DVD Review | Flashdance
Written by: Kage Alan

"First there is nothing, but a slow glimming light..."

During one of the many nights I went and watched "Star Trek II: The Wrath of
Khan", my folks decided to take off and watch something that appealed to
them.  At 13, what the heck did I care about some girl dancing for?  Okay,
even if the main character was a guy, what would I have cared about anybody
dancing for at that age?  I loved the music, but it wasn't until years later
that I watched it on VHS and fell in love with the overriding themes of
following one's dreams.  (sniff sniff)  It helped me to pursue that lifelong
dream of being a writer.

Alex Owens (Jennifer Beals, "Twilight of the Golds") is a welder by day and
dancer by night.  It's not a bad way to live, using the day job to pay the
bills while the night job keeps her dream of dancing professionally one day
alive.  Haven't we all done that?  Well, not the welding thing or the dancing
thing.  I'll shut up about that now.  Anyway, Nick Hurley (Michael Nouri,
"The Hidden") owns the company where she works during the day and stumbles upon one of her performances at the local bar.  Needless to say, he's quite taken and begins to pursue her romantically.

Are you ready for the subplots?  There's Alex's elderly mentor, Hanna (Lilia
Skala, "House of Games") who wants her (Alex) to apply and audition for a
position at a dancing school, then there's Richie (Kyle Heffner, "High
Crimes"), the cook at the bar who wants to be a comedienne, the sleezie
Johnny C. (Lee Ving, "Streets of Fire") who wants the girls to dance in his
strip club, the dancer, Tina (Cynthia Rhodes, "Dirty Dancing"), waiting for
her man to call and several others.  It's all pretty much everyday life or as
much of everyday life as Director Adrian Lyne ("9 ½ Weeks" and "Jacob's
Ladder") is used to presenting in his own unique way.

If there are two things that "Flashdance" gives us, it's plenty of fantastic
choreography to a killer soundtrack!  Critics weren't very kind to the film
when it came out, only audiences embraced it anyway.  That really had to piss
a lot of them off.  Jennifer Beals also gives a solid performance in her
first starring role and there are lots of familiar faces around to help. 
Yes, this is very much an 80's film, but the stories and themes are timeless,
so there's nothing wrong with that.

Paramount has delivered a decent looking Widescreen transfer that nicely
showcases Adrian Lyne's choice of cinematography and usage of color.  There
is still a hint of grain throughout, but the film fares much better than the
footage of the company logo shown in the beginning.  Where the disc really
shines is in the audio where we get to REALLY hear just how terrific the
score is.  As for extras, Paramount has come up completely empty and, quite
frankly, that really pisses me off.  Many of their older titles (at least the
ones I've been watching) have been barebones and that is just unacceptable.

"Flashdance" made nearly $100 million in the US alone during it's run, yet
the studio is treating it like a wayward child.  Soooo not impressive.  It
was just a real treat to sit back and watch this in a way I'd never seen
before and with new life in a transfer that had only been available in murky
VHS tapes.  If the disc sells well, perhaps Paramount will revisit it.  This
is getting to be a very tired trend, though.  Had they just done it right the
first time, we wouldn't need to go out and spend money buying the same damn
thing twice.  For $24.99, this is worth a rental, but not to buy.

Film Rating: B+
DVD Special Features: A VERY disappointing N/A

Note: We hear that Flashdance II is on the way!