SoumikBanerjee1996

Kathryn Bigelow, as the writer-director demonstrates yet again that she knows how to ratchet up the tension and weave it seamlessly into the very fabric of her scenes, with a neat sound design that occasionally punches above the film's weight.

Yet "Blue Steel" falters in the areas that would have offered longevity: its script is paper thin, and its characters are more caricaturish sketches than fully realized life-like figures.

What should have been a nerve-jangling investigation, instead drags like a tedious procedural checklist, leaving me way less intrigued and more exhausted.

It's a film that crackles at the surface but collapses once you start digging beneath the sheen.

The vintage aesthetic and the classic influences in the film evoke a strong sense of nostalgia very reminiscent of "WandaVision," a Disney+ webseries, which if you don't know, was produced by Marvel a few years back.

*Just checked, it's from the same director!

The overall approach too feels very much aligned with content designed for television audiences.

The narrative unfolds in an episodic manner, with both major and minor events lacking the cohesive flair we usually anticipate from films.

Moreover, the characters come across as one-dimensional. I hesitate to use the term "bland," but they certainly lack the energy and enthusiasm that could have brought them to life.

Not necessarily a fault of the core writing rather, it seems to stem from the actors' limited range of expressions, I have got nothing specific against the ensemble, but they could have done better.

On a positive note, Galactus and Silver Surfer, both stood out as intriguing and memorable. Thanks to optimal amounts of screenspace and importance offered to both, the engaging events of the last thirty minutes too have contributed in salvaging the film for me.

Without these, I would have been more ruthless with my rating.

Beyond the disturbing depiction of the reprehensible "slave" procurement processes, I found myself profoundly astonished by the depths of disdain and animosity humans can harbor towards one another.

This detestation runs so deep that it often leads people to forget the very core of what it means to be human; nothing but extending selfless kindness, compassion, and mercy towards others.

Instead, they resort to unnecessary violence and acts of torture, inflicting unimaginable suffering and agony day after day, all in an effort to fulfill their own egotistical desires.

It is both unfortunate and infuriating to witness people from various privileged backgrounds stooping to such appalling lows, causing pain and agony to those they employ for work, all in the name of "ownership," and to provoke their own cynical and pervasive ideologies.

I commend the movie for its powerful portrayal of the anguish and grueling labor that Black individuals were once compelled to endure under abhorrent laws that stripped them of their humanity and reduced them to mere property for the affluent white class; this entrapments came sometimes through desperate will and at other times through brute force and unethical, inhumane practices.

Even then, amidst all the unkindness and dishonourable acts, it does not forget to praise and admire the few white people coming from comparable backgrounds who refused to give in to the despicable Master-Slave concoction, instead, they extended hands for meaningful rapports and equal rights and honour.