Film Reviews

Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction

• Rating:
• Director: Michael Caton-Jones.
• Starring: Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, Charlotte Rampling, Hugh Dancy.
• Details: UK and USA, 118mins, 18s.

After re-locating from San Francisco to London, best-selling crime novelist Catherine Tramell (Stone) once again finds herself on the wrong side of the law when she is suspected of offing men in the same way they die in her novels. This time, it is Dr. Michael Glass (Morrissey) who is drafted in by Scotland Yard to assess the sultry writer. Although warned against her charms by his mentor Dr. Milena Gardosh (Rampling), Glass is drawn into Tramell's web of lies and seduction and, as he discovers his 'basic instincts', a deadly battle of wits commences. Stone should have capitalized on her Oscar nominated role for Casino as that would have pushed her into the higher echelons of serious actors, proving that she is more than just a pair of legs and could perform when pushed. Should have, would have, could have - she didn't, and films like Diabolique, Sphere and a string of TV movies didn't help (despite her kooky role in last years Broken Flowers) and she is now resigned to acting in the scripting dregs of movies like this. Basic Instinct 2 looks, feels and is acted like an afterthought, cobbled together by hack writers and a director who is waiting for something else to come along (turns out it was Shooting Dogs). Stone, who is still a very attractive woman in her own right, simply does not have the same sexual pull as she did fourteen years ago. It's not her fault, it's just human nature and now she is back to the glory days of King's Solomon's Mines. Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction is the film equivalent of an Eagles reunion concert … who cares?

Review by Gavin Burke