Review of Basic Instinct (1992) by Buortau L — 13 Nov 2009

Nick: What's your new book about?

Catherine: A detective. He falls for the wrong woman.

Nick: What happens to him?

Catherine: She kills him.

I love this film, and hold it up as a shining example of how noir never died. Basic Instinct remains one of the most revolutionary movies made, even though it mines themes familiar from the '40s up through Hitchcock's career. Nobody associated with the project ever had success mixing a volatile combination of sex and intrigue like this again. Eszterhas and Verhoeven flailed with the erotically inept Showgirls. Sharon Stone went on to make hideous tripe like Sliver, which was neither erotic nor thrilling. Michael Douglas tried to become man bait for another female predator in Disclosure, but Demi Moore (Striptease) couldn't match the menace of Catherine Tramell. Basic Instinct was truly lightning in a bottle, and could never be caught again. Were it to be made today it would have to politically correct, and the sex would be toned down to the detriment of the picture. If any message can be gleaned from Basic Instinct, it's the ridiculous power of women over men. Sharon Stone's character outwits every man in the story, and only the women even vaguely understand her true power. You have a cast that is perfection, and rises above the material at every turn.