Powerful

In truth, there is barely enough story here to make a film.

A film with more than the usual spoiler issues. Talking about it in any detail feels akin to handing you a gift-wrapped present and saying, "I hope you like it -- It's a thriller about a diabolical secret experiment."

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Thanks to a couple of IMDb reviewers I checked out "The Operation" with Lisa Hartman who is in my opinion a hotter or a sexier actress than Nicole Kidman the story actually made sense. I appreciate originality in movies for good or for bad. I enjoy movies with twists but Malice is a total rip off of the old TV movie with a ridiculous "twist" added in the end but unfortunately it's still a rip off. When L A Takedown was remade and turned into Heat it was all the same writer same director it was ok although more money couldn't help the story get any better. Aaron Sorkin, you're pathetic.

Caught this on late night TV -- can it be almost 25 years ago? wow. Most of the folks here have gone to amazing careers, and need no introduction -- Baldwin, Kidman, Pullman, scriptwriter Sorkin.But this is a terribly written movie -- handsomely produced -- finest actors -- but ultimately feels like a manipulative rip-off. I am not sure I processed that back in '93, because I knew less about both fertility treatments and the legal system.For starters: "Jeb Hill" (Baldwin) is an absolutely top surgeon at an MA hospital, but is willing to operate on his GIRLFRIEND, rendering her both sterile and MENOPAUSAL (!!!) by removing both of her ovaries -- for a lousy $20 million? Hello? the actor was 34 here, so presumably his character is roughly this age -- a surgeon at the BEGINNING of a brilliant, 35 plus year career -- and who would throw it AWAY for a lousy $20 million?Wait a sec. But it isn't $20 million. $20 mil is the SETTLEMENT, meaning Kidman's lawyers skim a minimum of 30% off the top, and more likely 40%. Let's go with 30% though. Now it is only $14 million. And the two con artists would presumably be splitting it -- they are not even married -- so that's a lousy $7 million each. (In reality, this would have gone to trial -- Dr. Hill's remarks were off the record, and he would have retracted them -- and that would have probably meant way less even than this.)$7 million? to give up your CAREER, which presumably Hill loves and is brilliant at-- to retire in his early 30s? A thoracic surgeon probably earned close to half a million a YEAR back then -- over just 20 years that is $10 million by itself. And Kidman was willing to go through SURGICAL MENOPAUSE to get her $7 million? with all of the risks, discomforts, etc. of early menopause? The script keeps saying "children" but she never wanted kids (*because we all know that mean bee-yotches in movies are not maternal and hate kids). But did she want the OTHER risks and miseries of menopause? or the side effects of taking estrogen pills for the next 20 years? HOT FLASHES? hair loss, weight gain, dry skin, sexual side effects? Are you kidding me? If a woman HAD $7 million, she'd probably gladly pay every penny to be able to NOT go through early menopause!It is as if the scriptwriters had no idea what really happens to women to lose their ovaries. They did not do even the most minimal research.Today, this would be even greater hooey, since it would be easy to have tested the aborted fetus to determine if it was Bill Pullman's biological child, which would have blown the whole lawsuit apart. The plot line with him accused of rape feels manipulative.Also the end with the whole "blind child they think has seen everything" -- unbelievably hokey and "convenient". The whole script is just stupid & manipulative.Only bright spot is a small role by the legendary Anne Bancroft -- giving everyone here a master's class in art of real acting (as Kidman's drunk, hostile mother). Though whoever thought that dark, ethnic looking Bancroft could be the mom of pale, lanky redhead Kidman doesn't know much about genetics as well. And what abusive DRUNK cares if they drink single malt scotch? Do the writers here know that a single malt costs about 10 times what a bottle of cheap whiskey costs? No drunk would make that cost/benefit analysis and decide to drink the hoity-toity stuff.A film that was never very good and has aged badly. Only interesting to see Kidman (a tremendous natural beauty here at 25) and Alec Baldwin (a super-hottie in his day) when young. Baldwin especially has matured into an hilarious comedian, once he aged past his hottie stage.Only worth viewing again for Bancroft's terrific scene, which is only about 4 minutes out of the whole film.

It's not a bad movie, only marginal. Better than today's movies, but still...it feels dated. I like the performances of the leads. But it gets frustratingly mean spirited as it gets to the end. Overall, it's a nostalgic watch very reminiscent of Hitchcock, but falls short when the people we want to suffer, don't. And there are inexplicable moments that draw out the story, such as the riddle- ladened drunken mother. There is NO reason she couldn't just come out and confess about her daughter.Also, they throw in an attorney to misguide you. There are plenty of moments where you do want to just shake the lead character's shoulder and tell him to leave. Or that the payoff to the comeuppance of the antagonist was to reveal an "a-ha!" moment. This seems forced.It's a good watch on a slow night.

After a fellow IMDb'er recently told me that she is a fan of the Erotic-Thriller Basic Instic,I decided to go on the IMDb List and Recomandation board,to ask if there were any other Erotic- Thriller's,that a fan of Basic Instinct would enjoy.Checking the very kind lists of recs that I received from the board,I was surprised to find out that one of her fav actress's (Nicole Kidman) had made an Erotic-Thriller.Taking a look at the info of the movie,whilst also taking part in a poll that was being held on the IMDb Classic Film board for the best titles of 1993,I was disappointed to find out that Malice had come out in 1993,due to there not being enough time for me to get hold of the movie before the poll closed.A week later:With having stayed pretty quiet about my disappointment over not being able to watch Malice for the poll,I was completely caught by surprise,when a very kind IMDb'er gave me the great offer of being able to borrow the title,which led to me excitingly getting ready to come face to face with Malice for the first time.The plot:Rushing to the local hospital after being told that one of his students has been found brutally raped and left for dead,college professor Andy Safian talks to the hospital's leading doctor:Dr Jed Hill.To Andy's relief,Jed tells Hill,that although the patient was very close to dying,he has thankfully been able to save her.Joining her husband at the hospital,Andy introduces his wife Tracy Kennsinger to Jed Hill,who Andy praises for saving the life of one of his students.Strugling to think of a way that he can fully say thank you to Hill,Safian decides to ignore the objection's raised by Tracy,and offers Jed to become a tenet (for free) of the top floor in the new house that Andy and Tracy have recently brought.Astonished by Safian's display of kindness,Hill accepts the offer,and tells Andy that he will do everything he can to help the couple with the pregnancy problems the Safian has recently told Jed that he and his wife are suffering from.A few days later:Playing some darts and sharing a round of drinks with his work mates,Jed suddenly gets a call from the hospital,who tell Hill that he needs to come in right away,so that he can perform an emergency operation on a patient who has just been brought in to the hospital.Arriving at the hospital,Jed is horrified to discover that the dying patient is in fact Tracy Kennsinger,who is suffering from a raptured ovaries,due to a cyst.Taking X-Ray's shortly before operating to remove the ovaries,Hill discovers that Tracy is in fact 5 weeks pregnant…View on the film:Avoiding the easy option of turning the movie into a simple "skin" show, (with the only main showing of flesh in the film being a naked,possibly body doubled,Nicole Kidman) director Harold Becker instead takes the film into a slivering Neo-Noir direction.For the first 30 minutes of the movie,Becker and cinematography Gordon Willis use Autumn colours to create a strong feeling of a varnish being added to the cheerful lives of Andy and Tracy.As Any and Tracy start to develop a friendship with Jed Hill,Becker rips the varnish off shred by shred,to reveal,that underneath the "shiny" appearance,lays wood that is covered by decaying greed and betrayal.Whilst Scott Frank and Aaron Sorkin's (with future Sorkin regular Joshua Malina also featuring in a small role) screenplay does feature a serial killer, (played by future "Jigsaw" Tobin Bell) who seems to have been chucked in just because the writer's seemed to suspect that the movie was lacking a needless serial killer angle,Frank and Sorkin smartly decide to use the first half an hour of the film to build up the relationships between the character's,so that they can then delightfully spend the rest of this Neo-Noir's time revealing the dark betrayal's lurking beneath,with Sorkin showing an early ear for whip-smart dialogue,as Sorkin gives Jed Hill cracking lines,that makes the character sound like a walking mega manic.Entering the film in blistering form,Alec Baldwin gives a delightfully scenery cheering performance as Dr.Jed Hill,thanks to Baldwin delivering the terrific dialogue with an irresistible relish,and Baldwin also showing Jed slowly change,from a mild-mannered,good hearted doctor,into something much more sinister.Along with Baldwin,Bill Pullman gives the film some real folk-like charm,as the very out of his comfort zone Andy,whilst Anne Bancroft gives a great,deranged,Miss Havisham style performance,and Nicole Kidman gives a strong,icy Femme Fatle dame performance,which unleashes the full malicious darkness contained within this varnished Neo-Noir.