Basic Instinct 2

Rating: **/*****, or 5/10

Totally unneccessary and undesirable sequel to the classic thriller from 1992, released much too late in the game (it only took 14 years) for anyone to still truly care. Nevertheless, not so bad as some people would have us believe, and with a good (mostly British) cast in any event. In London novelist Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone once more) again gets suspected of homicide, after which she's evaluated by a successful psychiatrist (David Morissey) who falls under her sexy influence the same way the cop in the first film did (indicating how that plot ended and thus kinda spoiling its predecessor's open ending), after which he is drawn into London's erotic nightclub scene determining whether she's really an insane, sex hungry murderer, or whether he's slowly losing his own mind caught in her web of lies and sex. Despite good acting, very decent cinematography and editing and a fairly solid plot, this movie just lacks the punch of the previous movie: in fact, it would have been better if this was just a regular thriller with no actual story ties to Basic Instinct. Though Sharon Stone got a bit older, she still looks quite good naked, as she's demonstrating a bit more often than feels appropriately comfortable for the audience in this film's case.

Starring: Sharon Stone, David Morissey, David Thewlis

Directed by Michael Caton-Jones

USA/UK: MGM, 2006

Basic Instinct

 Rating ****/*****, or 8/10

Paul Verhoeven took a break from science fiction in favour of directing two steamy sexy thrillers, one an almost instant genre classic, the other (Showgirls) not so much. The former is Basic Instinct, a successful hommage to Alfred Hitchcock's work, which deals with a cop with a sleazy past (Michael Douglas) investigating a homicide involving a beautiful femme fatale (Sharon Stone), only to fall under her spell while trying to determine whether she's the next target or actually the killer, in the process coming under the murderer's radar himself. A perfect mix of erotic tension and suspense, often simulated but so far still unsurpassed. The leg crossing scene where Stone is locked in an interrogation room with a bunch of male detectives and no panties on, yet still fully dominating events due to her brooding sexuality, has got to be one of the most (in)famous sequences of the last thirty years of movie making. Often accused of blatant homophobia, to my mind injustly. The movie contains one of the most memorable and most strongly tone-setting main themes ever, nigh omnipresent on those 'greatest movie themes' collection CDs, and deservedly so.

Starring: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone, Jeanne Tripplehorn

Directed by Paul Verhoeven

USA: Carolco Pictures, 1992

Antz

Rating ****/*****, or 8/10

Delightful early computer animated movie about a lone ant, named Z, who lives in a huge ant colony and tries to get out of the oppressive life style he has endured all his life, while also falling in love with the colony's princess (voiced by Sharon Stone) which gets him on the radar of the society's military leader (performed by Gene Hackman) who is working on a genocidal reform plan to overthrow the colony and make it his. The voice role of the clumsy and neurotic but highly individualistic Z seems tailor made for Woody Allen, who delivers his performance with obvious pleasure. While the animation looks crude by today's standards, it seems appropriate for the film and does in no way detract from the film's enjoyable (though for a family oriented film, somewhat subversive) plot and a number of very funny, witty scenes and gags. It easily beat Pixar's insect film A Bug's Life, suspiciously released almost at the same time, on every level.

Starring: Woody Allen, Gene Hackman, Sharon Stone

Directed by Eric Darnell, Tim Johnson

USA: Dreamworks SKG, 1998