Blue Thunder: John Badham's Helicopter Actioner Makes Its 4K Debut (Limited Edition 4K)

The Film:

Director John Badham is another one of those directors whose name you might not recognize right off the top of your head, but whose work you are more thank likely familiar with, work that includes such classics as "Saturday Night Fever," "Dracula (1979)," "WarGames," and "Short Circuit." One of his projects that you don't hear a lot of talk about nowadays is his 1983 actioner "Blue Thunder," which involved a little bit of intrigue and a whole lot of helicopters flying about. The film wasn't a particularly big smash at the box office, despite pulling in about $42 million, but much like what happened with "Innerspace" a few years later, it found a fair amount of success on video, turning it into a modest hit.

The reactions to it over the last four decades have been rather fascinating from both critics & audiences, who seem to have split themselves into two distinct camps: one of which admires the film for its extensive, impressive aerial action sequences, and another which feels that that's all the film has to offer (i.e. the plot & characters don't add much to it). Still, it's more than fair to say that the film has its fans, and for them, Arrow Films has decided to put this lesser-known Badham work into the spotlight by giving it a marvelous 4K upgrade and throwing in a bunch of bonus material, so now it's time to dive in and see which of these groups was closer to the mark.

The film primarily follows LAPD pilot Frank Murphy (Roy Scheider), a Vietnam War vet with PTSD. As part of the air support division, it's his job to patrol the city at night, which he currently does with rookie Richard Lymangood (Daniel Stern). After the pair is accused of peeping where they shouldn't while the mugging/killing of a councilwoman was happening nearby, they are placed on a temporary suspension. However, they are quickly brought back to be the pilots of a new helicopter known as "Blue Thunder," which is heavily equipped with weapons & technology to handle potential large-scale riots during the upcoming Olympic games.

Murphy continues to investigate the death of the councilwoman, which he soon finds to be connected to Blue Thunder and an old rival of his, Colonel F.E. Cochrane (Malcolm McDowell), the test pilot for the new helicopter. When he and Lymangood stumble upon something they weren't supposed to hear, they soon find their lives in great danger as they attempt to expose the entire conspiracy.

Right at the top, it should be pointed out that selecting helicopters as the main focal point of a film is a bit strange. Outside of war films, there doesn't really seem like a whole lot that can be done with them as the primary subject, that is, besides watching them fly around and getting involved in somewhat awkward chases & shootouts. However, screenwriters Dan O'Bannon (co-writer of "Alien") & Don Jakoby (co-writer of "Arachnophobia") quickly realized that there was going to have to be something a little more substantial than that, something that was going to have to justify such action scenes, causing them to throw in a bit of intrigue involving a murder & an attempted cover-up. The question becomes: Is it enough?

Well, in all honesty, not quite. It's a little bit too clunky in the way it's handled, with the pilots truly stumbling upon the entire conspiracy in a very unlikely & coincidental manner. The aforementioned action scenes are indeed handled quite well, giving us some fine chases as the antagonists attempt to get rid of Murphy, but there's only so much excitement that can be generated from one helicopter going after another and having them shoot at each other. Speaking of which, on a sidenote, the battles themselves will likely cause more than a little eye-rolling given the massive collateral damage. Not that a film like this is going for a high standard of realism, but you can't help but wonder why the climactic chase would be allowed to continue after a missile gets fire into a high-rise building.

That said, "Blue Thunder" is hardly a bad film. It has excellent production value, a fine performance from the great Roy Scheider, and the action sequences do provide some thrills, but in the end, you'll probably find yourself wishing that there was a little more to its plot, and that what's there was developed & explained a little better. All things considered, it's easy to see where both camps are coming from, and why it's had such a mixed reception. It was a fine attempt at making an actioner with a focus that you don't normally see in such films, but sadly the rest of the ingredients in the mix just weren't quite enough to make it as effective as the filmmakers wanted it to be.

Video/Audio:

"Blue Thunder" comes to Limited Edition 4K in a 2.35:1, 2160p Ultra High Definition transfer of outstanding quality. The new restoration from the original negative has cleaned up the film beautifully, presenting a sharp & clear picture throughout the entire 109-minute duration, even during its multitude of night scenes. Likewise, the original restored lossless 2.0 stereo & 5.1 DTS-HD MA remix tracks are fantastic, giving you all of the dialogue, sound effects, and music in excellent quality. Overall, Arrow Films has done a marvelous job in both areas for the film's new upgrade.

Special Features:

Audio Commentary by Director John Badham, Eitor Frank Morriss, and Motton Control Supervisor Hoyt Yeatman

Flight Risk (14 Minutes) (New): An interview with director John Badham.

A Rollercoaster Ride (13 Minutes) (New): An interview with actor Candy Clark.

Catching Up (14 Minutes) (New): An interview with actor Malcolm McDowell.

Ride with the Angels: Making Blue Thunder (45 Minutes): A three-part documentary from 2006.

The Special: Building Blue Thunder (8 Minutes): A featurette from 2006 on the design and construction of the iconic helicopter.

Archival 1983 Promotion Featurette (8 Minutes)

Extended Scene (1 Minute)

Conclusion:

John Badham's "Blue Thunder" has a fair amount to like about it, including excellent production value, a fine performance from the great Roy Scheider, and some fantastic action sequences that give you a few thrills along the way, but sadly these can only do so much to make up for its somewhat clunky conspiracy plot, ultimately making for an actioner that needed a little more work put into its foundation in order to truly make it effective.

Score: 3/5

Available on Limited Edition 4K starting today.

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