Don't worry, Sharon...

What is wrong with Basic Instinct II doesn't reflect on Stone herself.

I just finished watching it, and had a look at the original again the day before. I am perplexed especially about the directing. Canton-Jones has made some presentable movies, but BI2 looks like it may as well have been covered by the cinematographer on the fly. At least Verhoven as well as Jan De Bont his DP was methodical and storyboarded his movie. The Original Basic Instinct, while not a good film per say, is at least fun for the directing. The music and Sharon Stone are the only carry-overs into the sequel.

The opening crime is downright silly as presented, and we've seen the same kind of incident in Cronenberg's Crash. It plays silly in both cases. The dialogue isn't as snappy as the first BI, and the opening murder is less immediate and relatable than that of the first film. SOFT. You have a doped up victim unable to experience the terror of the moment, and no echo scene with the protagonist as reluctant passenger which would have been an obvious and natural writing beat.

Catherine Tramell is already a parody of herself, years after everything from Loaded Weapon I to Fatal Instinct and Seinfeld spoofed her. As pretty as she is, there is no suspension of disbelief as people fall over themselves and play into her traps. No guy would take any of the crap she dishes out. He would laugh. As she confidently slinks through her scenes, she is like someone who has a piece of broccoli in her teeth and nobody will tell her. Primarily there is nothing really for her to fight and her back isn't even against the wall because she is cleared of the supposed inciting incident early on. There is nothing more tedious. Stone has been strong in other movies, like The Quick and the Dead, but apart from the no-nonsense cop who has a secondary role here I wanted to punch every character in the nose.

Add to all of these concerns, Stone has less total screen time than the previous film and though I saw this one for free it felt like work to sit through the whole thing. It's ending rationalization seems tacked on and only serves to prove how muddled the structure had been. The first film at least unfolded with a sense of urgency and inevitable procedure with rising stakes as the main character's established weaknesses caught up with him. In the sequel, just about any backstory could be taked on to anyone because the whole process is arbitrary. Furthermore while the Catherine character was a standard Film Noir Femme Fatale in a power position for the second movie she spends much of the time pathologized and evaluated instead of feared.

The screenplay is blande and the movie is void of anything remotely shocking, except for the wealth of talent wasted on this project and the wastefulness of shooting such an unfocused, lurching, boring screenplay.
















-- "You're a movie of the week."
David Mills, "Seven" Andrew Kevin Walker