Extras:
Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending, Between the Sheets: A Look Inside Basic Instinct 2,
Director's Commentary, International Trailer
Director:
Michael Caton-Jones
(Basic Instinct 2, City By the Sea, Doc Hollywood, The Jackal, Memphis Belle, Rob Roy, Scandal, Shooting Dogs, This Boy's Life, TV: Trinity)
Producers:
Moritz Borman, Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels and Andrew G. Vajna
Screenplay:
Leora Barish and Henry Bean
Music:
John Murphy
Cast:
Catherine Tramell: Sharon Stone
Dr Michael Glass: David Morrissey
Dr Milena Gardosh: Charlotte Rampling
Det Supt Roy Washburn: David Thewlis
Adam Towers: Hugh Dancy
Denise Glass: Indira Varma
Dr Jakob Gerst: Heathcote Williams
Michelle Broadwin: Flora Montgomery
Kevin Franks: Stan Collymore
Magda: Kata Dobó
There's a right way and a wrong way to handle a sequel to a classic film like
Basic Instinct, and this one gets it so, so wrong.
Basic Instinct 2 begins with Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) driving at top speed
around London, ending up in the river with her football player boyfriend, Kevin Franks (ex-footballer
Stan Collymore) in the passenger seat, but before you can decide if she's a WAG or not, he's at
the bottom, swimming with the fishes... or he would be if he could've got out of the car.
After being hauled in for questioning on this incident, she is taken to see psychologist Dr Michael
Glass (David Morrissey), who you know from the off is going to become her bed-buddy and will
be as involved in what's going on as Michael Douglas was back in the first film, so there's no element
of surprise in how their relationship is going to pan out.
Before long, Catherine's suspected of a couple of murders that have happened and Michael sees her through
therapy but while questions are asked about whether she's done the deeds, just like in the first film,
here there's just no atmosphere to pull you in. We keep hearing about a drug dealer, George Cheslav, that
Glass once dealt with, but does it have any bearing on what's going on here? Give it a bit of time and
you really won't care.
One question I did wonder was, 14 years on from the first film, is Catherine Tramell now a MILF?
Well, Sharon Stone is still very sexy, but the dialogue is cheesy and what might've worked 15 years ago
certainly doesn't work now as there's no decent acting for her to work opposite and that's because
David Morrissey is more like David Walliams in his demeanour and about as convincing in his therapist role.
Of the rest of the cast, David Thewlis just snaps and barks at everyone as DS Roy Washburn, who
wants Catherine behind bars, Indira Varma has very little to do as Michael's ex-wife Denise and I
began to wonder why Charlotte Rampling even turned up on-set for her role as Michael's colleague,
Dr Milena Gardosh, since she seems completely superfluous to requirements.
Basic Instinct 2 takes place in London, often around Canary Wharf and, particularly during scenery
shots, we get the original music from the late Jerry Goldsmith with new and unmemorable music from John
Murphy. Time-lapse footage of the London Gherkin is followed by David Morrissey standing, suited, in his
spacious psychiatrist office, making it look like a Pet Shop Boys video. The film has no style or substance
to it; in fact, just nothing happens at all for the majority of the 109-minute running time.
Catherine made for a subtle character in the dialogue-only scenes of the first film, whereas here her
behaviour is a lot more direct and as there's zero chemistry with David Morrissey, this doesn't help.
It's so predictable too with further characters' deaths being signposted a mile off. The trademark ice pick
from the original only makes a brief appearance here, as Catherine uses it again to break up a chunk of ice
for a drink at home: it's never used for a murder.
Also, a sex scene nearly 40 minutes in is just laughable and when the girl springs up like that
there's no way his old chap wouldn't fall out so it's even more of a joke.
Overall, while Sharon Stone still cuts it early on as a sex siren before the cheesy dialogue puts you
off her, until she gets her kit off and still looks hot - apart from the obvious fake breasts she's had
attached like semi-beachballs, there's no reason to watch this dire rehash of events from the first film
- since that's how it mostly plays out - as it just sullies the memory of the classic original.
Apart from the lack of tension, given the small amount of gore, violence and sex on display, the 18-certificate
can only have come about due to the close-up shots of syringes allegedly containing narcotics. The cover
emblazons the wording "Uncut Version" but it's clever, as with the earlier Sliver, that there's nothing
that wouldn't have normally passed the BBFC's censorsnip (sic).
The film is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio and the picture looks fine, but never particularly
outstanding throughout.
The sound is unimpressive as there's little going on all around, plus there are a handful of audio dropouts on
the disc meaning it's not been mastered particularly well, and I've tried this on two other DVD players,
one elsewhere in the house, so I know it's not my A/V equipment.
The brief extras are as follows and are of the 'watch once' variety:
Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending (19:43):
There are 11 of these in letterbox 2.35:1 format, all of which have a director's commentary option if you
want to double the pain and none of which I'd put back in to make it last any longer.
The ending was actually reasonably interesting, even if it did take a long time to get there and the
alternate version does make for a slight improvement. Note that this section and the next one contains
English subtitles as an option.
Between the Sheets: A Look Inside Basic Instinct 2 (11:08):
The usual puff-piece mix of film clips with chat from the key cast and crew members that gets put
together when films. Director Michael Caton-Jones waffles on about how it has such a strong script
that it could've worked even if it wasn't attached to the Basic Instict brand. What a load of old
flannel!
International Trailer (2:09):
Presented in 2.35:1 letterbox
Audio Commentary:
courtesy of director Michael Caton-Jones.
There are subtitles in English only, a total of 28 chapters which is good and a main menu
with sound and a short piece of looped footage from the film.
As of April 2009, Blu-rays and DVDs reviewed by the editor are watched on a Panasonic TH-37PX80B
37" Plasma TV with a Sony BDP-1500 Blu-ray player and played through a Yamaha DSP-AX820 amplifier.
PC games reviewed by the editor are on:
Since Jan 2011: Intel Quad Core Dell XPS 8100, i7 CPU 860 @ 2.80Ghz, 8Gb RAM, nVidia GeForce GTS 240, Windows 7
Since Nov 2005: Intel Pentium D 830 3.0Ghz, 1Gb RAM, 128Mb nVidia GeForce 6700XL, Windows XP
Since Aug 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.66Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb GeForce4 MX440 graphics, Windows XP
Since May 2003: Intel Pentium 4 2.6Ghz, 512Mb RAM, 128Mb ATI Radeon 9600TX graphics, Windows XP
Since Jun 2002: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, 64Mb ATI Radeon 8500LE
Since May 2000: Intel Pentium III 600Mhz, 384Mb RAM, Windows 98 SE, Voodoo 3 3000 AGP
Basic Instinct 2: 
