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Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a novelist who writes about murder, sex and violence, has a penchant for living
dangerously and toying with the forbidden in order to do "research" for her novels. For instance, driving at 115 miles per hour, she plays sex games with her date, a
soccer star, until it proves fatal, plunging them into a river, killing him.
To evaluate her sanity, the courts appoint psychiatrist Michael Glass who discloses that Tramell has a severe case of "risk addiction" that would only be stopped by her own death. Due to some legal technicalities, Tramell is set free and goes on the rebound, knocking at Dr. Glass' door and pleading to be taken in as a regular client. He finally accepts because deep down inside, both are burning to take the ultimate risk by satisfying a basic instinct. Soon mysterious bloody deaths follow, including that of Glass' ex-wife (Indira Varma) and of her lover the gossip writer (Hugh Dancy). How could Tramell go scot-free living her own novel?
Despite the implausible plot Basic Instinct 2 is engaging.
You know the story is too fictitious to be credible and yet you want to know how it will end. Most of it is due to Sharon Stone's command of her craft, enhanced by carefully executed camera work that shows she's playing her role from her soul out. The Tramell character has nerves of steel rivaling Superman's. No other actress in Hollywood history can carry off with panache such a role—a femme fatale of a psychotic serial killer—not even Angelina Jolie, the other actress who is very good at being very bad. The dialogue, especially the mind-whacking lines between Dr. Glass and Tramell, must be listened to carefully, as there are parts that tend to fade away, being spoken in understandably "bedroom-y" tones.
Basic Instinct 2 is adult material, with ample but called for shots of naked bodies in action, plus talk that would probably make the nuns of Sister Act blush.
What could be absorbing here is trying to find in the story the reasons people behave as they do, attempting to get to the wellsprings of human feelings, aiming to uncover motivations behind bizarre murders. The movie challenges the audience to do the thinking for themselves and to examine their own values against the characters—values regarding coupling, violence, life, self-preservation, the basic instincts.
(Date Reviewed: 7 April 2006)
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