What can I honestly say about Basic Instinct that has not already been said? The film opened with an enormous bang in 1992 it was one of the most commercially successful films of the year, and it was surrounded by immense hype. It soon became of the defining films of the '90s, because of the grotesque sexuality and violence it so graphically portrayed. But once you get past that, it's a top-notch, highly entertaining thriller. It combines the stylish aspects of the classic Hitchcock production, Vertigo, a long-time favourite of mine, right from the San Francisco setting, to Sharon Stone wardrobe choices and her calculating, evil and cold persona (a substitute for Kim Novak in Vertigo).
Everything about this movie is astounding, it even continues to evoke a "wow" factor today, well into the 2000s, and that goes to show much about its audacity and high-risk dares it took on, and subsequently conquered back in the early 1990s. Sure it's not a very realistic premise but it's an amazing visual and artistic achievement that is pinned firmly into cinema history. It merits a well-deserved status as a modern classic, something you rarely come across today.
Stone is marvelous as the sexy, devious and manipulative femme fatal heiress Catherine Tramell, who was unfairly under looked at the Oscars ceremony in 1993. Her presence is amazing; she steals the show from the first scene, right on to the very end, when it is revealed she was the perpetrator of the murders. She resembles one of the great temptresses of neo-noir, back in 1940s and 1950s cinema. Douglas is also at top-notch as the washed up and perhaps a little too vulnerable detective, prone to falling into Catherine's seductive, saucy charms to her pure intentions. Supporting cast is also wonderful, featuring the screen talents of Jeanne Tripplethorn and George Duzanda among others. The direction by Verhoven (of the equally fantastic science fiction thriller Total Recall) is very inventive he certainly knows a lot about the Hitchockien intrigue. He has all the plot twist of Hitchock, the visual style, its all there, but the copious sexuality was quite Hitchcock's vice in film.
An excellently entertaining, elegantly composed and directed top-notch thriller, however it certainly is not for the faint hearted or immature. I may be a little young to watch it, but I'm mature and understanding when it comes to cinema. You where warned, now see it if you want a dazzling thrill ride.
7.8/10
Everything about this movie is astounding, it even continues to evoke a "wow" factor today, well into the 2000s, and that goes to show much about its audacity and high-risk dares it took on, and subsequently conquered back in the early 1990s. Sure it's not a very realistic premise but it's an amazing visual and artistic achievement that is pinned firmly into cinema history. It merits a well-deserved status as a modern classic, something you rarely come across today.
Stone is marvelous as the sexy, devious and manipulative femme fatal heiress Catherine Tramell, who was unfairly under looked at the Oscars ceremony in 1993. Her presence is amazing; she steals the show from the first scene, right on to the very end, when it is revealed she was the perpetrator of the murders. She resembles one of the great temptresses of neo-noir, back in 1940s and 1950s cinema. Douglas is also at top-notch as the washed up and perhaps a little too vulnerable detective, prone to falling into Catherine's seductive, saucy charms to her pure intentions. Supporting cast is also wonderful, featuring the screen talents of Jeanne Tripplethorn and George Duzanda among others. The direction by Verhoven (of the equally fantastic science fiction thriller Total Recall) is very inventive he certainly knows a lot about the Hitchockien intrigue. He has all the plot twist of Hitchock, the visual style, its all there, but the copious sexuality was quite Hitchcock's vice in film.
An excellently entertaining, elegantly composed and directed top-notch thriller, however it certainly is not for the faint hearted or immature. I may be a little young to watch it, but I'm mature and understanding when it comes to cinema. You where warned, now see it if you want a dazzling thrill ride.
7.8/10