If popularity breeds contempt, the critical beating this movie took endeared it to me all the more. I listened to podcast after podcast and read movie news galore that took pleasure in shredding the movie sight unseen. The biggest bone of contention was that Sharon Stone, over the age of 40, was putting herself out there as sexual being once again, and that she should be put out to pasture. As saddened as I was that in a time when MILF has become part of the popular vernacular this was still a prevailing attitude, it was countered by the excitement of seeing Catherine Trammel on screen again, one of my favorite film characters. She is the devil in red lipstick and took the original Basic Instinct from standard thriller fare and made it a must see, as well making Stone a star.
Is Basic Instinct 2 a good movie? Hell no! But it is a fun, fun watch! Stone unhinges her jaw and swallows the scenery, taking Trammel from a temptation-evoking sexual provocateur to a lip-smacking man-eater. Throw in a high-speed hand-job, some erotic asphyxiation, acrobatic rough sex, beautiful architecture, Charlotte Rampling and David Thewlis for international dramatic cred (granted, it’s squandered, and Thewlis gives Stone a run for her money taking it over the top), and a half-baked thriller plot and pack it all into a well shot glossy package and you have 90+minutes of solid entertainment. Entertainment! BI2 was not designed to change the world, provoke deep thought or be a metaphor for the world’s woes, it is simply titillating adult oriented entertainment. Much has been said about the movie, but I have never heard it called dull! Have fun with it… Go crazy and Double feature it with Showgirls! :o)