Blow
for pervasive drug content and language, some violence and sexuality.
Reviewed by: Todd Adams
CONTRIBUTOR
| Moral Rating: | Very Offensive |
| Moviemaking Quality: |
|
| Primary Audience: | Adults |
| Genre: | Crime Drama Biography |
| Length: | 2 hr. 4 min. |
| Year of Release: | 2001 |
| USA Release: |
April 6, 2001 |
Father and son relationship
Boy gets rich illegally by selling recreational addictive drugs
Ultimate consequences of crimes
Being incarcerated in federal prison
Prison is in effect a crime school
Violating parole conditions
Smuggling
Doing business with drug lord Pablo Escobar
Betrayal
Marriage and fatherhood
Severing relationship with the cartel and vowing to leave the drug business forever, but then failing to do so
Broken promise
Becoming a federal fugitive
Growing old in prison, having lost all the money and the only thing that really mattered—family
The wages of sin
What is sin and wickedness?
About the fall of mankind to worldwide depravity
Learn about spiritual darkness versus light
What is THE FINAL JUDGMENT OF GOD? Answer
| Featuring |
Johnny Depp … George Jung Penélope Cruz (Penelope Cruz) … Mirtha Jung Ray Liotta … Fred Jung Franka Potente … Barbara Buckley Rachel Griffiths … Ermine Jung Paul Reubens … Derek Foreal Jordi Mollà (Jordi Molla) … Diego Delgado Cliff Curtis … Escobar Miguel Sandoval … Augusto Oliveras Ethan Suplee … Tuna Emma Roberts … Young Kristina Jung Kevin Gage … Leon Minghella See all » |
| Director |
Ted Demme |
| Producer |
Apostle Avery Pix See all » |
| Distributor |
 New Line Cinema, division of Warner Bros. Pictures |
“Blow” isn’t going to garner universal appeal. “Blow” doesn’t hold much for Christian appeal either. I lost count of the F-words (over 110 of them). Nevertheless, “Blow” was worth my two hours. It provides an inside look at the sick world of drug trading with a strong performance by Johnny Depp throughout. The two “drug” movies of 2001—“Blow” and “Traffic”—pull the shades off of any glamour or naivety one might have about the allures of the drug world.
Johnny Depp is the principle character in “Blow”, playing the mega drugpusher George Jung (based on a true story). Along the way he links up with a wild woman well suited to his lifestyle played by Penélope Cruz. But the real story is singly focused on Depp. His family life, personal choices, drug ventures and vices are developed throughout the film. Depp’s acting, the script and directing are all solid enough to hold the film together. An interesting style of the movie is Depp providing a backward looking narration of his life autobiographical style from beginning to end. I found “Blow” to be interesting and worthwhile even though it dragged at times. Ironically, the film also becomes oversentimental at times as drugpusher George Jung’s life starts to cave in.
There are a lot of scriptures which talk about the deeds of evildoers and their consequences. “Blow” ventures into such a world with its many deceptions. I think the film succeeds at illustrating how the false allure of a fast and furious business such as pushing cocaine can blind the soul to the real world. Unlike “Traffic” which presents the drugusers in its story, “Blow” is focused entirely on the pushers and their game. The moral offenses of this film such as sexual situations and lots of swearing are not out of place in the context of this story.
“Blow” was a better film than I expected. It leads the viewer into the glitter of the fast life then unravels it completely. Some will argue that we end up feeling too sorry for the bad guy. Perhaps that is because he does learns the values of life but far too late. My opinion is that what we see is how the world of drugs can completely ruin a life, leaving no opportunity to go back and undo the damage. Hollywood isn’t glorifying sin in this film. Anyone who views “Blow” will undoubtedly have a wellfounded distaste for all of the wrong decisions George Jung made. And that may make “Blow” worth seeing.
By the end, Jung is a sad pathetic man who wasted his entire life. The acting was phenomenal in the film [How about Paul Rubens? Great job!] and I thought a nice amount of humor was put in at the right moments. I know that it has gotten a great deal of flack for its “lack of caring” about all of the people whose lives the drugs ruined. Well, this isn’t “Traffic” people. This was a “rise to the top, fall to the bottom” story of a lost man who made a lot of bad choices. I liked it very much. Nicely done Mr. Depp.
[Average / 4½]
Yet we are not shown how much sorrow his great enterprise caused the nation. The story is a true story. And one can see that the subject of this story has no guilt about his former life, no insight into himself, only sorrow for his lost money and anger against the women in his life. The average teenager will not be able to see through this “poor me” pose. And definitely not with Mr Demme’s glorification of his hero Georg Young.
Nope, this film doesn’t seem like a cautionary tale at all. it’s a bad guy saying “don’t blame me. I suffered too. I was just a kid with business flair who didn’t know better.”
[Very Offensive / 4]
At the end, Depp’s character realized that the only thing that actually had any kind of meaning in his life was his love for his daughter. I really enjoyed the movie as well as the message. The way it presented the glamorous side of drug dealing and then showed how twisted and dark Depp’s life became is a strong statement against materialistic values.
[Very Offensive / 4½]
He finds an easy way to make money. Lots of money. Importing drugs from Columbia. But in the end he loses everything including everything that matters. A sad movie. A good movie and a lesson for all about living in excess.