ThiefHott Too much of everything

Chirphymium It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

Usamah Harvey The film's masterful storytelling did its job. The message was clear. No need to overdo.

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

carlwyatt There is too much gratuitous sex.There is too much gratuitous sex.The climax, shot in half light, is confusing since four or five cops, DA's, killers, suspects, are wrestling around. Who's fighting with whom?Someone said it was a "Mess." In truth, it wasn't that good.The film was short on story. Friedkin like cars chases. "Jade" has 3. Uh, maybe 2. Uh, maybe 1. If you see this film, you'll quickly understand why I'm unclear about the chases. At least I know this: About 20% of the running time deals with cars in trouble and David Caruso violently swinging the steering wheel, yelling in fear, screaming in anger. Or is it the other way around?Of course, the sound editor used the stock horn sound, the one that echoes as it fades.I gave this a 1 because they don't allow negative numbers.In summary: "Jade" stinks.

gridoon2018 A trashy, kinky, entertaining erotic thriller, in the "Basic Instinct" vein, if not in the same league. Both films are mainly set in San Francisco and are scripted by Joe Eszterhas; his story this time is partly predictable (there is one famous actor who doesn't appear to have much of a role, so you can tell they're saving him for something big at the end) but still sufficiently twisty-turny. David Caruso is a weak lead, but he is surrounded by a strong supporting cast. The technical credits (editing, music, cinematography) are top-notch, and there is a car chase sequence that is both spectacular and original; the part of it that goes through a Chinatown parade is not quite like anything I have seen before. If you liked "Color Of Night" with Bruce Willis, you'll probably like this film as well. **1/2 out of 4.

brchthethird This is a decent erotic thriller/mystery brought down by predictability, cliché and some rather bad writing. The film does have an impressive pedigree, having been directed by William Friedkin, and starring Chazz Palminteri, Linda Fiorentino as well as a pre-CSI: Miami David Caruso. All of the actors do a serviceable job, but they have to deliver some of the hammiest dialogue I've ever heard. The script is devoid of any real surprises or thrills, and so it relies on an over-insistent score. It's like it's shouting "Look at me! Take me seriously!", except it's impossible to take anything in this movie seriously. The most impressive part of the movie is the intro (before the score has become overbearing), which features some creepy music and surrealistic camera-work. It's too bad that they overuse the style throughout the film, though. Another bright spot was a well-filmed (but ridiculous) car chase through San Francisco, but it wears out its welcome once they hit Chinatown and the movie almost literally comes to a halt. So, there's also some issues with pacing, particularly in that sequence. However, the biggest problem with this movie is the script, penned by Joe Eszterhaz (who also wrote BASIC INSTINCT and SHOWGIRLS). Not only is the story relatively unengaging, but it's rather misogynistic towards its female characters, and the voyeuristic camera-work doesn't help in that regard either. At best, it's a rather bland erotic thriller with some decent performances, but it could be worth a late-night watch if you're into this sort of thing.

MisterWhiplash Jade is the kind of cinema where the director who has some genuine talent and vision, if not consistently then strong when the iron hits, has to try and make something out of hackwork. Joe Esztherhas may have been well paid during his time in the limelight of the early-mid 90's and had some successes as a writer, but for all of his erotically-charged bizarre flourishes, there was always the air of hackwork in his script, but here the hack comes to roost. This has scintillating plot details and twists - especially, and ludicrously, in the final fifteen minutes where it piles up to ludicrous heights - and not really much soul at all.Oh sure, there are characters, and they want things and feel betrayals and go about the motions of the script, and there's some dirty sex here and there (mostly caught on grainy voyeuristic radio), but I don't know if I really gave a dam about most of the main characters. The actors are probably trying to, especially David Caruso as he mostly tries to underplay what could have been scenery-chewing times for another actor. But they also are kind of prisoners of a screenplay that is just... I don't know, except that while some of the dialog isn't terrible, some of it is. Some of it made me cringe, and some of it had me laughing.So why the high rating? Why recommend it even partially? Because Friedkin is still at the helm, and he has fun here. And in ways I wasn't quite expecting. Sometimes he'll just mess with the actors on set - there's a cat that appears in the hallway of where the cops walk around, and I can be pretty sure that wasn't a detail outlined in the script (and it's a fine detail to throw in there). And there is a car chase - roll eyes, again, from Friedkin, can't he do that in his sleep - and it's STILL unique to his world. This time he has some kind of perverse enjoyment with a) having just over-the-top car stunts as cars fly through the air practically on San Fransisco streets, and then going 2 miles an hour in a Chinatown parade where the citizens attack both the predator and prey! What happens then in this story of backstabbing and murder and "deviant" sex and politics and so on, real pulpy - nay, just pot-boiler material - is that the simple style of it, how the direction is oddly elegant and experimental in some small ways, makes what is otherwise crap watchable. Maybe I'll even revisit it at 3 in the morning on cable.