Basic Instinct Review (Revisited) "She is evil! She is brilliant!"

 

 

 

 

 

Well its time for another revisitation post as I have recently re-watched the erotic crime thriller, Basic Instinct, so figured I would revisit my original review of the film and update it a bit more. 

And its amazing to think that this film is almost 30 years old already as it was released in 1992, so 29 years onward how does it fair??? Well, let's took another look...

And while most people might know the story, I might as well still put out the usual warning...

PLOT SPOILERS ARE AHEAD!!!  

PLOT

So, the story which is set in San Francisco begins with the murder of a retired rock star Johnny Boz who is killed by a mysterious blonde woman who viciously stabs him to death with an ice pick during sex.  The police soon arrive at the murder scene and homicide detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is sent to investigate.  The only suspect is Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) a crime novelist who was the last one seen with Boz after he left his nightclub.  Catherine already is the prime suspect because she had previously written a book about a retired rock star who is murdered pretty much in the same way in which the murder itself was carried out.  

The police then question Catherine who is somewhat uncooperative during her interrogation and even gives a flash of her vagina during the questioning as she is not wearing any underwear.  Catherine then undergoes a lie detector test which she passes, so on the strength of this, the police let her go but Nick remains skeptical of her alleged innocence.

Nick during this time has also being attending sessions with a police psychologist, Dr Beth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn) after an incident where he shot two tourists while he was high on cocaine and Nick also previously had an affair with her when he was married.  After Nick drops off Catherine at her home he goes to a bar to rejoin the other officers including his good friend Gus Moran (George Dznundza).  Despite being off drink for 3 months, Nick has a drink and is then taunted by one of his senior police officers, Lt Nielsen (Daniel von Bargen) who enrages Nick who abruptly leaves with Beth who has arrived at the bar. Nick goes back to Beth's place where Nick out of the heat of the moment engages in rough sex with her and afterward Beth admits to having known Catherine.

Nick then tails Catherine to a house where she meets with a woman, Hazel Dobkins who turns out to be a former killer who murdered her family.  Nick also on visiting Catherine learns that she plans to use him as the character of a detective for her new book where a detective falls for the wrong woman and is then murdered (the character not Nick).

Nick however is also aware that Catherine had paid Nielsen money so she could obtain his psychiatric file in which she clearly learned things about him from their last meeting.  Nick then confronts and assaults Nielsen at the police station.  Nielsen later on is found murdered having been shot in the head at the wheel of his car and Nick is the prime suspect and until the situation is resolved he is suspended from duty on put on leave.  

After Nick is on leave he meets up with Catherine at a nightclub and the two of them engage in a night of passionate sex, where Catherine even ties up Nick during the act in the same fashion that Boz was just before he was murdered, but Catherine of course doesn't kill Nick (well not here anyway!).  During the night after their passionate coitus Nick is confronted by Catherine's girlfriend Roxy (Leilani Sarelle) who warns Nick she will kill him if he doesn't leave Catherine alone, which Nick brushes off.  

The next evening Nick meets up with Gus at a cowboy bar and tells him of the affair who disapproves and later drives home.  However at this point an attempt is made on Nick's life by a driver in a Ferrari who tries to run him over, Nick then chases after the mystery driver who ends up crashing their car, who turns out to be Roxy who dies in the crash.

Nick later meets with Catherine who is upset by Roxy's death and she asks Nick to make love to her to comfort her.  Afterwards Catherine confesses to have known a girl whom she slept with at college named Lisa Hoberman who became obsessed with her and even dressed like her and dyed her like her as well.  Nick later does some investigating into Catherine's story and goes on to discover Lisa Hoberman is in fact Beth.  Nick confronts Beth later who admits to having slept with Catherine in college but Catherine was the one who was obssessed with her instead, which Nick is reluctant to believe.  

After this Nick goes back to see Catherine now believing her to be innocent but Catherine having finished her detective book, coldly breaks up with Nick, who is left angry and again suspicious after spotting that the last few pages of her book mention a murdered police officer who's legs are dangling out of lift doors.  

And from here Nick meets up with Gus at a hotel to question a former roommate of Catherine's who knew both Catherine and Beth and the events that transpire from this soon lead into the film's dramatic climax.......

THOUGHTS

Well there isn't much that can't be said about Basic Instinct that we don't know already know as we all know the story pretty much, the torrid sex scenes, the car chases and of course the plot twists that all add to make it a pretty cheesy yet admittedly still enjoyable thriller.  The film typically plays the cat and mouse game which also has some noir undertones to it with the detective going after the femme fatale.  

The film at the time of its release naturally received a lot of controversy because of its fairly graphic sex scenes not to mention its bloody violence.  The film also sparked controversy from gay rights activists who were less than impressed with the film's depiction of lesbian women, which they deemed to be as negative.  

The film's sex scenes were also subject to censorship by the US censor board, the MPAA (Motion picture association of America) who insisted that the director Paul Verhoeven remove some of the film's more explicit content.  And Verhoeven himself had to trim 35-40 seconds from the film in order to secure the standard R rating instead of the most explicit NC-17 rating by the MPAA.

PERFORMANCES 

Moving on to the performances well things are pretty good here overall with a solid cast.

Starting with Michael Douglas who is very good in his role as police detective, Nick Curran who gets in way over his head when he investigates the murders and gets involved in an intense affair with the case's prime suspect in Catherine Tramell.  

Douglas has his share of highlights in the film which include his first scene where Nick looks around the crime scene of Johnny Baz's murder. And in the scene they discuss Baz's character and Captain Talcott says to Lt Walker "He was a civic minded, very respectable rock star" and Gus, Nick's partner points to something and asks "And what's that?". So, Nick goes over and looks at a bedside table that has some lines of cocaine on it and he says "It looks like some civic minded, very respectable cocaine!". 

Another good scene comes when Nick meets with Beth for a counseling session and she asks him "How is your personal life?" and Nick says "My sex life is fine.  Actually my sex life has been pretty shitty since I stopped seeing you" and he shows Beth what is presumably his masturbating hand and says "I've been getting calluses!". Nick then pleads with Bed "Now could you tell I.A. that I am your average, healthy totally fucked up cop and let me out of here?" and Beth smiles and says "Yes" and Nick says "Thank you".

Then there is the scene where Nick is taunted by his fellow rival copy, Nielsen who goads him for drinking. And Nick tells Nielsen "I'm off duty, Nielsen. I'm discussing a case" and looks at the others and says "Maybe I should put in for some overtime, huh?" and they laugh a little. Nielsen however taunts him more by saying "Don't work too hard, shooter.  It might drive you to drink!" and Nick in a rage gets in his face and shouts "STOP RIDING ME MAN, OR I'LL KICK YOUR FUCKIN TEETH IN!!". 

Then there is of course the scene just after Nick first has sex with Catherine he goes naked to the bathroom to wash his face and is then faced with Roxy who warns him "If you don't leave her alone I'll kill you".  And Nick turns to her and says "Let me ask you something Rocky, man to man.  I think she's the fuck of the century... what do you think?". 

Then there is the scene on the beach where Nick catches up with Catherine the morning after their firey night together and Catherine says to him "You are in over your head" and Nick says "Maybe but this is how I'll catch my killer" and Catherine says "Nah, you'll just fall in love with me" and Nick says "I'm in love with you already" and teases her saying But I'll nail you anyway.  You can put that in your book!".

Then there is the scene where Nick is forced to undergo a counseling review with Beth and two other psychologists and he quickly get's tired of their questions.  And in the scene he delivers the following great dialogue "Number 1, I don't remember how often I used to jerk off, but it was a lot. Number 2, I wasn't pissed off at my dad, even when I was old enough to know what he and mom were doing in the bedroom. Number 3, I don't look in the toilet before I flush it. Number 4, I haven't wet my bed for a long time. Number 5, why don't the two of you go fuck yourselves!  I'm outta here!".

Another good scene (and PLOT SPOILER!!) is where Nick desperately tries to save Gus from being killed in an elevator only to fail and he finds Gus's bloodied body in the lift. At this point, Beth suddenly appears down the hall and asks "What are you doing here?" and Nick points his gun at her and shouts "Put your hands up!! Put your fucking hands up! Don't move!". Beth explains "I got a message from Gus to meet me here. Where is he?" but Nick shouts "I know about your husband! You still like girls, Beth?!!" and Beth slowly moving towards him asks "What?!". Beth also reaches her hand into her pocket and Nick shouts in warning "TAKE YOU HAND OUT OF YOUR POCKETS!!" and Beth angrily asks "What is wrong with you??!". And as Beth walks near and goes for her pocket, Nick shoots her and she falls back and Nick runs over and looks down at her and she says with her dying breath "Love you". Nick then looks inside her pocket to see her key ring for his apartment and he sobs. 

And last of all is the scene at the end where Nick and Catherine reunite for some sex and afterward they next to each other and Catherine asks him "What do we do now?" and Nick says "We fuck like minks, raise rugrats and live happily ever after" but Catherine says "I hate rugrats" and Nick amends what he said "We fuck like minks, forget the rugrats and live happily ever after". And well I won't say anymore than that! 

Sharon Stone next up is excellent in her role as the beautiful, highly intelligent and devious Catherine Tramell, who is the prime suspect in the Johnny Boz murder and the following murders in the film.  

Stone has plenty of good scenes in the film starting with her first on where Nick and Gus question her briefly at her summer house. So, after introducing themselves, Catherine says she knows who they are and asks "So, how did he die?" and Gus tells her "He was murdered" and Catherine says "Obviously! How did he die?" and Nick says "He was stabbed with an ice pick".  Nick then asks Catherine "How long were you dating him?" and Catherine says the great line "I wasn't dating him, I was fucking him". Nick then asks her "Are you sorry he's dead?" and she says "Yes, I liked fucking him" and aftter a pause she says "I don't feel like talking anymore". Gus then says to Catherine "Listen, lady we can do this downtown..." and Catherine tells Gus "Then read me my rights and we'll go downtown, otherwise get the fuck out of here...please".  

Then there is the classic scene where Catherine is interrogated by Nick and the other police officers and she gives the officers a quick flash between her legs as we see she has no underwear on.  And in the scene she also delivers that great line when she starts to light up a cigarette and as one of the Internal affairs investigators says "There is no smoking in this building, Miss Tramell" Catherine says "What are you gonna do?  Charge me with smoking?".  And in the scene when asked direct if she killed Boz, Catherine says "I'd have to be pretty stupid to write a book about killing and then kill him the way I described in my book. I'd be announcing myself as the killer. I'm not stupid".  

Then there is the scene where Nick meets with Catherine at her house and she taunts him over his past, getting under his skin in the process. So, Catherine asks Nick "You know all about homicidal impulse, don't you, shooter?  Not in theory, in practice". Catherine then moves in close to Nick and says to him "What happened, Nick?  Did you get sucked into it? Did you like it too much? Tell me about the coke, Nick. The day you shot those two tourists. How much coke did you do?" and Nick tensely says "I didn't" and Catherine teases him "Yes you did". Nick then roughly grabs her hand and twists it behind her back but Catherine, not phased, continues on at him "Your wife knew, didn't she?  She knew what was going on.  Nicky got too close to the flame. Nicky liked it. That's why she killed herself?". Nick then angrily pushes her away and then Roxy appears and the two of them kiss and Catherine says to Nick "You're gonna make a terrific character, Nick!" just as he walks out.

Then there is the scene that takes places the morning after Nick and Catherine's first night of passionate sex, which takes place down at the beach. And Nick tells Catherine "I don't think Roxy was too comfortable watching us last night" but Catherine tells him "She's seen me fuck plenty of guys. She's seen it all before" and Nick says "I thought I'd seen it all before" and Catherine smiles and asks "Did you really think it was that special?" and Nick says "I told her it was the fuck of century" and Catherine smirks and Nick asks her "What did you think?" and Catherine says "I thought it was a good start!". 

Another good scene comes when Nick visits Catherine just as she is finishing off printing the pages of her book. So, Nick says warmly to her "Hi, I missed you" but Catherine looks a bit distant at him as she walks in and Nick says "I finished my research" and Catherine says "I finished my book". Nick then puts his arms around Catherine and asks "How does it end?" but Catherine coldly pushes his arms aside and says "I told you. She kills him". Catherine then gives Nick a cold look and says "Goodbye Nick. I finished my book. Your character's dead! What do you want some flowers?!". Nick looks stunned and then angrily shouts "What is this?! Some of the kind of JOKE???!! Are we still playing a game?!" but Catherine says "Games are over. You were the right. It was the fuck of the century...shooter!". 

Jeanne Tripplehorn who is also pretty good (and pretty) in her part as Beth Garner, the police psychologist who had an affair with Nick and is also embroiled in Catherine's past.  

Jeanne has some good moments as well in her performance such as the scene after Nick has some rough sex with Beth.  And Beth in the scene sits up shaken by Nick's rough sexual aggression and says "You've never been like that before.  Why?" and Nick says "You tell me, you're the shrink" and Beth says "You weren't making love to me" and Nick says "Then who was I making love to" and Beth says "You weren't making love!".  

Another good scene is when Beth turns up at Nick's apartment when he is drunk and he tells her to go away and she throws down her spare keys to Nick's place and says "Damnit!  Don't shut me out, you owe me more than that!".  And Nick drunkenly berates her saying "I don't owe you anything! And you don't owe me anything. We went to bed 10, maybe 15 times. That's miserable enough to carry an obligation!" which leaves Beth angry and hurt "Sometimes I really hate you!" and she charges at him and Nick pushes her away leaving Beth to calm down and say "Sorry. I'm not usually like that".

Nick then asks Beth about giving his file to Nielsen and Beth tells him "He was going to recommend your discharge a behavioral disability. I made a deal with him. He could review the session notes himself. It was the only way I could keep you on the force". Nick stunned asks "You did it for me?" and Beth says "Yes, I care about you. I did for you" and Nick almost tearful says "Go away, Beth. Please just go away" and Beth leaves.

And last of all there is the scene where Nick confronts Beth over her sleeping with Catherine back in high school and how Nick thinks that Beth was the one who was obsessed with Catherine, but Beth denies this and says it was the other way round.  

So, in the scene Beth admits to Nick "I slept with her one time, in school, I wast just a kid, I was experimenting. Then she developed a fixation one me, she styled her hair like mine, wore the same clothes. She scared me" but Nick then says "She said it was you. You wore the same clothes. You dyed your hair". Nick then probes Beth on why she said nothing about this and she angrily says "What do I say? Hey listen guys, I'm not gay but I did FUCK your suspect! I was embarrassed! It was the only time I was with a woman!". 

Then as they talk, Nick becomes more suspicious of Beth, who becomes frustrated and says to Nick "Nick -- Do you really think I...that I could kill someone... I never even met Johnny Boz. What about Nilsen? What possible motive would I have to kill Nilsen?!". Nick then walks out and says on the way "You better get that lock fixed" and Beth shouts after him "She is evil! She is brilliant!".

And last of all is George Dzundza, who is excellent as Gus, Nick's best friend and fellow cop who helps him with his investigation.  

George also his share of good moments in the film and amusing dialogue such as his first scene where Gus arrives at Boz's murder scene and one of their fellow cops tells Nick "There were cum stains all over the sheets!" which prompts Gus to says "So he got "off" before he got offed!".  

Then there is the scene where Nick meets with the other cops and Gus at a bar and their boss, Captain Tailcott says to Nick re: Catherine "Maybe she did kill Boz.  Did she kill Manny Vasquez as well?!" (Catherine's late husband who was a boxer who died in the ring) and Gus laughs and says "Not unless she climbed into the ring and turned into one mean son of a bitch!".  

Another good scene from George is when Nick finds Gus at the cowboy bar and he is drunk and Nick let's the cat out the bag that he had sex with Catherine without actually saying it and Gus says "You fucked her!  Goddamn you dumb son of a bitch, you fucked her!  You are one dumb son of a bitch!".  And their next scene is funny when Gus eats some food to sober himself up in a diner and he loudly says to Nick infront of the other customers "How could you fuck her???!" and Nick embarrassed says "Gus, please"; And Nick says "I'm not afraid of her" and Nick says "I don't know. I'm just not" and Gus loudly says "That's her pussy talkin not your brain!" much to the disgust of the patrons nearby and Gus sticks his tongue out at one of them.  

And last of all is the scene where Gus angrily tells off Nick for screwing Catherine by saying "Well, she got that magna cum laude pussy on her that done fried up your brain!" and as Nick walks away Gus

 yells at him "You got goddamned Tweety Birds flutterin' around your head, that's what you got! You think you can fuck like minks, raise rugrats, and live happily ever after?!  Aw, man!".  

DIRECTION AND MUSIC

Getting onto the direction, Paul Verhoeven does a pretty good job here with the film, as he racks up the suspense and does his best to keep the audience guessing (even though there isn't much surprise in the film really!).  Verhoeven also shows his penchants for graphic violence and sex as he has done before in his movies and he also handles the film's action scenes pretty well as you would expect from a veteran action film director.  

Verhoeven however during the production did get into trouble with Sharon Stone after she saw the no underwear scene and was appalled at Verhoeven using it and she later reportedly slapped him in the face as a result but Verhoeven is no stranger to controversy that's for certain.   

Music wise the film also features a pretty good score by the late Jerry Goldsmith, often recognised as one of Hollywood's best composers and the score is pretty suspenseful and atmospheric and well suited to the tone of the film. And the score even has a bit of a noir feel to it, which echoes his previous films scores of detective films such as Chinatown. 

FLAWS (Warning: this section may contain spoilers!)

As for flaws...... well yeah Basic Instinct is not perfect and it does have some.  

To start off it has to be said that the identity of the killer is pretty obvious throughout even though it is never explicitly stated we all know that Catherine was the killer and she does nothing short of throwing it in your face and ultimately even get's away with it!  And you have to say just how obvious do they want to make it???  I mean from the start of the film where we see the mysterious blonde women with her hair covering her face its clearly noticeable that it is Catherine's body as it is identical to when we see her in the film's later sex scenes.  

Also further to my point about Catherine clearly being the killer isn't it patently obvious that when Nick eyes Catherine printing out the final pages of her book that it depicts the fictional detective's partner being murdered in an elevator that when Gus is murdered in the exact same way who else could have performed that murder??!  I mean its not like the book has gone to print yet!  And only Catherine could have known what was IN the book at that moment so it obviously had to be her that carried out the murder!  I mean basically who else knew???!!  And low and behold in the film's final scene we see Catherine reach for something under her bed but at the last minute changes her mind and the camera pans down and we see the dreaded ice pick!  I mean wow what a big surprise!  Not.

The film's sex scenes are also not particularly erotic and almost feel a bit clinical and even laughable at times, especially the moment where Catherine during sex ties up Nick and rides him and at the point of climax thrusts her body down over Nick's. Its like they are having sex in different postal districts! Then there is the moment where Nick caresses Catherine's breasts and she says "My book is almost finished, my detective is almost dead" and they passionately kiss and Nick gives out a pretty cheesy passionate groan as they prepare for another shag fest.

Another thing that has to be said that was pointed out by the Youtube channel Cinemasins is that Nick isn't that good a detective when you look at his methods.  For starters in the scene when Nick tails Catherine he is far from subtle at doing it as he get's way too close to her car and that obviously get's himself rumbled in that scene as Catherine quickly speeds away from him and also he is guilty of doing that in the scene later after Catherine has paid a visit to Hazel Dobkins's house!  And later when Nick follows her home he parks his car way too close to Catherine's house so he no doubt will be rumbled there as well.  But at this point Catherine probably doesn't care and is even willing to strip naked in full view with the curtains open for Nick to see and no doubt she probably even did it as a tease!   

You could also argue just what was Roxy's beef with Nick???  I mean as Catherine's girlfriend, Catherine herself says at one point in the film "She's seen me fuck plenty of guys".  Well if that is the case then why would should she have a problem with another one???  The only thing I can think of in Nick's case is that he is a cop and basically Roxy being a past murderer doesn't like them much, which I guess would make sense but this is never really explained or justified in the film.  So instead we just get Roxy threatening to kill Nick if he doesn't leave Catherine alone and later on she attempts to kill him only to get killed herself in the process.

And lastly I just felt at times the film was trying too hard with its plot twists as there is murder after murder after murder reported from the past connecting Catherine's contacts for her books and even Beth is linked it to all too. In the end I was left a bit confused by how its all supposed to tie itself in although in the end, we all know who really was behind the murders anyway...or do we??? ;-)

Anyway that's it for the flaws.

SUM UP

So, to sum up, Basic Instinct is still an enjoyable and engrossing crime thriller with some fine peformances particularly from Stone and Douglas but Jeanne Tripplehorn and George Dzundza provide solid support also. The film also features a fine score by Jerry Goldsmith, which has plenty of atmosphere to it and evokes a noir like tone that is well suited here. 

The film is not without its problems of course as the film's plot is a bit too convoluted at times with its multiple twists and turns and the erotic sex scenes are a bit unerotic frankly most of the time and even times a bit laughable. 

However if you can put all that aside then Basic Instinct is still an entertaining thriller that is worth a watch nearly 30 years on, especially if you still like that criss-cross leg scene! ;-)

So, I will rate Basic Instinct:

7.5 out of 10

So, that's it for now and I will be back with another post sometime soon.

Till then bye for now!