Few American writers benefited Hollywood by providing many novels that would become genre classics as Ira Levin did. There are some of his novels that haven’t been adapted to screen and there is at least one Levin would have probably wished it was not. That novel is Sliver, a 1991 thriller that was two years later brought to big screen under direction of Phillip Noyce, resulting in one of the greatest disappointments of early 1990s Hollywood.
Protagonist, played by Sharon Stone, is Carly Norris, book editor in New York publishing house who, following a divorce, wants to start a new life. She decides to move into upscale high-rise Manhattan apartment building and gradually begins to meet her new neighbours. As an attractive woman, she brings attention of two men. One is writer Jack Langsford (played by Tom Berenger) and another is video game designer Zeke Hawkins (played by William Baldwin). Carly opts for the latter and begins passionate affair with him, making Jack very unhappy. Carly soon finds some disturbing details about her new home. Naomi Singer (played by Allison Mackie), the previous tennant in her apartment, died under mysterious circumstances, apparently jumping from the window. She also had physical resemblance to Carly who, after learning about few more suspicious deaths, begins to wonder whether there is a serial killer in the building. Zeke tries to calm Carly down by revealing that he is actually an owner of the building and that he has built high-tech security system involving hidden cameras and microphones, allowing him to know everything that goes on in the building. Carly is nevertheless worried that she might become the next victim.
Sliver was expected to be big film, at least judging by the respected names involved in the project. Film was produced by Robert Evans, legendary mentor of New Hollywood. Australian director Phillip Noyce had proven that he can make effective thrillers with Dead Calm. Main character was played by Sharon Stone, actress at the peak of her stardom and established as erotic thriller specialist. Film featured enormously huge budget for the genre and also featured Vilmos Zsigmond as cinematographer. Yet, when it actually came to cinemas, Sliver proved to be miserable flop, massacred by critics and later nominated for many Razzies. The main reason for this fiasco is usually found in script by Joe Esterhasz, writer who at the time could charge hefty fees for his work, which had included Basic Instinct, the most successful erotic thriller of its time. Esterhasz, like in so many of his works, delivers truly awful dialogue and manages to make almost any character dislikeable. Unlike Basic Instinct, there wasn’t director willing to embrace the script’s trashiness and give it “gulity pleasure” quality. Sliver tries too hard to play it straight, with cliched red herrings and predictable plot twists that culminate in one of the most underwhelming and disappointing endings in 1990s Hollywood.
A lot of problems for the film originated on the set. Main stars – Sharon Stone and William Baldwin – couldn’t stand each other, while producers and studio executives interfered with the script, resulting in ending being reshot following disappointing reaction by test audience. Considering all the problems, Sliver is surprisingly good film. Sharon Stone handles her role quite well, making her characters of book editor convincing and she delivers the good in obligatory sex scenes, despite some of them being suppressed by censorship concerns. William Baldwin is, on the other hand, quite bland in the role of seemingly irresistible young man and doesn’t have much chemistry with Stone. Tom Berenger, one of the most dependable actors in Hollywood, is wasted in his one-dimensional role. Yet, nice cinematography and music score which includes atmospheric song by Enigma, help Sliver becoming watchable. Some of viewers who are nostalgic towards early 1990s might appreciate how this film showed potentials of video and computer technology and their, often questionable, appliance in every day life. Fans of Civilization would probably appreciate Sliver as the only major Hollywood production that features their favourite video game. But, so many good opportunities were missed and one of them is issue of decreasing privacy in high-tech world, where so many lives can be manipulated and wrecked by sociopathic individuals, whether they are Jeff Bezos, Bill Gates, Elon Musk or Zeke Hawkins. Most of regular viewers today are most likely to find Sliver very disappointing.
RATING: 4/10 (+)
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