The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.5
Video		3.5
Audio		3.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.5

The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie Review

Reviewed by Dr. Svet Atanasov October 21, 2022

John Lafia's "The Blue Iguana" (1988) arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber. The only bonus feature on the release is a vintage trailer for the film. In English, with optional English SDH subtitles for the main feature. Region-A "locked".

It will not be long before you conclude that The Blue Iguana was done by a first-time director. Various parts of it have that very particular ‘anything goes’ attitude a lot of wildly entertaining ‘80s genre films mastered to perfection, but the end product lacks the confidence to appear legitimately cool. Ten to fifteen minutes after the opening credits disappear you will be left with the impression that some of the stars in The Blue Iguana might have read a different screenplay and were trying to impress as if they were in a serious genre film that could elevate their careers to a whole new level. The Blue Iguana was not conceived to be that kind of a film. It was supposed to have a spicy sense of humor and behave like the films Andy Sidaris directed during the same period.

The Blue Iguana was written and directed by John Lafia, who worked as a leadman on Alex Cox’s Repo Man a couple of years earlier. It may be then that Lafia began dreaming of directing a similar genre film because The Blue Iguana blends violence and comedy in almost the same manner Repo Man does. It shares the same appreciation for the exotic, too. However, either Lafia struggled to effectively communicate his vision of The Blue Iguana or he just could not transfer it before the camera. It is hard to tell exactly what happened, but Lafia’s inexperience had a lot to do with it.

Dylan McDermott is Vince Holloway, a cash-strapped bounty hunter who has become a target for the I.R.S. After having an unexpected encounter with two very shady tax collectors (Dean Stockwell and Tovah Feldshuh), Holloway agrees to travel to a Mexican hellhole named Diablo and recover $20 million from a bank where the worst of the worst drug dealers and killers deposit their cash. To reward Holloway’s efforts, the I.R.S. agents promise to wipe out his debts and let him keep approximately $1 million in untraceable banknotes. Shortly after he arrives in Diablo, Holloway rents a room in The Blue Iguana hotel and begins working on a plan that would allow him to empty the bank’s vaults. When he realizes that there is no way he could come anywhere near the vaults without the heavily armed guards transforming his body into a giant piece of Swiss cheese, Holloway decides to use the help of a beautiful barwoman with plenty of emotional baggage (Pamela Gidley) and an adventurous boy with admirable business instincts (Yano Anaya).

Lafia’s screenplay treats Holloway in the same way Raymond Chandler’s novels do Philip Marlowe -- he is an observer and participant of events that are part of a big picture that becomes clearer to him as it does to the viewer/reader. However, Holloway is not as exciting of a character, and the bigger picture in The Blue Iguana is as straightforward as it could be. Interestingly, these seemingly very important details would have been irrelevant if the fireworks in The Blue Iguana had been done with a consistent ‘anything goes’ attitude that would have made it look convincingly unhinged. This is the type of film Lafia was going for -- an unhinged half neo-noir thriller, half neo-western with a unifying spicy sense of humor. But Lafia could not get it done. Instead, Holloway simply moves through awkwardly staged episodes where the overlapping of the neo-noir and neo-western material routinely looks badly mismanaged.

The definitive proof that Lafia was not ready to do The Blue Iguana is the treatment of James Russo. This excellent character actor is supposed to be a slightly loopy and very dangerous leader of a gang of killers that have struck a deal with the crooked owner (Jessica Harper) of the bank, but most of the time is made to look like a cartoon villain that landed in the wrong film.

The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, encoded with MPEG-4 AVC and granted a 1080p transfer, The Blue Iguana arrives on Blu-ray courtesy of Kino Lorber.

The release is sourced from an older master that was supplied by Paramount Pictures. The master is pretty decent but its age shows, so if you view your films on a larger screen, you will notice quite a few inconsistencies. For example, there are a couple of darker areas with notable density fluctuations (screencapture #1 is from one such area). During daylight footage, highlights usually bloom as well. The good news is that delineation, clarity, and depth remain pleasing, plus there are no obvious traces of problematic digital corrections. Color balance is good. However, there are different ranges of lighter nuances that could be improved. Image stability is very good. I noticed a few blemishes, but there are no large distracting debris, cuts, damage marks, warped or torn frames to report. (Note: This is a Region-A "locked" Blu-ray release. Therefore, you must have a native Region-A or Region-Free player in order to access its content).

The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

There is only one standard audio track on this Blu-ray release: English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0. Optional English SDH subtitles are provided for the main feature.

While the dialog was clear and very easy to follow, I noticed that in quite a few areas there was dynamic unevenness. My impression is that balance could be quite a bit better, though I don't think that the overall dynamic range of the audio can me dramatically improved. I did not encounter background hiss, pops, or distortions to report in our review.

The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Trailer - a rather strange trailer for The Blue Iguana dubbed in English and presented without English subtitles. (2 min).

The Blue Iguana Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

John Lafia's The Blue Iguana can look good only if you view it immediately before or after Alex Cox's Straight to Hell. Some of its fireworks are decent, but its overlapping of neo-noir and neo-western material never looks right. It is too bad because Lafia was able to secure the services of a few excellent character actors. Kino Lorber's Blu-ray release is sourced from an older but mostly decent master that was supplied by Paramount Pictures.