Steven Freekin Jade has a pretty straight forward story with a murder and a love triangle between the three main characters. Because of the love triangle, it creates a conflict of interest between the two male characters. The plot sounds interesting enough. However, the way the final product was executed did not deliver an exhilarating or satisfactory story, conclusion, or thriller. Although, the unrated version, which is 12 mints longer, does assist in creating additional development for some of the characters.The film does inhabit i think some of Friedkin's finest work. An example would be the car chases sequence, which is in fact one of the most spectacular and thrilling chases ever filmed. I think it's his best to date. Cinematography for the film is beautiful and very noir like in the night scenes. Although he did a decent job with directing the leading characters, only Chazz Palminteri came across as really inhabiting his character. To me the problem with the film is that the story probably got lost in the editing or through rewrites.The bluray for this film, by Lionsgate, is one of the worst transfers I've ever seen. I wish paramount would put out both version of the film on a bluray. The theatrical version is not impressive at all but the unrated cut does a better job.

FlashCallahan When the assistant district attorney of San Francisco investigates the mysterious death of an important millionaire he discovers that the first suspect in this case is a friend of his who is married to an important lawyer.Now it is difficult for him to distinguish between what is reality and what should be reality....Yes there are many similarities to this, Basic Instinct, and even Body of Evidence, but is that really a bad thing? This was the nineties, a decade of excess, style and of course, trying to be as controversial as possible. So why shouldn't Friedkin jump on the boat.Watching it sixteen years on, and the film is still pretty stylish and has very good production values, it's a shame that the film was crucified by the critics and public alike in initial release, because it has some really good set pieces, and probably one of the best car chases ever committed to film.There are a few plot holes here and there, and yes, the directors cut, ties up a few loose ends, but with the performances alone, and the grand scale of it all, Jade is a film worth watching, even if you know the killer at the end is going to be someone silly and rich.

rgjm4 In the stock market most people buy long with the hope the price of their stock will go up. Others buy short, which is the opposite of long. Many of the reviews of this movie are long. I see this movie as short. A well acted poorly written/directed story. Several examples follow. One example is when Caruso's character shows the governor a group of pictures and never asks for the name of the woman in the pictures. Another is the unrealistic and unbelievably slow motion car chase scene to, through and beyond Chinatown. Another example is the idea of multiple murderers each killing for different reasons. Ultimately no one is punished for any of the deaths. In fairness to Caruso his performance is CSI Miami 7 years early. Regardless, this is a very poorly thought out and presented movie.

tedg I think this may have been successful in its day, simply because of the sex. There is the appearance of some sex acts on the screen presented in a couple voyeuristic contexts, but I think the target was a much deeper appeal: a whole world driven by insatiable, conventionally deviant female sex drive. The writer had previously cashed in with this idea and Hollywood chose to try again but with a real director. This formula isn't just about sex, its about turning the noir mechanics on its head. Noir depends on an outside fate that arbitrarily throws strangers together in situations that are designed for and controlled by the values of watching, outside the world of the action.Here, everyone knows each other beforehand. There are essentially no strangers. The driving force is supernatural as in noir, but it is rooted in and owned by the people we see. Its simple sexual desire, lust.The story is ordinary, the sex unconvincingly simulated. Even the automotive stunts are limp. There's some craft in how it is put together visually though, enough to keep me engaged.But there is one remarkable feature. The score is hypnotizing. It is bicameral, both halves based on prototypical themes. The male theme: lustful, uncontrollable and apt to be violent is from (almost directly) Stravinski's Rite of Spring. Its wildly erotic, threatening, dangerous. The female side (until the end that is) is a Celtic anthem, soft, passive, receptive, drifting.I do not ever recall something so directly cast, so borrowed and yet so effective. I saw this close to a film (Duel at Diablo) where the score was literally canned bits from old movies and the dialog all dubbed). This part is fun, and much more tantalizingly erotic than what you will see.Ted's Evaluation -- 2 of 3: Has some interesting elements.