RottenTomatoes.com
Log In | Register | What is RT?
Found a Bug? Squash It! Report Bugs Here
  • Home
  • Movies
  • DVD
  • Celebrities
  • News
  • Critics
  • Trailers & Pictures
  • CommunityBeta
  • Box Office
  • | Best Of
  • | Certified Fresh
  • | Showtimes
RT Search Powered by Google
help icon Enhanced RT
searches on Google
Click here to turn on enhanced search results from RT on your Google searches.
 
Movies / On DVD / Blow-Up
Blow-Up

Rate this Movie Help Icon

  • Write a Review
  • Read Reviews
  • Add to List
  • Buy Poster External Icon
Bookmark and Share

Blow-Up (1966)

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
86 %
Tomatometer
Template ImageTemplate Image

How does the Tomatometer work Help Icon

Reviews Counted:35

Fresh:30

Rotten:5

Average Rating:8/10

Runtime: 2 hrs 2 mins

Genre: Dramas

Synopsis: Michelangelo Antonioni delivers yet another masterful cinematic expose with BLOW UP, a provocative mystery set in the seamy mod culture of London. The film follows a photographer (David Hemmings)... Michelangelo Antonioni delivers yet another masterful cinematic expose with BLOW UP, a provocative mystery set in the seamy mod culture of London. The film follows a photographer (David Hemmings) who captures evidence of a murder when he takes some innocent snapshots of a couple in the park. As he digs deeper and deeper into the photograph's actual negative in order to unravel the mystery, he also must contend with a seemingly dangerous woman (Vanessa Redgrave) who knows more than she is letting on. Atmospheric, tense, with a refreshing jolt of humor, Antonioni's stylish thriller influenced the work of many of cinema's most celebrated directors, including Francis Ford Coppola's THE CONVERSATION, Brian De Palma's BLOW OUT, and David Lynch's BLUE VELVET. [More]

Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, David Hemmings, Sarah Miles, Jill Kennington

Starring: Vanessa Redgrave, David Hemmings, Sarah Miles, Jill Kennington, Verushka, Peter Bowles, Jane Birkin, Gillian Hills

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

Director: Michelangelo Antonioni

[See More Credits]

Reviews for Blow-Up

  • T-Meter Critics
  • Top Critics
  • RT Community
  • My Critics
  • My Friends
  • DVD
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
Arrange By:Fresh | Rotten | Comments | Name | Source | Date
 
 

Michelangelo Antonioni's first English language film is as maddening to watch as it is absorbing.

Full Review Source: BBC | comment Comment
01/01/00
Almar Haflidason
Almar Haflidason
BBC
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

No review available.

comment Comment
01/16/04
Rich Cline
Rich Cline
Shadows on the Wall

As often with Antonioni, a film riddled with moments of brilliance and scuppered by infuriating pretensions.

Full Review Source: Time Out | comment Comment
06/24/06
Geoff Andrew
Geoff Andrew
Time Out
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

Relying only on our subjective perceptions and personal interpretations, we are asked to find the truth for ourselves.

Full Review Source: Apollo Guide | comment Comment
03/03/04
Dan Jardine
Dan Jardine
Apollo Guide

See it for the bell bottoms and the birds, and if the existential riddle at the core of the film captures your imagination, so much the better.

Full Review Source: Arkansas Democrat-Gazette | comment Comment
08/29/02
Philip Martin
Philip Martin
Arkansas Democrat-Gazette

Antonioni’s chic study in ambiguity calls into question the notion of photographic truth, and indeed reality itself.

Full Review Source: Boulder Weekly | comment Comment
03/05/04
Thomas Delapa
Thomas Delapa
Boulder Weekly

The very last scene poses a profound and beautiful question about movies, the art of storytelling, and Life Itself.

Full Review Source: Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus | comment Comment
01/01/00
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer
Bryant Frazer's Deep Focus

This is so ravishing to look at (the colors all seem newly minted) and pleasurable to follow (the enigmas are usually more teasing than worrying) that you're likely to excuse the metaphysical pretensions.

Full Review Source: Chicago Reader | comment Comment
07/31/07
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Jonathan Rosenbaum
Chicago Reader

Whether there was a murder isn't the point. The film is about a character mired in ennui and distaste, who is roused by his photographs into something approaching passion.

Full Review Source: Chicago Sun-Times | comment Comment
01/20/06
Roger Ebert
Roger Ebert
Chicago Sun-Times
Top Critic Icon Top Critic

O rigor estético aqui exibido por Antonioni, somado à excepcional montagem de Frank Clarke, à bela fotografia de Carlo Di Palma e à atuação inspirada de Hemming, garante ao filme um vigor e um charme que só crescem com o tempo.

comment Comment
04/10/09
Pablo Villaca
Pablo Villaca
Cinema em Cena

No review available.

comment Comment
10/24/04
Derek Smith
Derek Smith
Cinematic Reflections

Inventive, richly styled film, a visual classic.

Full Review Source: Classic Film and Television | comment Comment
08/31/06
Michael E. Grost
Michael E. Grost
Classic Film and Television

No review available.

comment Comment
10/10/05
Cole Smithey
Cole Smithey
ColeSmithey.com

The ennui stretches into the very story itself.

Full Review Source: Combustible Celluloid | comment Comment
03/08/04
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Jeffrey M. Anderson
Combustible Celluloid

No review available.

comment Comment
06/14/05
Emanuel Levy
Emanuel Levy
EmanuelLevy.Com

The energy of the first hour dissipates just as the mystery is supposed to be deepening. But I envy you if you're seeing it for the first time -- it's still the finest motion picture to ever conclude with mimes pretending to play tennis.

Full Review Source: eye WEEKLY | comment Comment
01/01/00
Jason Anderson
Jason Anderson
eye WEEKLY

Peter Brunette’s detailed and entertaining commentary refreshingly acknowledges that, at many points, 'Things don’t add up in this movie.'

Full Review Source: Film-Forward.com | comment Comment
04/26/04
Kent Turner
Kent Turner
Film-Forward.com

Every generation has a cautionary tale like Blow-Up, but its hypocrisy is special: it peddles what it condemns. Just as tired and offensive today as it was in '66.

Full Review Source: Filmcritic.com | comment Comment
01/28/04
Jake Euker
Jake Euker
Filmcritic.com

I have enough faith in my judgment to recognize a stinker.

Full Review Source: Goatdog's Movies | comment Comment
02/28/02
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Michael W. Phillips, Jr.
Goatdog's Movies

No review available.

comment Comment
07/26/02
David Poland
David Poland
Hot Button
 
 
1 - 20 (sorted by source; UK critics are listed first)
Text View | 1 2 >> >|
all

Latest News for Blow-Up

October 27, 2009: 10 Movies That Scared Wes Craven Opens in new window
Looking for some really scary movies this Halloween season? Wes Craven -- who should know a thing or two about cinematic chills -- has provided Entertainment Weekly with a list... More...

July 31, 2007: Remembering Michelangelo Antonioni
Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni, who gave the world such influential films as L'Avventura, Blow-Up, and The Passenger, died Monday at the age of 94. More...

October 20, 2005: RT Critical Consensus: "Doom" Gloom, "Country" Sounds Sweet
This week at the movies brings stories of marines on Mars ("Doom"), iron miners fighting the man ("North Country"), little girls who love horses... More...

See All

More DVDs

Top Rentals
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
14% 14% The Ugly Truth
98% 98% Up
36% 36% G.I. Joe: The Rise of …
52% 52% The Taking of Pelham 1…
45% 45% Ice Age: Dawn of the D…

More Rentals…

New On DVD This Week
Tomatometer Percentage Movie
32% 32% Terminator Salvation
44% 44% Night at the Museum: B…
86% 86% A Christmas Tale
60% 60% Paper Heart

More New Releases…

What’s Hot On RT

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

Twilight Saga: Eclipse

5 facts straight from the cast.

Disney Animation

Disney Animation

We chart the studio's classics.

Avatar

Avatar

An exclusive look at the human hardware.

Eric Bana

Eric Bana

The Star Trek star talks cars with RT.

Other News

  • Top Stories
  • Popular
  • Interviews
 
 

Comments

 
 
Top Stories
Headlines Comments
  
  • No Hobbit Until 2012? Source: The Wrap
8
  • Don't Hold Your Breath for Hancock 2 Source: HitFix
22
  • Peter Berg Talks Battleship Source: CHUD
1
  • Summit Ponders Twilight Finale Source: Variety
135
  • First Look at Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Source: USA Today
44
  • Jeremy Renner Talks Hawkeye Possibilities Source: Superhero Hype
14
  • Todd Phillips Talks The Hangover 2 Source: Entertainment Weekly
18
  • Tron Legacy Duo Heading into The Black Hole Source: Hollywood Reporter
9
  • First Iron Man 2 Poster Released Source: Yahoo! Movies
80
  • Ryan Reynolds Talks Green Lantern Source: MTV
16
Popular
Headlines Comments
  
  • Ban Them All! 10 Infamously Controversial Movies
99
  • Friday Harvest: The Road, Avatar, and more!
96
  • 5 Facts About The Twilight Saga: Eclipse
91
  • Box Office Guru Wrapup: Vampires and Football Break Thanksgiving Records
36
  • Total Recall: Natalie Portman's Best Movies
32
  • Weekly Ketchup: Zombieland 2 in 3D?
28
  • Five Favorite Films with Jesse Ventura
25
  • RT on DVD & Blu-Ray: Terminator Salvation and a Smithsonian Battle
20
  • Duncan Jones Reteams With Kevin Spacey
5
Interviews
Headlines Comments
  
  • "I Don't Hate Women": Lars von Trier on Antichrist
17
  • Eric Bana talks Love the Beast - RT Interview
11
  • Fight Club Sound Designer Reflects on Film's 10th Anniversary
21
  • James Schamus talks Taking Woodstock - RT Interview
8
  • John Hurt Talks Harry Potter, Quentin Crisp and Alien - The RT Interview
15
  • Terry Gilliam Talks Doctor Parnassus
22
  • Wes Anderson Talks Fantastic Mr. Fox - RT Interview
9
  • Wolverine Creator Len Wein Talks About the Film
28
  • Gavin Hood Talks Wolverine; Possible Sequel
28
  • Duncan Jones talks Moon, Sam Rockwell, and Mute
14
 
 

Sponsored Links

Around The Network

  • Blow-Up at Rotten Tomatoes

Fresh Links

Featured
RT on YouTube
RT on YouTube External Link

Subscribe to RT's YouTube channel and don't miss a second of our cracking video content.

RT on Twitter
RT on Twitter External Link

Follow Rotten Tomatoes and join us as we tweet about the week's releases.

 
 
About| Site Map| Help| RT To Go| Contact Us| Critics Submission| Linking to RT| Licensing| Movie List| Celebs List| Newsletter
IGN Logo

IGN.com | GameSpy | Comrade | Arena | FilePlanet | GameSpy Technology
TeamXbox | Planets | Vaults | VE3D | CheatsCodesGuides | GameStats | GamerMetrics
AskMen.com | Rotten Tomatoes | Direct2Drive | Green Pixels


By continuing past this page, and by the continued use of this site, you agree to be bound by and abide by the User Agreement.
Copyright 1998-2009, IGN Entertainment, Inc. About IGN | Support | Advertise | Privacy Policy | User Agreement | Subscribe to RT's XML feed! IGN RSS Feeds
IGN's enterprise databases running Oracle, SQL and MySQL are professionally monitored and managed by Pythian Remote DBA
Certain product data ©1995-present Muze, Inc. For personal use only. All rights reserved.