disc. Unfortunately, the only extra is the theatrical trailer, and that is a major disappointment on the issue of the DVD. Both CARRIE and DRESSED TO KILL got documentaries and tons of extras, and one wonders why BLOW OUT couldn't have, but what you have to realize is this: those two films were special editions, while BLOW OUT is not. It was the same thing with the original CARRIE DVD-- the only extra was a trailer-- until they released it in a special edition version. Frankly, I think all of De Palma's films are worth owning on DVD. These are his horror titles I recommend that are available on DVD: SISTERS, PHANTOM OF THE PARADISE, OBSESSION, CARRIE, THE FURY, DRESSED TO KILL, BLOW OUT, BODY DOUBLE, and RAISING CAIN.
Rating:
Summary: My favorite DePalma film
Review: While it's true BLOW OUT's story cribs from other films, I think this is Brian DePalma's best movie (why is he making garbage now like MISSION TO MARS?!) -- it's right up there with THE UNTOUCHABLES. Travolta gives an understated performance (perhaps one of his best); Nancy Allen is also touching as the hooker with a heart of gold (love that Jersey accent) ; and John Lithgow is suitably creepy as the villian. I also love the opening that lampoons the slasher horror films that were on the rise in popularity when this came out -- very witty satire from DePalma (though I wonder if he meant it as such -- he might have been poking fun at CARRIE, which he also directed). If you like Hitchcockian thrillers, you won't go wrong here. Great premise that reflects the paranoia of the '70s. Too bad the DVD doesn't have any extras aside from the trailer.
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