7/10
Brian de Palma's riff on Blow Up, wherein his lead (John Travolta) thinks he's captured the sound of a murder (as opposed to the main character in Blow Up who inadvertently photographs one). Stylistically it was very appealing. The first half, which takes place mostly under a neon Philadelphia night, is great. The second half becomes a little less interesting as we learn more about the murder plot at the center of the film. The movie would have benefited from a "less is more" approach - frankly, the more the murder and conspiracy was uncovered, the less interested I was, and the conspiracy itself is not terribly interesting or exciting.
John Lithgow is very good in an ice cold, creepy role. John Travolta is pretty good when he's being cool and aloof, but struggles with any more than that (especially the ending, sheesh). Nancy Allen is borderline unbearable.
I don't think this movie aged particularly well, as it suffers from a lot of the trappings of its time (early 80's). The bombastic, overloaded soundtrack is distracting, and a bit at odds with the importance the film places on minute sounds. But the movie captures the paranoia and neuroses of the time very well, and mostly does it with a lot of style.
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