Basic Instinct 2
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 "Basically, it stinks." - Peter Rainer, Christian Science Monitor
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Basic Instinct 2 (also known as Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction) is a 2006 erotic thriller film and the sequel to 1992's Basic Instinct. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and produced by Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels and Andrew G. Vajna. The screenplay was by Leora Barish and Henry Bean. It stars Sharon Stone, who reprises her role of Catherine Tramell from the original, and David Morrissey. The film is an international co-production of Germany, the United Kingdom, the United States and Spain.
The film follows novelist and suspected serial killer Catherine Tramell, who is once again in trouble with the authorities. Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her after a man in Tramell's presence dies. As with Detective Nick Curran in the first film, Glass becomes a victim of Tramell's seductive games.
After being in development limbo for a number of years, the film was shot in London from April to August 2005, and was released on March 31, 2006. After numerous cuts, it was released with an R rating for "strong sexuality, nudity, violence, language, and some drug content". Unlike its predecessor, the film received negative reviews and fell short of commercial expectations.
Plot
Set in London, the film opens with American best-selling author Catherine Tramell in a speeding car with her companion, Kevin Franks, a famous English football star. Tramell takes the man's hand and begins masturbating with it, all the while increasing her vehicle's speed. At the point of orgasm, Tramell veers off the road and crashes into the West India Docks in Canary Wharf. She attempts to save her partner but, as she says while being questioned by the police, "When it came down to it, I guess my life was more important to me than his".
Tramell is interrogated by Scotland Yard Detective Supt. Roy Washburn, who notes that D-Tubocurarine, a neuromuscular blocking agent used to relax muscles during general anaesthesia, was found in her car and in her companion's body, and the companion wasn't breathing at the time of the crash, and that a man named "Dicky Pep" said that he sold Tramell "15 milliliters of DTC last Thursday". Tramell counters by saying that this Dicky Pep must be lying because "you've got him on some other charge and he's trying to deal his way out, if he even exists".
Tramell begins therapy sessions with Dr. Michael Glass, who has conducted a court-ordered psychiatric exam and given testimony in her case. Glass strongly suspects that Catherine is a narcissist incapable of telling the difference between right and wrong. Tramell begins to play mind games with Glass, who becomes increasingly frustrated with, yet intrigued by, this mysterious woman. Soon, Glass's own life begins a spiral of destruction.
One night, Glass goes on a date with Michelle Broadwin, and has rough, violent sex with her after dealings with Tramell. Glass receives a phone call from his ex-wife, Denise, in a state of distress. Her partner, Adam Towers, a journalist writing a negative story about Dr. Glass, has been found strangled to death. Glass suspects that Tramell committed the murder and is attempting to frame him for it. More murders begin to surface around Glass as his obsession with Tramell grows and his career and life are threatened – he finds his ex-wife in a bathroom with her throat slit after they have an altercation in a bar. Later, Dicky Pep is killed – eventually, he himself can no longer tell right from wrong, and the police begin to suspect Glass of involvement in the crimes. He confronts Tramell at her apartment where they engage in passionate sex.
The situations comes to a head during a confrontation between Glass and Tramell at her apartment where, after a struggle, Glass attempts to kill Tramell. Tramell gives Glass a copy of the draft of her next novel, titled The Analyst. After reading it, he realises that Catherine has novelised most of the recent events with herself and other people related to Glass, even himself, as characters. Then it turns out that the character based on herself is going to kill a therapist based on Glass's colleague, Dr. Milena Gardosh.
Glass runs to Gardosh's apartment to warn her, finding Tramell there to his dismay. Gardosh tells him that he is no longer in charge of Tramell's therapy and that he's going to have his license revoked, due to bad practice regarding Tramell's treatment. There is a struggle between Glass and Gardosh, in which the latter is knocked out. Catherine then threatens Glass with a gun she carries, but Glass takes it away from her. When Washburn arrives at the scene, Glass shoots him because Tramell told him he had killed the girlfriend of one of Glass's patients just to "nail him".
In the final scene, Tramell pays a visit to Glass at a local mental hospital where he has been institutionalised, and he learns from her that the subject of her latest best-selling novel was a man very much like him. Tramell claims that she manipulated Glass into committing all those murders for her own amusement, and flashbacks are shown of Glass committing the murders. Tramell leaves with a wicked smirk on her face, while Glass continues to sit silently in his wheelchair, stymied by frustration and rage.
Why It's Pointless
- The story is boring and ignores almost all of the events of the first film.
- The characters are boring, especially the new ones.
- Tons of plotholes.
- While the first film had a ton of sex scenes, this film has way more sex scenes than the first film.
- The pacing is awful and it feels like you are watching a movie that is 3 hours long instead of the movie’s actual runtime of 1 hour 54 minutes.
- Michael Douglas' character isn't in the film due to Douglas declining to reprise his role, nor is his character mentioned.
- The film was released fourteen years after the original making its possibility of being a good sequel stale.
- It pretty much ruined the careers of its cast and crew. For example:
- Director Michael Caton-Jones (the director of Memphis Belle, Doc Hollywood, This Boy's Life, Rob Roy and The Jackal) crippled his career so badly that his only directing efforts were three films (Urban Hymm, Asher and Our Ladies) and the miniseries adaptation of World Without End.
- Sharon Stone only makes supporting roles in independent films and special guest appearances on TV shows due to the failure of this film.
- One of its two screenwriters Henry Bean hasn't written another mainstream film since 2007.
- Production company C2 Pictures shut down two years after the film's release.
Videos
Trivia
- When the sequel was announced, Michael Douglas stated that he wouldn't reprise his role as Nick Curran.
- Sharon Stone originally didn't want to reprise her role when production began. Due to her original refusal, Demi Moore or Ashley Judd were considered for the lead.
- David Morrissey nearly quit acting due to being depressed after hearing the bad reviews for this film, but he saw this as a chance to learn, and thankfully he has since played much better received roles since such as Jackson Lake in Doctor Who and The Governor in The Walking Dead.
- Paul Verhoeven, the director of the first Basic Instinct film stated that he didn't like the film and complained about the lack of a strong male lead character.
- The movie was was originally intended to be made in 2000, but remained in development hell for six years more due to the uncertainty of finding the right director and the right male lead.
- This sequel was originally going to be set in New York, but was moved to London when Michael Caton-Jones took over as director (because he's British).
- There were plans for a third Basic Instinct film, however plans were cancelled after the film flopped at the box office. Even Sharon Stone later expressed interest in doing it in an April 2006 interview.
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