4K UHD Review – Jade

While enjoying a few career highlights in the 1980s (including 1983’s “Flashdance” and 1985’s “Jagged Edge”), screenwriter Joe Eszterhas enjoyed a very lucrative 1990s. 1992’s “Basic Instinct” transformed him into a major Hollywood entity, and all the studios wanted a piece of the action, paying millions to get their hands on his latest endeavors. 1995’s “Jade” is part of this gold rush, representing a portion of the mania that surrounded Eszterhas and also his downfall, as the box office failure of 1993’s “Sliver” and the bombing of 1995’s “Showgirls” helped to extinguish his once red- hot career. “Jade” is pretty much the final offering of indulgence when dealing with Eszterhas, who creates an erotic thriller that’s heavy on mystery and grim when it comes to sex. Director William Friedkin (no stranger to professional woes) steps in to make sense of the writing’s darkness, out to create his own version of an opera with the work, which enjoys wild swings of behavior and villainous reveals. The film is at least somewhat functional for its first two acts, watching Friedkin manage Eszterhas’s greasy imagination and clunky dialogue, pushing his actors to go bigger in an effort to merge behavioral broadness with sexual violence. The bizarre mix of detective activity and obsession doesn’t carry throughout the movie, but there’s enough here to embrace for those who enjoy lurid cinema. Read the rest at Blu-ray.com