User reviews

It's hard to believe, after waiting 14 years, we wind up with this piece of cinematic garbage. The original was a high impact, dark thriller that achieved "cult" status demonstrating the fine art of cinema as directed by Paul Verhoeven. This film adds nothing, delivers nothing, and ultimately winds up in the big box of failed sequels.

The opening sequence could have triggered an intriguing set of plot developments using a considerably talented and able cast. Unfortunately we are treated to a 90 minute dissertation in the self-indulgent life of Catherine Tramell... or is it Sharon Stone. Possibly a copulation of both.

If the desire is too see a continuation of the sensually provocative stying of sex as in "B.S.1", forget it. You wind up with soft-porn boredom which ultimately upholds the old adage that a woman can be more alluring in clothes than out of them. It's interesting to note that the wonderful Charlotte Rampling was romping around in her skivvies, via the 1966 GEORGY GIRL, when Ms. Stone was only 8 years old. A very talented actress and quite adept at holding her own even here.

If you're a true cinema fan then you must see this film and judge it using your own rating system. If not, you might as well wait for the DVD release in the "rated" version, "unrated" version, "collectors" edition, or "ultimate" version, and perhaps in another 14 years we will be saturated with news of "Basic Instinct 3" at which point Ms. Stone will be 62 years old and nobody will really care.

Seldom has the decline from hit to sequel in a theatrical release been this severe. B.I. 2 is an awful movie (B.O. might be more accurate), coasting on fumes left over from the sizzling sensuality of the 1992 thriller that made Sharon Stone a star.

First of all, Stone is absolutely not too old to reprise her femme fatale, Catherine Trammel. Though we don't see as much of her body this time, at 48 she's still got enough of the icy cool sexuality to toy with the men around her, despite their authority over her. It's the script that's flaccid, further sapped by British TV actor David Morrissey replacing Michael Douglas as the male lead. Douglas played a tormented cop, torn between convicting and bedding her; Morrissey's a tormented psychiatrist who can't tell whether she's a psychopath or the love of his life. The guy's such a stiff, one wonders how many wiser Clive-Owen wannabes read the script and declined. Morrissey's wife is Sigmund Freud's great-granddaughter, which apparently qualifies him more for the part than either his charisma or chemistry with Ms. Stone. He imbues this shrink with about the same emotional range as the office couch.

In a sexy, but almost cartoonish, opening sequence, Stone drives a drugged-out dude around London for a high-speed thrill ride that ends in his death. Once again, the circumstances ominously match the plot of one of her novels. A detective (David Thewlis) seems hell-bent on convicting her, and brings in Morrissey for a medical opinion on how dangerous she may be to herself and others. The rest of the film involves more murders and another guessing game about whether Stone is the killer, someone else's front, or even a potential victim, while dredging up various devils and temptations of Dr. Dull.

Everything about this story feels contrived, failing to create characters or a situation that stirs the emotions as the first one did. The original interrogation scene has become a film classic, even apart from Ms. Stone's controversial leg-crossing. Its analog here is so ill-conceived, director Michael Caton-Jones almost seems to have intended parody, rather than an homage.

At one point Stone's Catherine asks the shrink who he thinks she's gonna kill next? In real life, her most obvious choices would be among the writers, director and her agent.

The primary failure of this film relative to the original is an aged, faded Sharon Stone who is supposed to portray an irresistible sex goddess. That just does not work at all. In the first Basic Instinct she was credible as a sexy young beauty exploring the boundaries of her ability to control men by exploiting their lust for her.

I've noticed many other comments say "Wow, look at Sharon Stone, she is almost 50 and still attractive and sexy - that's incredible!" That is nonsense. It is ridiculous to say that mature women can't be attractive and sexy. What I would expect (and I am a 50-year-old man), is that an attractive woman of that age range would be more subtle and sophisticated about her sexuality. The way Stone's character acts in this film, I'd expect to find her as an old drunk falling off a bar stool in a trailer park in Dog Fart, Kentucky rather than as supposedly glamorous, world-famous novelist.

The secondary failure is David Morrisey's character, supposed to be a psychiatrist or psychologist. How could the character have an M.D. or Ph.D. degree when he is a moron who apparently never got past puberty sexually?

The tertiary failure is the complete unbelievability of the plot. How can one believe it is many years since the first film, Stone's character continues to be suspected of multiple murders, yet she is still free? At the rate people Stone knows get murdered, everyone she ever knew would have been dead five years before they made this film.

Even though I found the first Basic Instinct over-the-top and occasionally unintentionally laughable, it worked much better than this putrid sequel.

Another lame sequel that loses its touch along the lines of well story plot, acting, directing and etc. Sharon Stone is in her what? 50's now? And she tries to swindle and attracts other males, lets face it she can't attract anyone. Her character much like herself has become old and feeble which is much like the story, three in a row. When we last saw her she was cunning and in a relationship with a Detective (Michael Douglas) but in this case is obviously dead and the whole act should be dead along with him. Anyway, she again tries to evade being caught by her shrink and carries on the act again. "Instinct" can't go any where but down, we know who she is so the whole plot was a waste. And I'm surprised it even got a wide release my speculations were direct to video. If you must see Sharon Stone in this god awful sequel then what for the DVD release and rent it.

Oh dear!...Oh dear! dear! dear!

I'm an intermittent ex-smoker struggling to stay off the weed but watching Sharon Stone puff her way through this sad mess is enough to strengthen my resolve to never smoke again. Never has smoking looked so unappealing...or ridiculous.

I thought Felicity Huffman captured the transsexual market this year but Stone goes one better, playing Trammell like she/he's a man pretending to be a woman - all husky voiced, overly toned masculinity and obsessed with own ideal of femininity. Whatever kudos Stone gathered post original BASIC INSTINCT she's blown it now.

And as for David Morrissey...."Wet" is the only word that springs to mind. This guy is so miscast and awful it defies description. There's a black hole where an actor should have been, sucking all on screen life into his own vortex. Hope you had a nice career to date Mr Morrissey 'cos it's over now.

From Michael Douglas to David Morrissey (albeit 14 years later) in the space of one sequel...Says it all really about this disaster.

Michael Caton Jones deserves a listing in the dictionary behind the word "hack".

Basic Instinct 2-Risk Additction, is a wholly unnecessary, follow up of the trend setting erotic thriller Basic Instinct, Sadly we've no Mad Dutchman at the helm,(Paul Verhoven, No risible Joe Esterhas, Dialouge, And no jerry goldsmith:( The film is one long trailer for something that never comes,it's a Major letdown,It really should of been made When it was in talk's with potential Director David Cronenberg, Now that really would have been great, Michael Caton Jones, Is no Paul Verhoven,that's the joy's of contractually obligation! Although it's nice to see The 'Night Porter' Herself, Charlotte Rampling, in a great supporting role,

Still this film would not look out of place in the 'Bargin Bin' in your local Video shop, where it truly belong's,

This movie is so bad it is almost good. Almost. But the humor potential is quickly eroded by the paper-thin and highly telegraphed plot.

The first tip-off that this thing might be a dog is during the opening credits when its says that the screenplay is based on characters created by Joe Eszterhas. Yes, the same overpaid "B" writer who brought us such fine cinema as Flashdance, Sliver, Showgirls and Jade. I guess the producers couldn't afford him so they went with two"C" writers instead.

Now, if I could just figure out what the heck a good actor like David Morrissey is doing in this film...

The kind of sequel that feels like it got greenlit solely because someone found Sharon Stone's number in an old Rolodex. Transporting the erotic thriller from the sun-drenched sleaze of San Francisco to the damp gray streets of London sounds intriguing on paper-until you realize the only thing more lifeless than the film's color palette is its male lead.

David Morrissey plays a therapist so dull and stiff-lipped, he makes a piece of toast seem dynamic. He's British. He's boring. And he's the unfortunate anchor dragging this already cheesy rehash of the original even further into the depths. While Stone hams it up gloriously as Catherine Tramell-slinking through every scene like she's in on the joke no one else got-everyone around her seems to be stuck in a completely different, far more serious (and far less interesting) movie.

The film tries to lean into noir, but it all just feels grimy-in a way that isn't sexy or stylish, just... wet and unpleasant. Scenes drag on endlessly with no tension, no chemistry, and no reason to care. Worse, the visuals are constantly washed out with this weird overexposed look, like someone smeared Vaseline on the lens and called it a day.

If Basic Instinct 2 had the guts to fully center Catherine Tramell's perspective-or at least given her an equally compelling adversary-it might've had a shot at being an enjoyably campy follow-up. Instead, we're stuck watching Morrissey's character spiral for what feels like an eternity, only to finally get a glimmer of fun near the end... by which point, your sanity is already collateral damage.

Not even Sharon Stone could seduce this trainwreck into being good.

There are two purposes for making a sequel: a) it was planned already, even during the original's filming and/or b) hoping to bank on the success of the original. Also, it's usually done within a reasonable amount of time—say 5 years. Basic Instinct 2 boils down to nothing more than a poorly written vanity project for Sharon Stone. Not to mention the original Basic Instinct was 14 years ago, leaving little interest for a sequel in the first place.

Now in London, ice-pick wielding novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone) is back and she's in trouble with the law again. And of course, any man who crosses her path is walking the dangerous ground of falling under her spell.

The plot of Basic Instinct 2 is too similar to the original: simply transplanting Catherine from San Francisco to London and replacing detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) with psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) as the latest in her game of deadly psychotic seduction. The ideas are nothing new. She's still battling that murderous and insatiable sexual appetite, and she's still getting any with it.

There's no doubt Sharon Stone knows how to play Catherine Tramell. She can capture the icy seductress with ease, mixing intoxicating sex appeal with deadly intelligence. However, with sloppy dialogue and the inferior pairing with Morrissey, BI2 just comes off pointless. Morrissey provides little in his role, using one facial expression throughout the entire film—I think his furrowed brow must be permanently fixed.

The majority of the movie is just a vain showcase for Stone—who wants to show that at 48, she's still hot. If that's the purpose, I think she could have waited for a better project—I mean, for 48, she is in great shape.

The new writing team of Leora Barish and Henry Bean create a script that fails to capture the provocative nature and characters originally created by Joe Eszterhas with no shred of respectable dialogue. There's an obvious struggle to create some sort of memorable line, all of which are terribly calculated. Maybe if the script was written over a few months rather than the thrown-together sound of it, this sequel might have been something. But that's a big maybe.

This time around, the haunting direction of Paul Verhoeven is severely missed. Verhoeven was able to capture mesmerizing characters in a tale of seduction and manipulation. Along with the inferior script, the new direction of Michael Caton-Jones falls short of the original, providing little interest in the characters producing nothing more than a terrible film.

The sex scenes in the original made sense to the plot; the sex scenes in the sequel are simply for shock value. Even then, they're more confusing than shocking. Including a completely necessary orgy scene—as I assume most all orgy scenes are. Personally, I like the original Basic Instinct. It's a genuinely good sexually-charged psychological thriller with a role tailor-made for Sharon Stone. The relationship between Douglas and Stone worked brilliantly, the dialogue was cuttingly vicious without force, and the graphic sex scenes worked with the plot.

Poorly trying to relive the success of 1992 without the original director or writer ultimately causes Basic Instinct 2 to become one of the worst sequels ever to be made.

Unless you have some uncontrollable need to see this movie, wait about a year—check the $5.99 bin and I bet you'll find it along with Weekend at Bernie's II and Out to Sea. That, or rent the original. At least it's a captivating thriller.

1 out of 4 stars

There was a lot shown in this movie that I did not expect nor want to see. I should have walked out after the first scene, so shame on me. Cigarette advertisements? It was unbelievable how many times cigarettes were lit and waved around ensuring the viewer caught that these people were smoking. Whether you are a smoker or not, it took away from the movie because it was too much too often. In fact, there were many segments in the movie where the cigarette was the whole point of the scene. Shame on the producer.

It was impossible for me to get past those two major issues, but for the sake of this review here is an attempt: The movie is entertaining, it has a solid though not original plot, and a creative though unsatisfying ending. The actors play their parts well. The British setting though, to me, wasn't appropriate for this sequel. Since the first Basic Instinct was American, I fully expected the second to be also. For that reason, the movie never felt like a sequel to the outstanding first "Basic Instinct" and in my opinion isn't worthy of being labeled the second in the series.

I was disappointed, won't watch it again, and don't recommend it.

This movie was awful compared to the first film. First the story was not thrilling, it did not keep you on edge like the first film. Also the sex scenes are very tame for today's standard. And it is no where near as hot as the first film.

Sharon Stone does not even look like Sharon Stone any more. I don't know what she did to her face, but it didn't work. And I didn't think she played her character very well. Katherine in this film was too over the top and silly. The script just didn't work.

FINAL VERDICT: Not good. This isn't a sexy thriller, but a boring wann-a-be mystery. Do not waste your time watching this.

Some remakes are better than the originals (1978'2 body snatchers). Others come close to the originals (My father the Hero, both the 1994 and the 1991 versions are with Gerard Depardieu). Some remakes are a little less interesting than the originals (point of no return vs. Nikita, Vanilla Sky vs. Abre los Ojos), others are distinctly worse (Hypercube vs. Cube).

And then there are those that should never have been made. Basic Instinct 2 is of this category. Boring, bad acting, bad sound, bad directing, bad quotations from the original.

They should have cast Lindsey Logan as Catherine Tramell to complete this concept.

What a positively boring sequel to one of the better sultry thrillers of the 90s. I don't know how you can even call this a thriller when there are no actual thrills. It's painfully bad and wholly unnecessary. I'll give two stars, one for each of Sharon Stone's obviously augmented... well you know.

Despite its inevitable fate as a critically reviled box-office flop, Basic Instinct 2 sure has a funny way of holding your attention. It's not just Sharon Stone's trash-talk and occasional nudity that keeps you watching, but also the way she gamely earns every cent of her $14 million paycheck, vamping like a real pro in her second outing as mystery novelist and alleged serial killer Catherine Tramell. Now living in London, Catherine sets her lethal sights on Michael Glass (David Morrissey), the control-freak psychiatrist assigned to evaluate her as a risk-addicted suspect in the "accidental" killing of a star soccer player. Turns out Catherine's just getting started (or is she?), and that's bad news for Glass's ex-wife, a tabloid journalist, and the Scotland Yard detective (David Thewlis) who's desperate to put Catherine in jail. With plenty of sex, murder and salacious dialog, BI2 is certainly never boring, especially with the morbid fascination of seeing the once formidable Stone torpedo her career in a sequel that took 14 years (and countless drafts of screenplays and at least one high-profile lawsuit) to bring to the screen. She's still impressively hot at age 47, prompting critic Roger Ebert to observe, "the Catherine Tramell role cannot be played well, but Sharon Stone can play it badly better than any other actress alive." So, while this ill-fated sequel falls just short of being a guilty pleasure (if only because Morrissey is no match for Michael Douglas in the 1992 original), it's enjoyably absurd and slickly produced, and the hot-tub scene is guaranteed to wear out the freeze-frame function on a lot of DVD players. For some viewers, that's reason enough for multiple viewings.

This was even worse than I tought. Sharon Stone is not only unbelievable but also a complete turnoff in this dreadful sequel to an otherwise great first movie. All the butox in the world can't help her make this movie even a little bit sexy. Sad really, because I have always found Sharon Stone entertaining.

The plot is a laugh/cry which I won't even take time commenting on. What is for sure is that the only reason this movie was made was to cash in on the first Basic Instinct. I am truly amazed that some producers (and directors) have the nerve (and the money) to make movies like this anymore, considering most moviegoers these days are pretty quality orientated.

Last but not least is the production. It just looks so cheap. The stage sets reminds me of B rolls from the sixties. It's all mostly paper. The location is suppose to be London but the first scene in the movie don't quit look like London to me ...

I would strongly recommend to leave this movie on the shelf where it belong and rather try to remember Cathrine Tramell like she was 16 years ago in the first ace movie. This is pure crap!

I like the first one, at least it is sexy and suspenseful to some extent.

I heard that this one is awful, so I set my bar very low. However, it is even much worse than what I imagined.

First of all, the shrink is an idiot. (the writer must hate shrink a lot) He is so mentally weak that he is manipulated by everybody. Secondly, the ending is so unnatural and stupid.

Yeah, a lot of Hollywood popcorn movies are forced in plot. But this one is really bad, and in addition to that, you can't find anything good for the movie, even the supposed sexy session is boring to death.

Trust me, it is a really bad movie, worse than your wildest expectation.