← Back to Reviews
in
Basic Instinct
Basic Instinct was one of the biggest box office smashes of 1992, though today it is probably best known for a single scene, the slick psycho-sexual thriller does have other things going for it like stylish direction and steamy chemistry between the stars.
Michael Douglas plays a San Francisco police detective named Nick Curran who is assigned to the case along with his partner, Gus (George Dzundza) when a former rock star is murdered. The investigation immediately points our heroes in the direction of one Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a sexually uninhibited crime novelist who has just written a book about a former rock star who is murdered. Curran is thrown when Catherine appears to know a lot about him that she would have no way knowing until it's revealed that she is modeling the lead character in her next book on Nick and has been doing research on him. The investigation draws these two people together, two people who are more alike than they care to admit, though trust becomes an issues as more bodies continue drop around them as the investigation deepens.
Joe Eszterhaus, who also wrote Jagged Edge and Showgirls has constructed an overly complex screenplay that seems to be constantly trying to manipulate the viewer into believing things are going on that aren't going on, though I do like the seriously flawed character of Nick Curran...we learn that Nick has just been through an Internal Affairs investigation after shooting two suspects and even had an affair with the police psychologist (Jeanne Tripplehorn) in order to expedite the investigation. Eszterhauz also provides layers to Catherine Tranmell that complicate the story and fuel the mystery surrounding her characater, her bisexuality and her striking up friendships with killers in the name of research for her book.
Where this film scores are director Paul Verhoeven's stylish directorial touches that he brings to the story, particularly an eye for the erotic that wasn't quite so effective in Showgirls, but it is everywhere here...the camera roaming the floors of the dance club and eventually leading to the restroom where Catherine is having sex and snorting cocaine or Douglas' heated sex scenes with both Tripplehorn and Stone, shot and edited for maximum effect. And as for the film's most famous scene...Stone in the interrogation room crossing and uncrossing her legs, seems to have been inserted for titillation purposes and really has nothing to do with the story. Ironically, it's the first thing people think about today when the film's title is brought up. The film has a little more to offer.
Douglas completely invests in the complexities of Nick Curran and after a few other minor roles, Sharon Stone officially became a movie star with this blazing, sex-on-legs performance as Catherine Tramell. Jan De Bont's cinematography and Jerry Goldsmith's music also deserve mention, but it's the chemistry between Douglas and Stone that carry this one.
Basic Instinct was one of the biggest box office smashes of 1992, though today it is probably best known for a single scene, the slick psycho-sexual thriller does have other things going for it like stylish direction and steamy chemistry between the stars.
Michael Douglas plays a San Francisco police detective named Nick Curran who is assigned to the case along with his partner, Gus (George Dzundza) when a former rock star is murdered. The investigation immediately points our heroes in the direction of one Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a sexually uninhibited crime novelist who has just written a book about a former rock star who is murdered. Curran is thrown when Catherine appears to know a lot about him that she would have no way knowing until it's revealed that she is modeling the lead character in her next book on Nick and has been doing research on him. The investigation draws these two people together, two people who are more alike than they care to admit, though trust becomes an issues as more bodies continue drop around them as the investigation deepens.
Joe Eszterhaus, who also wrote Jagged Edge and Showgirls has constructed an overly complex screenplay that seems to be constantly trying to manipulate the viewer into believing things are going on that aren't going on, though I do like the seriously flawed character of Nick Curran...we learn that Nick has just been through an Internal Affairs investigation after shooting two suspects and even had an affair with the police psychologist (Jeanne Tripplehorn) in order to expedite the investigation. Eszterhauz also provides layers to Catherine Tranmell that complicate the story and fuel the mystery surrounding her characater, her bisexuality and her striking up friendships with killers in the name of research for her book.
Where this film scores are director Paul Verhoeven's stylish directorial touches that he brings to the story, particularly an eye for the erotic that wasn't quite so effective in Showgirls, but it is everywhere here...the camera roaming the floors of the dance club and eventually leading to the restroom where Catherine is having sex and snorting cocaine or Douglas' heated sex scenes with both Tripplehorn and Stone, shot and edited for maximum effect. And as for the film's most famous scene...Stone in the interrogation room crossing and uncrossing her legs, seems to have been inserted for titillation purposes and really has nothing to do with the story. Ironically, it's the first thing people think about today when the film's title is brought up. The film has a little more to offer.
Douglas completely invests in the complexities of Nick Curran and after a few other minor roles, Sharon Stone officially became a movie star with this blazing, sex-on-legs performance as Catherine Tramell. Jan De Bont's cinematography and Jerry Goldsmith's music also deserve mention, but it's the chemistry between Douglas and Stone that carry this one.