Director/actor Paul Verhoeven presents one of the most popular erotic thrillers of the 90s Michael Douglas, Wayne Knight, Jeanne Tripplehorn, and Sharon Stone. This was the movie that made Sharon Stone's career: a night of heated passion turns into a blood soaked nightmare when a blonde seductress kills her rock star lover by multiple stabbings. The authorities along with detective Nick Curran who's recently divorced and sober from drugs while also being investigated by Internal Affairs for a shooting find he was a member of the community making big donations. Catharine Tramell, a crime novelist is the prime suspect so how much is she telling the truth or just toying around? She has a reputation for being around ex-cons and delving into sex/drug-fueled experiences. She pulls Nick into a heated relationship but also testing his loyalty to the letter of the law while writing a new novel based on him. More deaths though keep piling up and are somewhat connected to Nick's psychologist Beth. So what's the connection? The film set off protests by members of the gay community when it was released; before it was preceded by months of controversy and hype, became the hot topic around water coolers and in newspaper editorials, and grossed an astonishing $352 million worldwide Heck it was even accused of misogyny and homophobia garnering an NC-17 rating for a brief period of time. Yet Stone is the very image of the 90s-femme fatale dressing up elegantly, smoking, and using her feminine wilds to throw off her male counterparts. There may be something in her childhood that ultimately set her off Douglas' character here is questionable with his methods to find the truth especially when he finds out this woman has a strange fixation on him. Aside from the dialogue being bad in many spots with the acting being stilted as well as a few plot threads Stone and Douglas have such ripe chemistry. This does have some rough edges but Jan de Bont has some good camerawork as well as mixing light and darkness together Jerry Goldsmith's score is unnerving matching those classic Hitchcock neo-noir flicks. No doubt this plot is lurid and problematic but Stone's performance is sizzling and radicalising the sexual politics of a subgenre more often associated with male privilege. Questionable morals yes but the women hold all the cards.
Review of Basic Instinct
