I was still underaged when the original Basic Instinct made its debut in the local theatres under the relatively new R rating system, but suffice to say many already know of the kinky scenes, especially the infamous crossing and uncrossing of legs sans panties which sealed Sharon Stone's status as a Hollywood femme fatale.
It's been 14 years since, and the sequel is just released here. Which makes one wonder why, given the question would anyone still be interested to see an aging body doing her thing again? It's no wonder that the preview crowd was mainly elderly uncles and aunties, who apparently had a good time dissecting whatever plot there is to this movie, and of the occupational hazards of being a mental doctor if your mental strength is found wanting.
Not that it's not entertaining (I think my week of work work and more work made me easy to please), but elements which were associated with the original psycho sex thriller, save for Sharon Stone's returning novelist cum serial killer Catherine Tramell, are gapingly missing. Gone is the icepick, and the graphic violence and killing. In place is a series of murder scenes which happen almost after the deed. The sex scenes here are so reduced, they're negligible, if compared to the original.
And perhaps to balance the lack of sex, this movie migrates to a more mind-numbing psycho-babble flick, since the mind is the greatest sex organ, as Stone's character Tramell, mind-tangos London psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey), and detective Roy Washburn (David Thewlis), investigating her for an apparent murder-suicide of famed footballer Kevin Franks, in a cameo played by Stan Collymore, yes, THAT Stan Collymore. All he had to do in his movie debut was to act stone (pun intended) and finger Tramell. How hard is that?
In dialogues filled with double entrées and sexual innuendoes, Tramell basically waltzes through England in her see-throughs, having fun running rings around the two male leads, in a carefully crafted game of cat and mouse with Glass. In her psychosis sessions with Glass on her "risk addiction", there was mention of Nick Curran (played by Michael Douglas in the first movie), but that was just about the link to the original. Basically as the movie wore on, bodies associated with Glass turned out murdered, and naturally Tramell, Glass and even the detective Washburn all become plausible suspects.
Being the master manipulator, the audience might even be seduced by her ideas on the plausibility of certain events, and this swung the narrative into varying directions if you'd allow it. If you do, you'll probably give the possibilities the nod, despite some plot holes and an ending tense sense bordering close to absurdity.
What's the motivation for the sequel? One wonders if it's just to revitalize Stone's sagging career by putting her back in one of her more iconic villain roles in cinematic history. Then again, she should have gone back to basics and not stain the original with a relatively lacklustre sequel.
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