Blue Thunder 4K 1983

I remember this movie as one of the first action films shown on television—back when it was still Soviet. I have to say that even in this age of high-tech blockbusters, the film still holds up quite well. Of course, the plot of this police action movie is fairly simple and gradually boils down to revenge against the villains, but nonetheless, the plot is dynamic and gripping—after all, the screenplay was written by the authors of *Alien* and *Aliens*.

We’re used to seeing Roy Scheider in tense roles—after all, he’s no stranger to playing cops; just think of Martin Brody, the protagonist of *Jaws*—but here Scheider comes across as natural and doesn’t overact at all.

I’d just like to add that Malcolm McDowell deserves a mention; by that point, his career had begun to spiral rapidly downward following the failure of Tinto Brass’s *Caligula*.

The film was a decent box office success and even received an Oscar nomination for editing, which, by the way, was superbly done. Other similar films were unable to replicate even a tenth of the original’s success, including the domestic film *Black Shark*.