Sliver
After Basic Instinct had been released in 1992 and essentially defined the 90s erotic thriller, Hollywood moved rather quickly to place Sharon Stone as the star of another erotic thriller piece almost right after, this 1993 release complete with her sexually aroused face on the poster in order to lure audiences back into the theater (âoh looks like sheâs getting fucked again!â). But as directed by career journeyman Phillip Noyce (a far cry from the stylistic maneuverings of Instinctâs Paul Verhoeven), this turns out to be a fairly mundane murder âmysteryâ where the mystery killerâs face is clearly visible in the first scene and worse, Stone is not cast here as a seductress but rather as a waifish type, a nice yet lonely girl fresh out of a bad marriage who moves into a fancy high rise apartment complex only to find herself in the middle of the ongoing rivalry between the two big dog males whose disparate personalities appear to be the dominant factors in the building. One of them (William Baldwin) is a willowy loner who in truth not only secretly owns the building, but has also installed a complex (and highly illegal) surveillance system in all of the residential apartments, spending his days and nights sitting in his command center as he watches (and records) the everyday activities of his various unwitting tenantsâ most private moments all while taking an almost God like fascination in the secrets it bestows him with. The other one (Tom Berenger) is a gregarious crime novelist with plenty of money and apparent connections (including with the police) who shamelessly thrusts himself upon any attractive woman who enters the building, but unfortunately for him, thatâs the only thing which heâs thrusting since nearly every budding relationship that he embarks on ends in flaccid embarrassment due to his own impotence, whereupon Baldwin moves in on the same women to give them some mindblowing sex before the besmirched Berenger (like clockwork) moves back in and treats that same woman to a brutal death, a practice that Baldwin with his surveillance operation seems to tolerate since Berenger as a resident seems to have some dirt on Baldwin that Baldwin would rather have stay hidden. The film opens with Berenger (as said, with his identity not very well hidden by director Noyce) entering a (very) beautiful blondeâs apartment and just chucking her straight off the balcony due to her committing the crime of laughing at his limpness before then turning around and fucking Baldwin. Into this mess comes Stoneâs lonely and depressed book editor, ironically moving into the exact same apartment as the unlucky blonde whom Berenger had just sent into flight. Both men waste little time in making their advances on her, but Berenger makes the mistake of coming on a little too strong and pushy which allows Baldwin to scoop her up for the quick win even as Berenger plots his usual and expected revenge. The first mistake is in the casting as even while the virile stud vs wealthy limpdick rivalry could have been grounds for a fascinating storyline, casting William Baldwin as the stud and Tom Berenger (one of the most masculine movie actors in history) as the limpdick was just an AWFUL decision on Noyceâs part as (besides the fact that most women would still prefer Berenger) Baldwin doesnât seem to exude anything but utter goofiness (no surprise since he wound up having the most failed career of his acting family), coming off more as being slow witted than anything else and not even projecting an ounce of the necessary testosterone that would have made his âmysteriousâ side the least bit appealing (one wonders what first and second choices Johnny Depp and Val Kilmer would have accomplished with the role had they not turned it down) and thus itâs no surprise that he and Stone did NOT click chemistry wise onset even as they had to engage in some heavy breathing sex scenes here. Berenger for his part is forced to engage in possibly the most thankless performance in movie history (or at least erotic thrillers), easily carrying the acting duties in lieu of Baldwinâs non presence and yet still projecting his usual masculine charisma only to be humiliated when other characters start talking about his astute lack of performance level which then leads him to mindlessly kill women seemingly with Baldwinâs all knowing approval. As for Stone, being stuck in the middle between these two seems like a bum deal until Baldwin gives her access to his command center, a plethora of TVs everywhere which he describes as being better than any movie or TV show, essentially giving him divine power over all of the other residents in the building (including Berengerâs psycho killer which he does nothing about) and at one point when observing another man molesting his stepdaughter, Baldwin sends the man an anonymous warning which leads to the sight of a pedophile apologizing to his victim (although if the guy had not heeded the warning, itâs doubtful that Baldwin would have actually done anything anyway)! All of this is just too much for Stone to have much if any of an impact here: yes she looks beautiful and the couple of major sexual situations in which she finds herself are hot, but the movieâs freakshow appeal comes in seeing Tom Berenger laughably being portrayed as being less virile than Billy Baldwin and the potentially greater message of maintaining a full surveillance over a populace while only intervening when itâs absolutely necessary becomes completely lost and muddled in what could have been a compelling film with better casting and better directingâŠ
4/10