The movie is a techno-thriller about a government conspiracy involving the latest piece of military hardware, borrowing slightly from Badham's previous hit, in the form of a helicopter that combines the very latest in spying technology with the kind of firepower that the military is known for. Set in Los Angeles California, the movie stars Roy Scheider as Officer Frank Murphy, a pilot for the helicopter division of the police department whose time in Vietnam left him just slightly impaired, with the kind of post traumatic stress syndrome that was all the rage 20+ years ago. His function is that of a support unit trying to assist his fellow officers by providing an eye in the sky, used for catching crooks. Murphy uses his skills to intervene when a local city councilmember is attacked, using his gut instinct to find clues the ground units couldn't find (much like his other roles as a cop, going by his experience rather than strictly following the departmental rules), and once again drawing attention to himself as he had apparently done in the past.

Due to circumstances completely under his control, he is grounded by his superiors but soon finds himself back in the air as a test pilot for a new type of pilot program (pun intended) that has him flying a prototype helicopter that we refer to as Blue Thunder. The helicopter removes the crew from their passive role as observer and thrusts them into a much more aggressive role as defender of the status quo, complete with a 20mm vulcan cannon, armor plating, and a host of other goodies that greatly enhance their role as observers, including a whisper mode that allows the vehicle to sneak around as it spies on anyone the crew wants to (including super sensitive microphones, heat seeking apparatus, and recording capabilities as well as links to all the computer databases in existence-much like the current internet allows all of us to do). Murphy, being a good cop, plays around with the capabilities just enough for it to dawn on him that the potential for abusing it (as he himself does on the first test run) are tremendous but it isn't until he finds out the military connections to the program involve a former military officer he worked with, Colonel Cochran (played by Malcolm McDowell), that he truly thinks anything is specifically wrong. After following the Colonel one night and spying on him with the aircraft, all bets are off as the stakes are raised considerably with regard to the "real" purpose of the device and the danger Murphy is in for figuring it out.

Conceptually, the movie was pretty good since it tied Hollywood fantasy (and liberal paranoia) in with advances in technology that were close enough to reality that the prospect of Orwell's predictions were fitting fodder for the type of thriller it set out to be. We've all watched dozens of similar efforts where the "gimmick" of technology was the main focal point of the show and human nature being what it is, we're probably all a bit uncomfortable with the possibility of government agents spying on us (Google being subpoenaed by the Feds for records and the Patriot Act are only the latest examples of such intrusions but they've taken place under every administration, regardless of political party, for longer than most of us have been alive, if not longer). The original story was going to have Murphy as the bad guy, a man who cracked under pressure and ran amuck with the helicopter, but government conspiracies are easier to sell to production companies (and feed of the previously mentioned paranoia of the times). As with any advance in science & technology, the question of whom do we collectively trust with the information or new abilities become the issue. All the controls and regulations of the police department didn't stop Murphy, an otherwise decent man, from abusing the device so very casually that he did so without thinking about it; proving yet again that if you build something that can be used improperly, it will be.

The reality of Blue Thunder is that there were two stars, Scheider and the helicopter, with Scheider basically phoning in his role. There were superior, though far smaller roles by Warren Oates (as the tough police commander in his last role) and Candy Clark (as the ditzy girlfriend needed in a crucial plot point), and even Badham, in the audio commentary, admits that the dialogue was partially the result of a Hollywood Screenwriter's Guild strike rapidly approaching the film date (not to mention the changes of Scheider's character and some other personality issues that arose). The helicopter was similar in terms of appeal to other technological wonders of the time, from KITT in the Knight Rider series, to Streethawk, to any number of paler imitators from the time. The movie spawned a short-lived TV series too but amazingly enough, the competition, in the form of Airwolf, was vastly superior (both in terms of execution of the concept and the themes of technology run amuck; at least in the early seasons). Poor acting and weak plot devices aside though, Blue Thunder did provide some interesting action sequences and as a mind numbingly stupid roller coaster ride, I'll admit it was a guilty pleasure of mine when it played over twenty years ago. The original DVD was released in 1998 and was a barebones deal with a trailer added as the sole extra (not to mention lots of technical flaws). If you like the movie and don't want to wait for the inevitable HD version to come out, the extras alone were a lot of fun for me and the technical matters were superior to the original release as well as the laserdisc. Still, when you look at the movie closely enough, the themes hold up better than their execution and that makes this a Rent It for anyone not truly fanatic about the movie.

Picture: Blue Thunder: Special Edition was presented in an anamorphic widescreen color with the original 2.35: aspect ratio intact (the original DVD release seemed to have a different ratio IIRC). I've seen the movie on just about every media available over the years and this looked even better than the theater presentation, clearly remastered to reduce the visual flaws of the original DVD release. There was little grain, few spots with video noise and no compression artifacts as I recall the previous release having plenty of, with a lot of sharp detail I don't remember being seen previously in any format. Some of the computer graphics looked as dated as they should have (it came out long ago) but Columbia Pictures did a decent job on this one, especially considering the movie.

Sound: The audio was presented in a 5.1 Dolby Digital Surround English as well as a 2.0 DD stereo French version and a similar version in Portuguese. I have no idea why the last track was in place of a Spanish version but there were subtitles in all four languages for those who care. The 5.1 English track was better than I thought it would be although the remixed audio was weak by current standards, making limited use of the back channels and bass except in very limited circumstances. Modern action movies may also suffer by comparison to whatever is made twenty years from now but as long as you turn up the volume enough, this one should work okay too. Just don't expect a lot of separation between the channels or headspace during the air fight sequences as would've been expected.

Extras: For me, the remastering would've been enough but unlike Basic Instinct: Ultimate Edition, this double dip provided some serious extras worth taking a close look at. My favorite was the director's commentary where Badham, his editor, and one of the other technical assistants provided a lot of technical detail about the movie and its making. I got the impression that Badham wanted to make a very different movie, even now, but was forced into the role of the working director by the studio. Still, it was almost remarkable how it got made at all considering some of the anecdotes they provided and they were interesting to listen to. I also liked the features, The Special: Building Blue Thunder and Ride With the Angels: Making Blue Thunder as both gave some insight as to the making of the movie, the obstacles the crew ran into, and some of the issues that arose impacting the direction(s) the movie took as it was being made. There were a handful of storyboards, the original trailer, a short Making of… feature made back in 1983 when the movie was being filmed, and some trailers to other movies by the studio being released lately.

Final Thoughts: Blue Thunder: Special Edition was definitely a couple of notches better than the original DVD release 8 years ago and I wonder how much better the inevitable HD version will be as this was "remastered in HD". The combination of newer extras and older archival extras was a lot better than the mere trailer the original version had but the main reason why someone would want this version would be for the improvement on the picture and audio. As far as double dips go, this was a good one but only for those of you that really liked the movie enough to buy it in the first place rather than as a spiffy new title to add to your collections due to the multitude of limitations from the movie itself. In a day and age where so many people are routinely willing to trade their freedoms for security (thereby obtaining neither as old Ben put it), a remake of this one could rectify the sins of the past but not based solely on the special effects and hopefully with more care put into the script this time.