Well, I have to confess, the movie did keep me on the verge of my seat the entire time. And while watching I even caught me on the thought that this actually is a brilliant creation. Guilty. It was only after the final cliffhanger, the very final scenes, that I genuinely felt disappointed and tricked into something overly fake and pseudo- artistic. There are a couple of elements in here, though, that I salute, one being Sharon Stone, of course. I mean, my god, she redefined "sexy" in this film and the now-classic interrogation scene was fantastic. I also think that Jeanne Tripplehorn's performance was majorly underrated. She was amazing and it's a pity she didn't really get to do anything noteworthy after that. I also loved the music and sound editing. In fact, the whole sound department did a great job transmitting the energy and intensity to the viewer.
But, let's admit it, even the most engrossing atmosphere in a movie should sustain a plot, coherent, connected, fulfilled. There is nothing of the sort in here. In the simplest form, the movie is stupid. It's supposed to be an erotic detective/thriller. And while it succeeds (at least relatively) at being erotic it fails at being detective. Throughout the film there are two major homicide suspects and it does a great job maneuvering between them and keeping you guessing until the very end. But in the end, when the cards unfold, you realize that the director and the screenwriter simply didn't do their homework very well. They give you so much details (sometimes intertwined) about the past actions of the two suspects that,in the end, whoever the real killer might be, there will be major plot holes and at least one mentioned murder left unexplained. And even if (you think) the two of them did it together still huge blanks will be untouched.
As I mentioned I loved Sharon Stone which cannot be said about Douglas. Before Basic Instinct I didn't like him. He was basically okay. But, my god, I hated him in here. He was supposed to portray a violent, smart, intelligent, daring character and he ended up portraying a complete pu**y unable to make up his mind. He was terrible at action sequences as well as dialogues as well as, hmm, sex. And yeah, about sex, though, I genuinely welcome the then-new (erotic) approach to the thriller genre I thought it was too pretentious, histrionic and fake. The annoying multiple death teases during sex were the worst.
Basic Instinct is actually a poor assembly of fine ingredients: Music- Check, Intensity-Check, Atmosphere- Check, Sex-Check, Violence- Check, Idea- Check, Realization-...Ups...Error. The movie really needed a David Fincher to make something worthwhile out of it. And what seems groundbreaking and smart in here is basically a simulation.
But, let's admit it, even the most engrossing atmosphere in a movie should sustain a plot, coherent, connected, fulfilled. There is nothing of the sort in here. In the simplest form, the movie is stupid. It's supposed to be an erotic detective/thriller. And while it succeeds (at least relatively) at being erotic it fails at being detective. Throughout the film there are two major homicide suspects and it does a great job maneuvering between them and keeping you guessing until the very end. But in the end, when the cards unfold, you realize that the director and the screenwriter simply didn't do their homework very well. They give you so much details (sometimes intertwined) about the past actions of the two suspects that,in the end, whoever the real killer might be, there will be major plot holes and at least one mentioned murder left unexplained. And even if (you think) the two of them did it together still huge blanks will be untouched.
As I mentioned I loved Sharon Stone which cannot be said about Douglas. Before Basic Instinct I didn't like him. He was basically okay. But, my god, I hated him in here. He was supposed to portray a violent, smart, intelligent, daring character and he ended up portraying a complete pu**y unable to make up his mind. He was terrible at action sequences as well as dialogues as well as, hmm, sex. And yeah, about sex, though, I genuinely welcome the then-new (erotic) approach to the thriller genre I thought it was too pretentious, histrionic and fake. The annoying multiple death teases during sex were the worst.
Basic Instinct is actually a poor assembly of fine ingredients: Music- Check, Intensity-Check, Atmosphere- Check, Sex-Check, Violence- Check, Idea- Check, Realization-...Ups...Error. The movie really needed a David Fincher to make something worthwhile out of it. And what seems groundbreaking and smart in here is basically a simulation.