BASIC INSTINCT 2
Sharon Stone as Catherine Tramell on the witness stand, in "Basic Instinct 2". Photo: Sony Pictures
Back to Basics: In the ultimate head trip, Stone steams up another “Instinct”
Popcorn Reel.com Film Review: “Basic Instinct 2”
By Omar P.L. Moore/April 1,
2006
After fourteen years and much controversy, Sharon Stone returns in the role that galvanized her acting career, and she does not disappoint. While the film itself is more than a decent effort in its own right, it isn’t on a par with its original. “Basic Instinct 2” suffers from a lack of symmetry, and its concluding explanation of events isn’t nearly convincing enough to be credible. Had Michael Caton-Jones, the Scottish director who competently helms this sequel, decided to leave the ending as open or at least as ambiguous as the start, this second film would have been the charm. Caton-Jones filmed on location entirely in London, cleverly keeping the film’s sleek, attractive set décor resembling that of the San Francisco and Carmel, California locations of the 1992 original.
Psychoanalyst Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) is giving a recommendation to the Crown Court of London as to whether Catherine Tramell (Stone) should be sent away for psychiatric treatment after being arrested for a recent crime. Predictably Tramell has already seduced him with her salacious come-ons, eyes bursting with innuendo, voice dripping with sex. Yet Glass stands his ground even when Tramell flaunts her semi-naked body his way on numerous occasions. Glass’s colleague Dr. Milena Gardosh (Charlotte Rampling) advises him to watch out for her, but soon enough he fails to heed the good doctor’s warning. Before you can say “ice pick”, dead bodies turn up, including that of Glass’ ex-wife, and a writer for a magazine who had apparently tried to ruin Glass’ career with a story that was unflattering.
Movie poster: Sony Pictures
There is a police detective who is hell bent on nailing Tramell in the string of deaths, including that of a legendary English football player (played by former English soccer star Stan Collymore.) Detective Roy Washburn (Scottish actor David Thewlis) has been hounding Glass for information on his client, whose confidences Glass zealously guards at all costs – even to himself. Thewlis looks like an older Kiefer Sutherland here, and his acting is never dull. He delivers some good lines in this film, and the line of the movie is spoken by him. Stone is hot dynamite once again, and Morrisey, who looks like a younger Liam Neeson, handles his role with a good balance of physicality and nuance. It bears repeating that “Basic Instinct 2” shows that everybody has issues, including the plot itself.
Once again Tramell is writing a book and doing extensive research. Getting as close to the subject matter as possible. Fourteen years has done Tramell (and Stone) the world of good, and when we glimpse her near-full frontal nudity we agree. Most of all however, Tramell hasn’t lost her ability to screw with the mind. This, more than anything, more than the moderately steamy sex scenes, is the best thing about the film, for even when logic and reason are tossed by the wayside, the mind games are the most exciting of all. Just when they threaten to become overkill, one is reminded that "Basic Instinct 2" is being frenetically played out in the mind, so things don’t have to make sense. But just whose mind is it being played out in, if at all? The “whodunnit?” is stimulating, but it is the why that appears more implausible.
The late Jerry Goldsmith’s music score from the original film is inserted at various moments in this sequel and it is a welcome addition to a film that, with a tweak of the script here and there, could have been strong grounds for a third film. Despite this, however, and regardless of money and Ms. Stone’s willingness or reluctance to commit to it, it’s a safe bet that film number three will be on its way before too long.
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