Blue Steel

Violent cop thrillers are a dime a dozen these days, so when one comes along that seems to have a little thought behind it and is directed with a real sense of style, it's easy to go overboard with praise.

So, let's say up front that in many ways "Blue Steel" is little more than just another entry in an overworked genre. Extremely violent and very bloody, this one is also burdened with a storyline that is perhaps overly familiar and a denouement that is not 100 percent satisfying.

Nonetheless, there are many appealing aspects here, and right at the top of the list is the film's star, Jamie Lee Curtis.

Curtis is a very talented actress whose versatility has been shown in a wide range of movie characters before her current TV sitcom success with "Anything But Love," from the level-headed teenager in "Halloween" to the streetwise hooker in "Trading Places" to the embittered single woman reliving her mother's mistakes in "Love Letters" to the sexy con artist in "A Fish Called Wanda."

In "Blue Steel" she is cast as a tough rookie cop. As the film opens, she graduates from the academy and becomes one of New York's finest, much to the chagrin of her wimpy mother (Louise Fletcher) and abusive father (Phillip Bosco).

On her first day on the streets, Curtis witnesses a grocery-store robbery in progress and is forced to kill the robber, whose gun goes flying. One of the store patrons (Ron Silver, of "Enemies, a Love Story"), sprawled out on the floor with other frightened customers, takes the gun and disappears.

Since the gun cannot be found and witnesses are unsure the robber had a gun at all, Curtis is suspended. Silver, meanwhile, a complete psycho loaded with delusions of grandeur and nervous tics, decides to use his new-found weapon by becoming a self-righteous serial killer. To add fuel to the fire, he carves Curtis' name on the bullets before firing on innocent victims.

The web gets even more tangled when Silver arranges to meet and date Curtis, who, of course, learns too late the truth about her new beau.

Granted, this plotting is pretty implausible, but director/co-writer Kathryn Bigelow (who also turned out a very violent and stylish modern-day vampire tale a few years ago — "Near Dark") keeps the pace lively, the technique slick and uses her star to great advantage. Curtis has never been better, displaying nervous energy, inner confidence and righteous outrage at the male superiors who constantly berate her.

Silver is also good in his role, but the character is an extremely over-the-top weirdo, which, especially when he's called upon to speak zany monologues to himself, weakens the film's structure.

On the whole, however, "Blue Steel," rated a deserved R for violence, sex, nudity, profanity and vulgarity, is much better than most pictures of this ilk. Fans of the genre should be more than pleased.