{"id":3638,"date":"2010-04-17T14:00:46","date_gmt":"2010-04-17T21:00:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/?p=3638"},"modified":"2021-04-22T08:17:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-22T15:17:31","slug":"review-jade-bd","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/2010\/04\/review-jade-bd\/","title":{"rendered":"Jade Blu-ray Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Jade<\/em><\/strong> may be underrated in its vitriol but by the same token it\u2019s still not a very good movie even with some erotic sex scenes meant to titillate and instead are weird (nothing new from Friedkin) bordering on boring. You add in a plot that isn\u2019t very intriguing and a lead actor who is even less so and you\u2019ve got a movie that deserves to be forgotten.<\/p>\n

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\"\"<\/a>
\nJade (1995)<\/strong><\/p>\n


\nREVIEW NAVIGATION<\/strong><\/span>
\nThe Movie<\/a> | Special Features<\/a> | Video Quality<\/a> | Audio Quality<\/a> | Overall<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Genre(s): <\/strong>Crime, Drama, Thriller
\nLions Gate | R \u2013 95 min. \u2013 $19.99 | April 6, 2010<\/p>\n

MOVIE INFO:<\/span>
\nDirected by: <\/strong>William Friedkin
\nWriter(s): <\/strong>Joe Eszterhas (written by)
\nCast: <\/strong>David Caruso, Linda Fiorentino, Chazz Palminteri, Michael Biehn<\/p>\n

Theatrical Release Date: <\/strong>October 13, 1995<\/p>\n

DISC INFO:<\/span>
\nFeatures: <\/strong>Theatrical Trailer
\nNumber of Discs: <\/strong>1<\/p>\n

Audio: <\/strong>English (DTS-HD MA 5.1)
\nVideo: <\/strong>1080p\/Widescreen 1.78
\nSubtitles: <\/strong>English SDH, Spanish
\nDisc Size: <\/strong>22.5 GB
\nCodec: <\/strong>MPEG-4 AVC
\nRegion(s): <\/strong>A<\/p>\n

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THE MOVIE<\/strong> \u2013 2.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The year was 1995 and David Caruso left a cushy stint on \u201cNYPD Blue\u201d to pursue a movie career. His first didn\u2019t work out too well starring alongside Samuel L. Jackson and Nicholas Cage in Kiss of Death<\/em> and then with William Friedkin\u2019s erotic thriller, Jade<\/em><\/strong>. After a couple more below average thrillers and a supporting role in 2000s Proof of Life<\/em> (a movie I feel is underrated), he would return to TV with the primetime crime soap opera, \u201cCSI: Miami\u201d; though to be fair, the low-budgeted Session 9<\/em> was a good supernatural thriller that deserves to be seen…<\/p>\n

In Jade<\/em><\/strong>, Caruso plays San Francisco Assistant District Attorney David Corelli, a hot shot with eyes set on the big seat in the D.A.\u2019s office. After a black tie soiree with best friend \u2013 and big time defense attorney \u2013 Matt Gavin (CHAZZ PALMINTERI) and his beautiful wife Trina (LINDA FIORENTINO), he is called into a grisly crime scene of a multi-millionaire inside his mansion.<\/p>\n

Corelli and the investigators soon discover that this millionaire had a deviant sexual nature to him and held some explicit photos in his safe, including one of the California Governor Lew Edwards (RICHARD CRENNA), as well as others in society. They also discover the victim had a sex party house by the beach where the sexual rendezvous would occur. Their investigation and discover of more pictures leads to Patrice (ANGIE EVERHEART) who had been seen at the beach house on several occasions and might be the key to unlocking the mystery of \u201cJade\u201d, a woman with a dark side willing to do anything… sexually speaking.<\/p>\n

I\u2019ve actually never seen Jade<\/em><\/strong> before today mainly because either the old DVD was OOP or the re-produced DVD was in pan & scan full frame. But after hearing how bad it was, I couldn\u2019t resist to give it a look to see for myself. Is it really that bad? I don\u2019t think so. Is it a good movie in any way or form? Of course not. The movie recycles a fair bit of material from Joe Eszterhas\u2019s script (see: Basic Instinct<\/em> or Sliver<\/em>) to James Horner\u2019s score (though I did like the haunting sound of Jade\u2019s theme) to William Friedkin\u2019s direction for which the back of the Blu-ray case states the movie contains \u201cone of the most spectacular car chases ever filmed.\u201d Really? Spectacular? This is nowhere near the awesomeness of The French Connection<\/em> (by Friedkin), John Frankenheimer\u2019s Ronin<\/em> or even Paul Greengrass\u2019s shaky-cam experience in The Bourne Supremacy<\/em>. And I\u2019m certain I\u2019m missing plenty others that rank it ahead.<\/p>\n

The bigger problem with Jade<\/em><\/strong> isn\u2019t so much the recycled material but the fact the screenplay is a mess and you have a director who hasn\u2019t been on his game since To Live and Die in L.A.<\/em> and couldn\u2019t compensate for the story\u2019s lack of intrigue or suspense. Then you add in someone like David Caruso who has never been the leading man type, hence why his best feature film performance came in the supporting role in Proof of Life<\/em> against Russell Crowe and Meg Ryan. That explains why the lead never works but you also get someone like a Chazz Palminteri who was rising in the ranks in the early\/mid 1990s after A Bronx Tale<\/em> and The Usual Suspects<\/em> and Linda Fiorentino garnered respect after her turn in John Dahl\u2019s The Last Seduction<\/em>. Arguably, Jade<\/em><\/strong> put to halt any sort of rising career for these leads, sadly enough especially in the case of Fiorentino who never fully recovered, in spite of some good roles including Dogma<\/em>…<\/p>\n

Overall, Jade<\/em><\/strong> may be underrated in its vitriol but by the same token it\u2019s still not a very good movie even with some erotic sex scenes meant to titillate and instead are weird (nothing new from Friedkin) bordering on boring. You add in a plot that isn\u2019t very intriguing and a lead actor who is even less so and you\u2019ve got a movie that deserves to be forgotten.<\/p>\n

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SPECIAL FEATURES \u2013 0.5\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

All that\u2019s here is one measly little theatrical trailer<\/span><\/strong> presented in standard def and letterboxed widescreen no less. Unfortunately Friedkin\u2019s director\u2019s cut will remain elusive outside of some VHS tapes or on Amazon\u2019s \u201cOn Demand\u201d.<\/p>\n

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<\/a><\/p>\n

VIDEO \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Jade<\/em><\/strong> is presented (finally) in its proper 1.78 aspect ratio where on DVD you only have a letterboxed widescreen version to watch. This 1080p high-definition transfer isn\u2019t the greatest and a little uneven. First, there are times where the picture looks clear and well detailed while other points it\u2019s really soft and the noise levels during some of the darker scenes don\u2019t look too good.
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AUDIO \u2013 3.0\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track comes out a little better and although outside of a long car chase, the movie is fairly dialogue heavy than anything else. Not to spoil anything, you also get some gunfire during the finale. All in all, it\u2019s not a bad track but it also doesn\u2019t stand out even amongst other catalogue titles.<\/p>\n

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OVERALL \u2013 2.25\/5<\/strong><\/h2>\n

When David Caruso left his star gig on ABC\u2019s \u201cNYPD Blue\u201d, he thought he would be the next great leading man in Hollywood. Sadly (or thankfully depending on what you think of him), it didn\u2019t quite work out. Jade<\/em><\/strong> is a movie that thinks it\u2019s something more steamy and controversial than it really is. Eszterhas\u2019s script is recycled from other material he\u2019s written and William Friedkin shows that his best years might be behind him.<\/p>\n

The Blu-ray doesn\u2019t exactly have the best audio or video transfers but I guess if you are a fan of the movie you finally get a proper 16×9 widescreen presentation rather than the annoying Full Frame picture currently on DVD.<\/p>\n

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The Movieman<\/em>
\nPublished: <\/strong>04\/17\/2010<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Jade may be underrated in its vitriol but by the same token it\u2019s still not a very good movie even with some erotic sex scenes meant to titillate and instead are weird (nothing new from Friedkin) bordering on boring. You add in a plot that isn\u2019t very intriguing and a lead actor who is even … Continue reading “Jade Blu-ray Review”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[1273,260,1272,263,950],"class_list":["post-3638","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blurayreviews","tag-chazz-palminteri","tag-david-caruso","tag-jade","tag-linda-fiorentino","tag-michael-biehn"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3638"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":25758,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3638\/revisions\/25758"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3638"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3638"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/moviemansguide.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3638"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}