Strong anti-drug film that gets across its message with an emphasis on the wrongs rather than rights whilst allowing us to have our own opinion on the hero.

Rating: 7/10 (26 January 2008)

The closing captions of Blow give us some information about how tragic George Jung's (Played in the film by Johnny Depp) life had now become through loss of family and access to loved ones after the film's events have culminated; this suggests to me that we are, overall, supposed to feel sorry for the character even if it is difficult to given how he has something, everything, nothing, something again and then ultimately nothing  well, nothing good anyway unless you count mental illness and hallucinations as a good thing.
There can be no denying that Blow owes a lot to 1983's Scarface but whilst that was fictitious and the events that transpire in Blow happened before it was made; the look, feel and general atmosphere of Blow will tangle you up in its narrative and lure you in to a world of drugs, glamour, seedy characters, dizzying highs and deathly lows. What is very important and what makes Blow, in my opinion, a particularly large success is that it doesn't concentrate on the dizzying highs for long enough for the activities on show to be glamorised or encouraged. Instead, Blow focuses on its protagonist's lows and how terrible life can be when you get mixed up in drugs; weather using or dealing. Scarface is of course famous for its message reiterated in the film: "Don't get high on your own supply" and the result of Tony Montana hammers this home. Here in Blow, the tragedy and the all time low that hits home at the very end is another important and powerful message that is delivered through slick and engaging film-making.
Blow makes it apparent that it's giving off the wrong impression rather early on but successfully back tracks later on. The notion that George's parents' own failure mainly contributed to his own rise and rise is brave enough to put across but the idea that after going to prison for the first time; in order to obviously be corrected, he comes out a stronger and more dangerous man  educated in the field of drugs even more after working up a plan with the wrong sort of person society really didn't want him to meet. I suppose the state would've thought putting a drug dealer and a carjacker together would've been a safe thing but Diego (Molla) is anything but a safe guy and it is not long before George is back out and dealing; this time bigger and better whilst breaking parole a little too often.
But here is where Blow focuses on the lows more than the good times. It seems obligatory that just when everything seems perfect and made that stereotypical drug law enforcers would break down the doors and take everything away but that is what happens here; more importantly, it's what happened in real life. We are drawn to George because he's so appealing and seemingly smart in his ideas and execution that we do perhaps forgive him when it occurs to us that he is too stupid to realise when he is so far ahead, he doesn't just quit. Indeed, after stating that he is out forever much later on; he cannot help but do one final job in order to be able to set up a new life for him and his loved family member he technically plans on kidnapping. To say Blow is one of those obligatory drug films with use of the hierarchy and FBI agents that break down doors and put the anti-hero through hell is too harsh-a thing to say. There are times when you do perhaps switch off and allow the film's narrative to take you where it wants to go and that consists of montages of still images where we are given the impression time is passing as George goes places, meets people and engages in luxurious activity. This is twinned with the seemingly stereotypical characters such as the South American drug lords who will betray you for a 'few hundred thousand dollars and a couple of kilos' but I'm sure these sorts of people really exist and given the fact this is a true story, the film is not bogged down by these familiar scenes as well activity, lines of dialogue and characters.
I think the film would like to think it is divided into two segments. There are highs and lows throughout that are cleverly spaced in-between jail terms that make him a worse person when it should be correcting him but the marriage to his wife Mirtha (Cruz) opens up the final tin that pushes the film to its climax and those heart wrenching titles. It seems all George wanted was someone to love but do we pity him or question his sanity when Mirtha leaves her own fiancé just to marry George upon a 'love at first sight' glance? I suppose if all George wanted was someone to love and the fact his first marriage didn't work out too well, it may be that he's desperate. He might've spotted Mirtha's eagerness to marry George pretty quickly and suspected foul behaviour but at this time, I doubt he cared. He states Mirtha is his perfect woman in a montage of S&M but slow the images down and it is Mirtha on the leash; playing the submissive role. This suggests he loves her as much as he does because he can control her, so when she suddenly becomes so independent and emotionally strong, it would seem he has been tricked. Blow is a film that entertains and engages in a respective manner without ever glamorising its anti-hero. Stand out performances from Depp and Cruz, who plays a character you really come to dislike over the duration of the film, merely sprinkle the icing on an entirely satisfying cake.