(Credit: Amazon.com)
Directed by
Phillip Noyce
Cast:
Sharon Stone …. Carly Norris
William Baldwin …. Zeke Hawkins
Tom Berenger …. Jack Landsford
Polly Walker …. Vida Warren
Colleen Camp …. Judy Marks
Amanda Foreman …. Samantha Moore
Martin Landau …. Alex Parsons
CCH Pounder …. Lt. Victoria Hendrix
Nina Foch …. Mrs. McEvoy
Keene Curtis …. Gus Hale
Nicholas Pryor …. Peter Farrell
Anne Betancourt …. Jackie Kinsella
Tony Peck …. Martin Kinsella
Frantz Turner …. Doorman
The Movie:
Does anyone remember when Sharon Stone was one of the most popular actresses in the world? Even though it’s not a very good movie at all, Basic Instinct‘s controversy gave the actress immense notoriety. Stone’s femme fatale pushed the limits of sex on screen and studios were clamoring to get the siren into her next project, pronto, and once again the project would have to be a racy picture that pushed the limits of good taste in able to take advantage of the actress’ new fan base. That picture would turn out to be Sliver.
Sharon Stone plays Carly Norris, a successful woman getting out of a very unsuccessful relationship. Doing a little personal spring cleaning, Carly moves uptown, taking up residence in an unbelievably nice apartment. Everything is fantastic, except everyone in the building is really weird. Seemingly everyone in the building gives her an odd stare as she walks by. It’s not too long before she realizes what everyone’s acting so peculiar about. Apparently, the last tenant in her apartment had thrown herself from a twenty story window (We know from the opening scene she was actually pushed). To add another layer of oddness the woman looked just Carly.
The murder mystery as to who killed the apartment’s last resident builds as each of the suspects actually vies for Carly’s affections. Also adding to what should be tension is a mystery person who constantly keeps Carly and the rest of the building’s renters under constant surveillance. Frustratingly, while the film should be constructing a plot that keeps us guessing up to its shocking finale, it instead builds to a preposterously ridiculous conclusion and then thankfully just… ends.
Those expecting another over the top, Basic Instinct style performance from Sharon Stone will be sorely disappointed with her perfunctory turn as Carly Norris. The meek, naïve Norris seems to confine the actress, desperately wanting to break her femme fatale free. Of course, those simply looking for T&A will not be disappointed as the film could hang with any late night Cinemax feature.
Unfortunately, the dialogue and storyline by Joe Eszterhas is also of the same quality. With deftness and subtlety, this could have been a mildly effective thriller, but Eszterhas and Director Phillip Noyce are about as subtle as a knife to the gut or a push off a balcony. Apparently, the film not only changes the ending of the book the movie was based on, but five different endings were devised and tested. Evidently, it was so they could collectively find the dumbest ending possible, because that’s pretty much what you get here.
Making things worse is the level of the “acting”. You would think that Tom Berenger would want his character Jack to not be completely irredeemable, but that’s exactly what happens. He’s a blowhard and pretentious, and while that’s fine if you’re supposed to hate him, if he’s a possible suspect wouldn’t you want to give him some sympathy here? That would at least make us care if he was the killer.
Billy Baldwin also makes the mistake of giving us a typical Billy Baldwin performance. Admittedly, with this film and Fair Game the guy has to have some sort of talent to be cast in these roles where beautiful actresses are naked in front of him. That talent just doesn’t seem to have anything to do with his acting.
Top to bottom, Sliver is an awesomely stupid movie. The film has bad performances, bad dialogue, and great nude scenes. If that’s all you’re interested in, then maybe this would appeal to you. Otherwise, stay as far away from this as possible.
Score: 1.0 /10
The DVD:
The Video
The film’s transfer is fine, but nothing spectacular. There’s nothing obviously wrong with it, but it’s not exactly to go out and buy the DVD either. Sliver is presented in Anamorphic Widescreen with an aspect ratio of 2.35:1.
The Audio
The audio mix is also quite unspectacular. The soundtrack is presented in Dolby Digital 5.1.
SPECIAL FEATURES: The coup de grace of this whole experience? How many special features do we get? None, zip, zilch, nada, nothing, blank, diddly squat, goose egg, naught, nil, squat, zippo, zot.
Score: 0.0 /10
