Basic Instinct

Basic Instinct
by Paul Verhoeven

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DVD Reviews of Basic Instinct

DVD Review: Fairly decent suspense/thriller
Summary: 3 Stars

Basic Instinct begins with a woman making love to a man tied to a bedpost. We can't see her face since it's covered by her blonde hair. In a moment of ecstasy, as the man reaches his climax, she pulls out an icepick from underneath the bed and stabs him several times. It's a violent and rather shocking beginning. Enter detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas), who seems hell bent on solving this case. It seems the murdered man was a wealthy former rock star and his girlfriend is the primary suspect. Her name is Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), a novelist who is also quite the seductress.

There's one element to the case that could either prove her innocence or her guilt and that is the fact that she wrote a scene in her book identical with the murder that occurred. Dr. Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn) believes that Tramell is just using the book as an alibi and that she really is the killer. Curran, who at first suspects her, begins to change his feelings when he starts falling for her. The danger heightens as he becomes sexually involved with Tramell.

Basic Instinct is fairly entertaining through all of its 129 minute running time. It's suspense wavers a bit but it works when it's there. The sex scenes are also quite steamy. The performances are also all-around solid. Michael Douglas is convincing as the cop with an edge. Jeanne Tripplehorn also delivers a good performance. The real scene stealer, though, is definitely Sharon Stone. Her portrayal of a seductress is quite good but she also shows moments of such innocence and emotion that it makes the audience wonder if she is the killer or not. Her performance was truly Oscar-caliber.

Now, onto what doesn't work. There are some logic loopholes and I seriously doubt the police are that dumb though those aspects are fairly easy to overlook. What really displeased me was the film's ending. Sure, the last several minutes are suspenseful but no real plot twist occurs. There are a bunch of red herrings thrown around to confuse the audience and it really adds up to nothing. The ending is really just a form of manipulation and it's all enforced primarily by the film's final scene, which left me feeling a bit cheated. It doesn't make the film terrible if that might be what you're thinking. To some respect, a lot of people might actually like the ending. It does leave the idea of a sequel open, which sounds like something of an interesting idea.

Description of Basic Instinct