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Basic Instinct

Starring: Michael Douglas, Sharon Stone
Director: Paul Verhoeven
Genre: Thriller
Year: 1992
Rating: 3 / 5

It is strange to think that actress Sharon Stone is a household name these days simply because she decided to take everything off in a film a decade ago. Oddly enough, it has been ten years since Stone teamed with Hollywood’s favorite middle-aged sex addict, Michael Douglas, to deliver the water cooler film of the year, Basic Instinct. Director Paul Verhoeven, mocked today for the horrendous Showgirls, delivers a film that combines a thrilling murder investigation with some of the most explicit sexual encounters to appear in a big-budget film up to that point. The final product is an engrossing tale of one man’s descent into the darkest areas of his subconscious, all in the name of justice.

Detective Nick Curran (Michael Douglas) is a recovering alcoholic, a reformed cocaine abuser, and a widower, to say nothing of the Internal Affairs crew crawling around his office. Into his life walks Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), the “girlfriend” of a recently deceased rock star and a most unusual woman. It seems that her “boyfriend,” who she likes to think of as little more than an entertaining lover, has been murdered, stabbed repeatedly with an ice pick. The reason Nick and the San Francisco Police Department are so keen on speaking to Catherine is that her latest novel, written a couple years prior, tells of the crime in exacting detail. Would she actually be foolish enough to follow her own novel’s step-by-step blueprint? Or does the novel merely serve as a clever alibi?

Catherine Tramell is unfazed by the thought of a police investigation, proving to be an incredibly cooperative witness. She even offers to take a lie detector test, allaying the suspicions of everyone save Nick. It seems the erstwhile detective believes he is dealing with one cool customer, the type who even knows how to beat the system. Determined to prove that she is the culprit, Nick begins immersing himself in Catherine’s life, only to find himself falling in love with her. With the death toll rising and Nick’s own involvement in the subsequent crimes being called into question, the mystery grows. Will Nick be able to unravel it all before he threatens to become the killer’s next victim?

Michael Douglas seems to have made a career out of playing shady, sex-obsessed men, and his performance in Basic Instinct is true to form. (For the ladies reading this piece, Douglas tends to take great pleasure in showing off his posterior as well.) Stone spends half the film getting in and out of her rather skimpy outfits, although she does manage to make a capable foil for Douglas’s Detective Curran. The two banter back and forth throughout the film, belying a mounting tension that explodes midway through the film. In some aspects, Basic Instinct seems rather dated, particularly related to some evidentiary inconsistencies made all the more obvious by today’s reliance on DNA testing. Taken for what it is, though – a slightly campy sexual thriller – Basic Instinct certainly makes the grade.

Cast:

Certification: Rated R for sexual situations, violence, and language.
Running Time: 128 minutes.

Additional Info: Internet Movie Database
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