10/06/2012: Basic Instinct [1992]

After watching Sharon Stone's outstanding performance in Total Recall I decided to check out Basic Instinct again. I'm not sure if I've seen it before, Michael Douglas crime movies seem to kinda muddle together. I do know that I have seen Basic Instinct 2, although I can't even remember who is in that one. Either way, Basic Instinct is one of the best crime thrillers there are.

 

  Forget that, Basic Instinct is not simply one of the best crime thrillers, it should be the a shining example and perfect template on how to make such movies. Basic Instinct is exactly how police case-who did it?-mystery thrillers should be. From its beginning Basic Instinct is a rush of tension and a pile of questions, as well as certain other desires whenever Sharon Stone comes on screen. In the shifting game of puzzle pieces so perfectly played and paced that it raised the bar so high, these movies have been striving to reach it ever since.

First off, Basic Instinct's script is perfect. It opens with the exact crime we are trying to solve, the murder of a rockstar in his own bed. It also doesn't hide any of the suspects, and in the beginning we have little doubt who the blonde women writhing atop him in his last moments was. As such the game begins, as we watch are hard-boiled detectives set out on a trail we are sure will lead straight to the killer. This is where Basic Instinct rises above the rest, it doesn't hide its murderer, it doesn't give us a pool of suspects, and let us figure it out ourselves. Well at least not at first.

The only part in the movie were my thoughts turned to food. At the sight of the Pizza Hut box.

The murder seems like a pretty open and shut case, Catherine Tramell, is the perfect suspect. Yet is she to perfect. Then our team of suspect offers us two options. Either, someone new Catherine would be the perfect suspect and has such framed her that way, which would make for one frighteningly capable individual. Or, Catherine knows that she would make to perfect a suspect to suspect. That is even more frightening of a prospect. Of course, the later would also, be a rather new concept in such movies, and would make for such an interesting story we would have no choice other than to suspect Catherine, the oh to perfect suspect.

When we meet Catherine, our opinion doesn't change either, it is only more solidified. The writer of Basic Instinct crafted the role entirely for Sharon Stone. After seeing her performance in Total Recall, like I did, newcomer Sharon Stone, took the role and showed us just how great she was, and how well she could play such a treacherous and powerful woman. With that in mind, Paul Verhoeven set out to create a character off her role as Lori (I think that was the name), and from that Catherine was crafted, with Stone in mind. The minute we meet Catherine, our suspicion is the opposite of thrown off. It is cranked up and quite turned on. Catherine is clearly a dangerous woman who enjoys playing mind games. A writer and a psychology major messing with peoples heads particularly in their beds is what she does for fun. We have little doubt she would enjoy both murdering for the thrill and then playing games with the very detective on her case.

This is the most paused movie scene. Well, actually it i a few seconds earlier, but I'll refrain from posting that screenshot.

For, it seems, Catherine has quite the appetite for Detective Nick Curran. Played by Michael Douglas, who I thought was Sean Penn the entire time. (I wrote the review that way too) Nick is almost our Bad Lieutenant reformed. Quit smoking, on the wagon, and off the coke, here we have a troubled cop barely cleared as sane, and his sanity still very much doubted by many. Why is it that all the most self rotten cops seem to be the most dedicated to justice. I think it must make a good contrast and Nick is more than dedicated to catching Catherine, even as she try to draw him into her games. Truly, Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone make this movie, there performances are, I'm sure well rewarded, although I will check into that. Without the two of them, the script wouldn't have gotten very far. The story requires the energy those two bring to the screen.

Of course, the sexuality in Basic Instinct is half the energy in this movie. Most of it is brought by the beautiful Sharon Stone, who by simply crossing her legs, makes the entire room stand up and take notice. Basic Instinct is by no means your PG movie, and uses sexuality as a weapon, just like Catherine. Throw in the number of love tangles, and you can almost get a love pentagram. Almost, I tried honestly. I read an interesting article that said that movies tend to use violence in movies in place of sex. Not because that's healthy, but because it is easier to do, since sex is much more restricted on screen than violence is. Strange world we live in eh? Either way, Basic Instinct mixes more than its share of sexual energy with some violence, and not quite in the way you would think.

You think this would clear things up, but I'm still confused.

So, yes clearly Basic Instinct has some masterfully crafted characters, but if the arrows all point to are killer from the beginning where is the fun? Well by now you have guessed, that after pointing all of your arrows straight at Catherine, Basic Instinct then walks through and kicks them all in different directions. Suddenly, you go from one suspect to a number of others, and even then you still get spun around every couple of scenes. Just when you think you've figured it out, and are wondering how they are going to nail and reveal this suspect, things just start spinning again. Even at the end, where everything should have been settled, things don't quite sit right, and Basic Instinct builds up your tension again for a last minute twists. Yet, as much as you have predicted the twist, it doesn't pan out exactly as you wanted.

Even though, if you had simply watched the beginning and the end, you would feel things were pretty cut and dry, this movie still left me so uncertain by the end, that even thought, they literally placed the icepick back in hand, I still wasn't completely certain who had done what. They wrapped it up nice enough that I wasn't stuck yelling at the screen, and I got a solid ending, but still some part of me was unsure. I really wish I could remember second movie, although I think it is completely unrelated. So, if you are looking for a perfect template on how a mystery crime thriller should play out, Basic is exactly what it looks like and more.

Link:
Basic Instinct IMDb