The fantastic Kathryn Bigelow directs Jamie Lee Curtis in this crisp, occasionally brutal thriller. Megan Turner (Curits) is a rookie cop, who on her first day on the job shoots and kills an armed thief (Tom Sizemore) in a supermarket showdown.

When the thief’s weapon isn’t found at the scene, Turner finds herself suspended, and under review. The gun isn’t there because a Wall Street trader, Eugene Hunt (Ron Silver), who was in the supermarket at the time, grabbed it and left the scene with it.

While Turner tries to get herself sorted, dealing with her mother (Louise Fletcher) and abusive father (Philip Bosco), Hunt begins a descent into madness as the temptation of the gun opens up the doorway to homicidal tendencies.

When shell casings are recovered from the murder scene with Megan’s name engraved on them, Detective Nick Mann (Clancy Brown) pulls Megan off suspension. He’s going to keep an eye on her and hopefully the pair of them can find the killer.

And the killer is a lot closer than either of them realize, Megan has a new man in her life…. Eugene Hunt.

Bigelow is a great director, and I love her work, and Curtis is absolutely amazing as Turner. She is able to appear tough, funny and vulnerable all at once and looks stunning. I completely buy into her as Turner, who has been chasing her dream of being a cop all her life.

Silver doesn’t quite chew scenery but he is definitely nibbling on its edges as Hunt becomes increasingly insane, but aware enough to know and use the law to keep Turner and Mann at a distance when they clue in to who he is.

It’s tightly paced and doesn’t overstay its welcome, running a crisp 102 minutes. Bigelow keeps everything moving, and the cast, which also includes Kevin Dunn, Elizabeth Pena, and Richard Jenkins.

Blue Steel also features a score by Brad Fiedel. It was also written by Bigelow and Eric Red, who had penned The Hitcher.

The film has a pretty solid pedigree, and I quite enjoyed Curtis’ performance throughout. I hadn’t seen this one before, but I remember seeing the poster, and the videocassette on the shelves of my video store.

I regret not watching it back then, but glad I came to it when I was I finally ready for it. Bigelow and Curtis are awesome!