(Catherine, Catherine, Catherine, are you ever going to knock this shit off?)
CAST: Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, David Thewlis, Charlotte Rampling, Indira Varma, Hugh Dancy, Stan Collymore, Terence Harvey.
DIRECTOR: Michael Caton-Jones
WARNING: Some SPOILERS and one femme fatale who just doesn’t learn - straight ahead…
You have to hand it to Catherine Trammell (Sharon Stone), the iconic femme fatale of BASIC INSTINCT. Not only did she get away with ice-picking an ex-boyfriend and offing two San Francisco cops, but she also managed to seduce Nick Conklin (Michael Douglas), the detective in charge of the case, into thinking his ex-girlfriend was the nut behind everything.
Sure enough, the last time we saw Catherine and Nick, they were about to fuck each other’s brains out again to celebrate his “solving” of the case. Dude, you couldn’t solve a jigsaw puzzle if all the pieces, except for one, were already assembled for you.
Flash forward 14 years - yes, folks, fourteen - and we find in BASIC INSTINCT 2 that our favorite bisexual seductress psychopath is now living in swinging London. Sans Nick, apparently, because as our story opens, we find Catherine zooming down a deserted London street in a killer sports car. Not alone, though, because that ain’t Cathy’s style. Nope, we quickly learn that her passenger is Kevin Franks (Stan Collymore), and he’s basically baked out of his gourd - as she is. And he’s got his hand up her skirt. Presumably, he’s not checking to see if she’s buckled in.
As you can imagine, finger-banging the driver of a speeding car is not the smartest move in the world. It doesn’t take long for Catherine to cum like New Year’s Eve in Bella Napoli - which causes the car to derail (ha ha ha) and plunge into the Thames river. Good for her, bad for the car and Kevin - who apparently is so stoned that he can barely manage to twitch in surprise at all that cold, filthy water pouring into the car.
After a cursory (and I do mean ‘cursory’) attempt to free Kevin from his seatbelt, Catherine basically shrugs and says “Fuck It” - and swims for the surface. How’s that for gratitude - the dude gives her a moving orgasm - literally - and she ditches him. Then again, she can get another set of fingers pretty easily. There’s nothing special about Kevin, after all.
Or is there? Turns out our accident victim Kevin Franks is actually a famous English football (read: soccer to us Yanks) player - and Catherine basically let England’s chance for ever winning the World Cup again sink to the bottom of the river with his body. I don’t have to point out that the London authorities aren’t exactly over the moon about this.
Sure enough, Scotland Yard detective big-wig Roy Washburn (David Thewlis) is so pissed off at the notion of a hot Yank seducing, corrupting, and - accidentally? - killing one of England’s finest, that he orders his underlings to basically fabricate a case against Catherine. His plan consists of the following steps: (1) find a court-appointed psychiatrist; and (2) have that person declare Catherine to be a menace to society. Roy goes on to say that they need a shrink who is “good and tough.”
Memo to Roy: Hey, dipshit… if your shrink is going to be squaring off against Catherine “When You Look Into The Abyss The Abyss Looks Into You” Trammell, he better be more than just “good and tough.” Didn’t you see the first BASIC INSTINCT? Dumbass. Oh, and while you’re at it, get a fucking tan.
At any rate, the “good and tough” shrink (read: lamb to the Trammell slaughterhouse) is Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey). Smug, suave, and looking like he basically bought out the International Male and Sharper Image catalogs, Michael takes on Catherine’s case to evaluate whether or not she should be prosecuted for Kevin Franks’ death on a manslaughter charge.
It doesn’t take long for Catherine to trot out her usual number on Michael, which consists of the following: (1) leering at him; (2) making sexually suggestive comments like “Is this where we’re going to do it?” and “I bet your cock is fucking huge!” (okay, I made up that second one); (3) leering at him some more; (4) showing up at whatever party he’s at to make some more sexually suggestive comments; and (5) basically eye-fuck him every chance she gets.
Dr. Milena Gardosh (Charlotte Rampling), Michael’s colleague and mentor, warns Michael that Catherine is trying to seduce him. To which he responds, “Hmmm.” Our response to Milena’s shocker of a revelation is, “What was the first fucking clue, lady?” Apparently, none of these dimbulbs have seen BASIC INSTINCT. Just think of all the headaches they could’ve avoided with one visit to Blockbuster or Netflix. Catherine must be slapping her thighs with disbelieving laughter at the sheer denseness of the people she’s dealing with. Surely, shooting tuna in a barrel would be more challenging than this, our Femme Fatale must think…
So… did Catherine deliberately drive that car into the river to kill Kevin Franks? Or was it all just, you know, an accident? How far will Washburn go to trump up evidence against Catherine? How far will Michael go to evaluate her? Will she succeed in luring him to the dark side? Will she go after Milena just to hurt Michael? What happens when Catherine finds out a dark secret from Michael’s past? Will she use it to hurt him? Does she actually feel anything for him like she did with Nick? Or is this just more groundwork for another novel about murder and kinky sex?
Let me put it this way. If you saw BASIC INSTINCT, then you’ve seen this movie.
BUT, SERIOUSLY: In 1992, BASIC INSTINCT (review # 83) was released and did several things: (1) revive the Erotic Thriller Genre that would soon give us SLIVER, NEVER TALK TO STRANGERS, and BODY OF EVIDENCE (among others); (2) ignite a firestorm of controversy not only for its then-daring sex scenes, but also protests from the LGBT community for portraying its villain as a sociopathic bisexual murderess; and (3) launch Sharon Stone’s career into the stratosphere.
Despite - or partially because of it - the attention of the press, BASIC INSTINCT became a worldwide smash. It was basically a lurid but well-made mystery/thriller that was anchored by some brisk plotting, atmospheric scoring, and Sharon Stone’s truly star-making performance. In her hands, Catherine Trammell became an iconic screen villain: complex, scary, seductive, unforgettable.
Naturally, a sequel became a no-brainer. Unfortunately, due to various problems allegedly ranging from (depending on who you talk to) lack of a good script, lack of the right director and/or leading man, and even Stone’s own reluctance to reprise the role, a sequel to BASIC INSTINCT didn‘t materialize when it should have. I remember reading an interview with Stone where she said that a sequel should have come out four years after the first one, which would have been around 1996.
I agree with her. That would have been the perfect time. At that point, BASIC INSTINCT was still fresh in the minds of audiences worldwide, and the Internet was still a somewhat nascent technology that didn’t give movies a run for their money in the erotica department. Bottom line: BASIC INSTINCT was as brazen and exciting as it was primarily due to the cat-and-mouse game of one-upmanship between Catherine Trammell and Nick Conklin - but the selling point to the masses was the graphic sex. At that time, the movies didn’t have to compete with the worldwide web for sexually-explicit material.
Now, however, they do. Which makes the decision to make and release BASIC INSTINCT 2 so long after the first one came out, a puzzling one. After 14 years, the timing was just all wrong. The new generation of moviegoers weren’t likely to flock to a sequel to a film that most of them weren’t allowed to see while growing up. Those who did see the original for its graphic sexual content have the Internet to turn to for that stuff.
That leaves those of us who saw and appreciate BASIC INSTINCT for its Hitchcockian spirit and the diabolical chess-game between an icy-yet-soulful femme fatale and the hapless cop who is drawn to her like a moth to the flame. We’re basically the only ones who see some merit to BASIC INSTINCT 2. Everyone else has essentially panned it. And they are not without reason.
The first BASIC INSTINCT worked not just because of the sex scenes - but because the central character of Catherine Trammell was an interesting one, as was her relationship with the hero, Nick Conklin. Yes, she was manipulative, cunning, and - ultimately - was behind the whole thing. But, due to either Joe Eszterhas’ scripting or Stone’s acting, Catherine came across as a layered, almost sympathetic character who kept us on our toes. Just when you were convinced of her guilt, she’d change your mind, and then have you wondering again - before she seduced you back to her side once more. I tend to think that Stone took the character and basically ran with it.
Then there was Catherine’s relationship with Nick. Yes, it was rocky and combative, but it was also playful with a tender undercurrent running just beneath the verbal jousting. They say that arguing is often a sign of sexual tension - and that is never more true than in the first BASIC INSTINCT. We got the sense that Catherine actually cared about Nick - and wasn’t sure what to do about it. Then we’d doubt her again and think she was planning to kill him. Bottom line: Catherine has streaks of humanity and uncertainty in the first film.
In BASIC INSTINCT 2, however, Catherine seems to be a pale, one-dimensional imitation of the character from the original. We don’t get the sense that this is the same person, but rather someone mimicking her. Stone’s performance here is technically okay - she can still infuse a line with hidden venom and make us smile about it - but it’s also missing something. It’s missing ‘heart‘, which was present in her performance in the first movie. Here, Catherine is flat-out evil, and it’s apparent that she doesn’t give a damn about Michael. Gone are the layers of vulnerability and unexpected kindness that made the character so interesting before. I don’t know who the character in the sequel is.
Which is a shame, because the idea of having the porcupine-like Catherine enter into an intimate patient-therapist type of relationship which threatens to reveal her hidden levels, is a great idea for a sequel. In fact, the reason this film manages to rate on the average mark is because of some strong scenes between Catherine and Michael where they try to out-psych each other. Unfortunately, these moments never deliver on the promise initially suggested. Had the writers and director tried harder to make this movie about Catherine really in danger of having her vulnerabilities revealed - and actually coming to care for Michael - this film would be almost as good as the original.
In the end, BASIC INSTINCT 2 is not as bad as everyone makes it out to be. It’s actually a solid, average thriller that always holds your attention. Sharon Stone and David Morrissey acquit themselves well, even if Stone is basically playing a caricature of Catherine - instead of the real deal. Fortunately, there’s great support from a range of British performers like Hugh Dancy, David Thewlis, Indira Varma, and - especially - the eerily-beautiful Charlotte Rampling as Michael’s mentor who falls under Catherine’s spell.
Contrasted with the first movie, though, BASIC INSTINCT 2 comes across as a mere copy. Glossy, occasionally riveting, and entertaining - but still a copy.
