Introduction
This seems to be a week of sequels for me as just after checking out Dr. Dolittle 3, I got a chance to check out Basic Instincts 2. The original was a classic thriller spewed with explicit sexual scenes and ever since it’s fans have been waiting for a sequel.
The Plot
Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) is back and back with a bang. The movie opens up with a steamy car ride driven by Tramell while having sex. The car careens of the bridge and drowns in water taking down with it Kevin Franks (Stan Colleymore), Catherine’s new squeeze.
Detective Roy Washburn (David Thewlis) instantly suspects Catherine and appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) to evaluate her condition. Michael feels that she is affected by high Risk Addiction which forces her to take extreme actions just for the heck of it. He also feels that she is a risk to herself and the society at large. But, somehow Catherine gets acquitted in the case.
Then begins the seduction of Dr. Glass and Catherine enrolls herself as a patient with him and then tries to bring her seduction game into play. Initially, Dr. Glass spurns her advances and seems to have everything under control, but then slowly things start happening around him. People around him start dying starting with his ex-wife’s new boyfriend, then his ex-wife. All this gets Dr. Glass a bit jittery and seems to lay him low. Washburn on the other hand is on the trail of Catherine and is trying to get Dr. Glass get some evidence against her.
So who’s the culprit this time around? Is it Catherine and if so does she get away? Check out this sexual thriller for the details.
Critic’s Viewpoint
Paul Verhoeven’s original Basic Instinct was a smash hit owing to three major components: The thrilling plot which was novel, The sexuality on the screen and the brilliant on screen chemistry between Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone. The movie had catapulted Sharon Stone to the superstardom.
Michael Caton Jones tries to recreate similar magic in this movie. If we take the three components which made the first movie a success and compare with Basic Instinct 2 then we would see why this movie falls short of the original.
The plot is quite similar to the original with Catherine writing a new novel and people dying wherever she is around. Even the modus operandi seems quite similar in most cases. There is an interesting twist at the end ala Wild Things, but that is all there is to the plot.
Sexuality is another thing which was supposed to be more in the sequel, but it is quite the opposite. There are only about a couple of real hot scenes and they too are of such short duration that they do not compare with the original. Also the passion of Douglas and Stone on screen is unmatched in this sequel.
The last aspect the chemistry of Douglas and Stone was miles ahead of the chemistry of Stone and David. To be fair to David he does hold his own against Stone and there is potential for him to go a long way in this industry, but he is by no means a finished product as yet compared to the expertise of Michael Douglas. Although the emotions of pain and suspicions were well potrayed by David, he still lacks that expression of helplessness which Michael Douglas plays so brilliantly on the screen. As far as Sharon Stone is concerned, 14 years down the line and a breast cancer operation later, she is no longer the hot bod to blaze the screen. Of course, she still got the looks, but not the same presence as in 1992 when she burned the screens with her performance as Catherine Tramell.
Of course, the sequels to such massively popular movies are a difficult act, but that is the challenge that Michael Caton Jones had in his hand and I would say he has come up short. Other aspects of the movie like the background score and the cinematography are good without being spectacular as in the original. So in almost all aspects of film making the movie falls a bit in comparison to the original.
Summary
If I had not seen Basic Instinct, I might have liked this movie, but then having tasted nectar you really don’t like honey any more, do you!!
So I would like to rate this movie an average 3 star rating.