Basic Instinct 2:Risk Addiction (2006) Directed by Michael Caton-Jones. With Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, David Thewlis, Charlotte Rampling, Hugh Dancy and Neil Maskell.
As an admirer of Paul Verhoeven’s pulpy psychological thriller, Basic Instinct, I take no pleasure in reporting the outright awfulness of its years-delayed sequel, Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction.
Where there was once style, tension and sexiness, there is now flat, boring full-on droopiness. Sharon Stone is the only returning cast member from the 1992 film, but her performance and a ridiculous script are far wide of the mark. The film immediately slips away from her as she struggles hard to revive her iconic turn as socio-path author, Catherine Tramell. Considering how concertedly cool and sexy Stone was in Verhoeven’s semi-classic, it’s sad to see her tarnishing the legacy of that performance with this hollow attempt at some kind of revival.
Occupying the role of victim and replacing Michael Douglas is British actor, David Morrissey, who tires his best to add some gravity to the yarn, but the lack of chemistry between himself and Stone makes their scenes together more awkward than intriguing. Other key players include David Thewlis and Charlotte Rampling, whose combined ability in the acting stakes come off as more of a waste than adding anything of note to what is a real clunker of a screenplay. In terms of style and production values, everything looks fine but it’s all inhibited by a vacuum of long, uninteresting scenes that feel like they should’ve been deleted DVD extras.
As a project that languished in development hell for years, it’s fair to it say should have stayed there. The years in-between ‘Instincts’ seem to have passed one too many, and although Stone tries to wring out the last drop of her Trammel routine, it’s a shipwrecked performance in a bad film that fails to live up to the reputation of its flavoursome predecessor. 1.5/5
Gareth Rhodes Film Reviews 