Rating: Summary: Not Quite Thunder. Review: The 1980's were an era that mass produced more... screwball comedies than ever before. It was also the era that movies filled with mega-violence were made and cloned more quickly than mulitpling mosquitoes.[I thought] one of these such films was BLUE THUNDER.BLUE THUNDER has all the elements of many of those violent 1980s films. The lead character is a Vietnam vet struggling with vivid flashbacks. He has a comical sidekick (in this case played by Daniel Sterns) who is murdered about halfway through the picture. The lead character ends up getting caught up in a plot that runs deeper than he originally imagined that ends up leading all the way to some secret government sector or plot. In the end the hero takes things into his own hands and goes on a rampage to get the bad guys and set things right and is cleared of all wrong doing, accused or actual. Roy Scheider stars in the film as L.A.P.D. aero-division pilot Frank Murphy. Schneider does a decent job considered the material he was given. Besides one feels an immediate kinship to anything Scheider acts in; this is the guy that killed Jaws. His sidekick in the film is a young Daniel Sterns (before he gained fame with "The Wonder Years" and HOME ALONE) and he does a good job playing the greenhorn. However, neither Scheider or Sterns is the star of this movie. They are both second billing to a super-duper armed police helicopter called (you guessed it), BLUE THUNDER. You see Blue Thunder was created by the government to keep us rebellious citizens in line and to protect people at the 1984 Olympic Games in L.A. However, some really evil guys planned to use the machine for alternative purposes to help "keep order" (hint, hint). This chopter has armor, can sense heat, shoots a lot of bullets really fast, and can hear and see through walls. She's the star. Overall, the movie's not all that good or bad. The movie starts off slow but picks up after the first half hour racing steam until the exploding, yet let down of a conclusion.
Rating: Summary: Why is this not on DVD?!!! Review: The 5 stars are right! This is an excellent movie! Roy Sheider plays a great protagonist who deals with post-traumatic stress who is assigned to test pilot the helicopter (Blue Thunder-which looks like the military Apache helicopter). While on mission, using the helicopter's stealth capabilties, he overhears a conversation that reveals a plot to cause civil uprising in order to give cause to impliment the Blue Thunder into service. Malcolm McDowell plays a great love-to-hate villian who is assigned to kill Roy Sheider's character in a daring showdown action sequence that involves two helicopters shooting at each other while flying between the buildings of downtown Los Angeles. At one point, a fighter jet gets involved! Overall, this movie has an interesting story, good pacing, editing, good character development...entertaining all the way through! It also has a good resolve/ending which for movies of this genre is saying alot! If you have to buy it on VHS, it's a good buy. (Personally, I'm waiting for the DVD!)
Rating: Summary: Why is this not on DVD?! Review: The 5 stars are right! This is an excellent movie, although the plot is a little far-fetched. The helicopter (a.k.a. Blue Thunder) is the Apache helicopter currently used in the Middle East/war movies. Good pacing/editing, good character development...entertaining all the way through! It has a good resolve/ending. Either the studio is currently recording an audio documentary with the director/actors and/or is preparing special features or....someone is asleep and is causing the studio to lose money by not releasing this great feature on DVD. How any company can release 'Leprechaun 3' before releasing this is beyond me! If you have to buy it on VHS, it's a great buy!
Rating: Summary: awsome movie and awsome helecopter Review: this is a great movie about a conspriacy to have Blue Thunder have ground control. Murphy, sensing something is wrong, is to be killed due to his suppicsions on the death of a political leader. following the death of his partner, after his parter, Daniel Stern from Rookie of the Year, steals the tapes that show a deadly plot and who really killed the political leader, Murphy steal Blue Thunder and exposes the truth. this is an awsome movie, and at one time, Blue Thunder had her own toy and model! great movie to watch over and over. DVD is crisp and clean.
Rating: Summary: Excellent Movie, Excellent Cast, Excellent DVD. Review: This movie is extremely entertaining. It moves very fast, has excellent action sequences and is really pretty funny (usually because of Daniel Stern's performance). The acting is perfect in this movie as well. Roy Scheider and Daniel Stern make perfect on screen partners. All of the other reviews seem to mention that their are plot flaws. There are not flaws, the reasoning of the villians is just a little strange, but that does not negatively affect the picture in any way because of the fact that the action is so good, as well as the acting. The DVD is a good one because it is two sided, it has a full screen presentation and a widescreen presentation, whichever you prefer. And by the way if you ever wanted to know what JAFO means, I highly recommend this movie.
Rating: Summary: Action Packed Movie! Review: This movie is quite exciting.You have Roy Scheider in the lead role as your hero. He is the lead pilot of an ultra modern helicopter called Blue Thunder, He soon discovers a conspiracy by the government with the usage of Blue Thunder.The villain in this movie is Roddy McDowell.He is the government agent in charge of the conspiracy. They do battle in the skies. You have outstanding special effects. The skyscrapers in this movie add to the special effects. The helicopter chases are breathtaking and exciting. This movie is action packed and the actors do a very good job. Watch this movie,you will enjoy it.
Rating: Summary: slick police thriller Review: This was one of my favorites as a pre teen. If you've ever seen the TV show AIRWOLF, you get what this movie is about. They kind of ripped this movie off with that show. The action scenes are top notch and the story is pretty amusing. All around a pretty solid flick.
Rating: Summary: Fun, but turn off your brain Review: This was one of the first VHS movies I bought. It's fun if you don't think and want to watch cool guys in cool machines trying to kill each other. The plot is thin, but the machines are cool, and for guys, sometimes cool machines are enough. I just happen to be one of those guys.
Rating: Summary: Excellent action-political thriller from the 1980's Review: What can be said about Blue Thunder? It is an excellent action and political techno-thriller with a fine cast, solid plot, good special effects, excellent aerial stunt work, cinemaphotography, musical soundtrack, and the like. It is also a movie with a serious message. Much like the conspiracy thriller Seven Days In May, this film really captures the action and suspense, let alone the old saying of how one man can make a difference. If you enjoy the works of Roy Scheider, Malcolm McDowell, Daniel Stern, director John Badham, and the others who labored hard on the 1982-1983 production, be sure to check out Blue Thunder. Or if you enjoy avaition, check out the film. You won't be disappointed. If you also get a chance, be sure to check out Andrew Gilchrist's website devoted to the film. There is even a cool sequel written to the 1983 film.
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