Skip to content
Dom Robinson reviews
Entertainment in Video
- Cert:
- Cat.no: EDV 9383
- Running time: 109 minutes
- Year: 2006
- Pressing: 2006
- Region(s): 2, PAL
- Chapters: 28 plus extras
- Sound: Dolby Digital 5.1, Stereo
- Languages: English
- Subtitles: English
- Widescreen: 2.35:1 (Super 35)
- 16:9-Enhanced: Yes
- Macrovision: Yes
- Disc Format: DVD 9
- Price: £19.99
- Extras: Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending, Between the Sheets: A Look Inside Basic Instinct 2,Director’s Commentary, International Trailer
Basic Instinct 2: 
Basic Instinct: Special Edition:
Director:
- Michael Caton-Jones
(Basic Instinct 2, City By the Sea, Doc Hollywood, The Jackal, Memphis Belle, Rob Roy, Scandal, Shooting Dogs, This Boy’s Life, TV: Trinity)
Producers:
- Moritz Borman, Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels and Andrew G. Vajna
Screenplay:
- Leora Barish and Henry Bean
Music:
- John Murphy
Cast:
- Catherine Tramell: Sharon Stone
Dr Michael Glass: David Morrissey
Dr Milena Gardosh: Charlotte Rampling
Det Supt Roy Washburn: David Thewlis
Adam Towers: Hugh Dancy
Denise Glass: Indira Varma
Dr Jakob Gerst: Heathcote Williams
Michelle Broadwin: Flora Montgomery
Kevin Franks: Stan Collymore
Magda: Kata Dobó
There’s a right way and a wrong way to handle a sequel to a classic film likeBasic Instinct, and this one gets it so, so wrong.
Basic Instinct 2 begins with Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) driving at top speedaround London, ending up in the river with her football player boyfriend, Kevin Franks (ex-footballerStan Collymore) in the passenger seat, but before you can decide if she’s a WAG or not, he’s atthe bottom, swimming with the fishes… or he would be if he could’ve got out of the car.
After being hauled in for questioning on this incident, she is taken to see psychologist Dr MichaelGlass (David Morrissey), who you know from the off is going to become her bed-buddy and willbe as involved in what’s going on as Michael Douglas was back in the first film, so there’s no elementof surprise in how their relationship is going to pan out.
Before long, Catherine’s suspected of a couple of murders that have happened and Michael sees her throughtherapy but while questions are asked about whether she’s done the deeds, just like in the first film,here there’s just no atmosphere to pull you in. We keep hearing about a drug dealer, George Cheslav, thatGlass once dealt with, but does it have any bearing on what’s going on here? Give it a bit of time andyou really won’t care.
One question I did wonder was, 14 years on from the first film, is Catherine Tramell now a MILF?Well, Sharon Stone is still very sexy, but the dialogue is cheesy and what might’ve worked 15 years agocertainly doesn’t work now as there’s no decent acting for her to work opposite and that’s becauseDavid Morrissey is more like David Walliams in his demeanour and about as convincing in his therapist role.
Of the rest of the cast, David Thewlis just snaps and barks at everyone as DS Roy Washburn, whowants Catherine behind bars, Indira Varma has very little to do as Michael’s ex-wife Denise and Ibegan to wonder why Charlotte Rampling even turned up on-set for her role as Michael’s colleague,Dr Milena Gardosh, since she seems completely superfluous to requirements.
Basic Instinct 2 takes place in London, often around Canary Wharf and, particularly during sceneryshots, we get the original music from the late Jerry Goldsmith with new and unmemorable music from JohnMurphy. Time-lapse footage of the London Gherkin is followed by David Morrissey standing, suited, in hisspacious psychiatrist office, making it look like a Pet Shop Boys video. The film has no style or substanceto it; in fact, just nothing happens at all for the majority of the 109-minute running time.
Catherine made for a subtle character in the dialogue-only scenes of the first film, whereas here herbehaviour is a lot more direct and as there’s zero chemistry with David Morrissey, this doesn’t help.It’s so predictable too with further characters’ deaths being signposted a mile off. The trademark ice pickfrom the original only makes a brief appearance here, as Catherine uses it again to break up a chunk of icefor a drink at home: it’s never used for a murder.
Also, a sex scene nearly 40 minutes in is just laughable and when the girl springs up like thatthere’s no way his old chap wouldn’t fall out so it’s even more of a joke.
Overall, while Sharon Stone still cuts it early on as a sex siren before the cheesy dialogue puts youoff her, until she gets her kit off and still looks hot – apart from the obvious fake breasts she’s hadattached like semi-beachballs, there’s no reason to watch this dire rehash of events from the first film- since that’s how it mostly plays out – as it just sullies the memory of the classic original.
Apart from the lack of tension, given the small amount of gore, violence and sex on display, the 18-certificatecan only have come about due to the close-up shots of syringes allegedly containing narcotics. The coveremblazons the wording “Uncut Version” but it’s clever, as with the earlier Sliver, that there’s nothingthat wouldn’t have normally passed the BBFC’s censorsnip (sic).
The film is presented in an anamorphic 2.35:1 ratio and the picture looks fine, but never particularlyoutstanding throughout.
The sound is unimpressive as there’s little going on all around, plus there are a handful of audio dropouts onthe disc meaning it’s not been mastered particularly well, and I’ve tried this on two other DVD players,one elsewhere in the house, so I know it’s not my A/V equipment.
The brief extras are as follows and are of the ‘watch once’ variety:
- Deleted Scenes and Alternate Ending (19:43):There are 11 of these in letterbox 2.35:1 format, all of which have a director’s commentary option if youwant to double the pain and none of which I’d put back in to make it last any longer.
The ending was actually reasonably interesting, even if it did take a long time to get there and thealternate version does make for a slight improvement. Note that this section and the next one containsEnglish subtitles as an option.
- Between the Sheets: A Look Inside Basic Instinct 2 (11:08): The usual puff-piece mix of film clips with chat from the key cast and crew members that gets puttogether when films. Director Michael Caton-Jones waffles on about how it has such a strong scriptthat it could’ve worked even if it wasn’t attached to the Basic Instict brand. What a load of oldflannel!
- International Trailer (2:09): Presented in 2.35:1 letterbox
- Audio Commentary:courtesy of director Michael Caton-Jones.
There are subtitles in English only, a total of 28 chapters which is good and a main menuwith sound and a short piece of looped footage from the film.
PICTURE QUALITY
SOUND QUALITY
EXTRAS
OVERALL
Reviewer of movies, videogames and music since 1994. Aortic valve operation survivor from the same year. Running DVDfever.co.uk since 2000. Nobel Peace Prize winner 2021.