Plot: What’s it about?
Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) has a rather dark past, but she has tried to leave it behind her and now she resides in London. But now she is back in the spotlight and not the good kind, she is the main suspect in another murder investigation. She crashed her car into the Thames and she wasn’t alone, as her beau was also inside when she crashed. As it turns out, the lover was drugged with a paralytic agent, though not strong enough to keep him from giving her some finger love as she drove. She is put on trial for spiking the man’s drink and at the trial, Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey) provides his take on her state of mind. A loophole allows Tramell to walk, but she keeps a keen interest in Glass. He claims she is addicted to danger and risk, so she sets out to prove him right and take him on the ride of his life. Soon after the sessions begin, trouble also starts and Tramell is right in the middle of it all. Though she is of course a femme fatale, Glass begins to believe her when she claims that someone is out to take her down. But as he falls deeper and deeper into her world, will Glass suffer the same fate as so many men before him?
I love the original Basic Instinct, it pushed the envelope, redefined the thriller genre, and provided some moments none us will ever forget. Now thanks to Sharon Stone’s desire to show off her crotch one last time before her biological clock explodes, we have Basic Instinct 2. I hoped for the same kind of sleaze thriller that pushed the boundaries of the genre, but with no Paul Verhoeven on board, I braced for the worst. This sequel tries to push the limits and be as outrageous as the original, but it falls quite short. I mean, Basic Instinct was no classic by normal standards, but it had so much edge and shock, it all fell into place. Here the filmmakers try to push the right buttons, but either push too hard or simply wind up with dead ends. The storyline is even more outlandish this time and seems to want break records, as far as suspension of disbelief is concerned. But Sharon Stone is on her game here, though her performance is not great, at least by conventional definitions. Even so, she is impossible to take your eyes off of here, so she brings the heat to the role. Basic Instinct 2 is a bad movie, but it never bores and in the end, is better than I expected.
Video: How does it look?
“Basic Instinct 2” is shown in a very good-looking MPEG-2 HD transfer that leaves little to the imagination. When we got the previous standard DVD way back in July, the only copy that was sent was the full-frame edition. For kicks, I decided to break that out and do a little comparison. Folks, if you really want to see how good a Blu-ray (or HD DVD) movie is even in comparison to a standard DVD, all you need to do is this little test. Watching the standard DVD alone, we might think that the transfer is ok, but when doing a side by side comparison it’s clear (pun fully intended) to see how much more sharp and pristine the transfer really is. Additionally, seeing the movie in its full 2.40:1 aspect ratio really puts things into perspective.
Audio: How does it sound?
The PCM uncompressed 5.1 audio is fairly impressive, I have to admit. I did another comparison to the Dolby Digital 5.1 track (also on this disc) and there are several scenes in which the PCM is noticeably better. Then again, that’s the basis behind uncompressed sound – it really opens up the channels for a more pure sound. Dialogue is a bit weak at times and I’m not sure if this is due to the soundtrack or just how the movie was shot. Still, surround effects are ambient and though this won’t really set the new standard for audio, it still sounds pretty darn good.
Supplements: What are the extras?
The only supplements that can be found on this disc is the standard behind the scenes featurette (entitled “Between the Sheets: A look inside Basic Instinct 2”) and the commentary by director Michael Caton-Jones.
