Basic Instinct 2

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Basic Instinct 2, also known as Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, is a 2006 film, being the long awaited sequel to 1992's Basic Instinct. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and produced by Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels, and Andrew G. Vajna. The screenplay was written by Leora Barish and Henry Bean. It stars Sharon Stone, who reprises her role as Catherine Tramell, as well as David Morrissey and David Thewlis.

The film follows novelist Catherine Tramell, who is once again in trouble with the authorities. Scotland Yard proceeds to appoint psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her. Like Detective Nick Curran in the first film, Glass becomes a victim of Tramell's seductive games.

After being in development hell for a number of years, the film was shot in London from April to August 2005, and was released on March 31, 2006. The film was not as well received as its predecessor and fell short of commercial expectations.

Plans for a 3rd film have (at this time) been scrapped due to the film's poor box office reception. However, Sharon Stone has reportedly been championing the film's production and if greenlighted, she would not be starring in the final installment to the trilogy, but would be in the role of the Director. There is no indication if she would provide a brief walk-on cameo role.

Tagline: Everything interesting begins in the mind. (Empire magazine named this as 2006's worst tagline.)

Plot

The film is set in London (as opposed to San Francisco in the original), it opens up with novelist Catherine Tramell, and her partner, a famous football star who is apparently (and later revealed to have been) drugged. Tramell takes the man's left arm and lubricates his middle finger by sucking on it. She then begins masturbating herself with it, all the while increasing her vehicle's speed. At the point of climax, Tramell veers off the road and crashes into the West India Docks in Canary Wharf. She attempts to save her partner but, as she says in the subsequent scene, "When it came down to it, I guess my life was more important to me than his."

The next scene features Tramell being investigated by Detective Supt. Roy Washburn of Scotland Yard. He claims that D-Tubocurarine (a neuromuscular blocking agent, used to relax muscles during general anesthesia) was found in her car, and that a man named “Dickie Pap” said that he sold Tramell “15 milliliters of DTC last Thursday.” Tramell counters by saying that either Dickie Pap or Washburn are lying because “you’ve got him on some other charge and he's trying to deal his way out, if he even exists.”

After Tramell is released, she approaches Glass, claiming that she wants to formally see a psychiatrist. Glass immediately suggests a referral to another psychiatrist, citing that it would be wrong for him to take her on as a patient, though after organizing a meeting with her, Glass, with some degree of reluctance, takes on Tramell as a patient

Tramell begins to play games with Glass, who becomes increasingly frustrated yet intrigued by the mysterious woman. Glass's life begins down a spiral of destruction as multiple murders begin to surface around him, his career is threatened and he can no longer tell what is right and wrong, the climax unfolds as Glass learns of the next murder victim by reading a treatment of Tramell's next novel.

Cast

Actor	Role
Sharon Stone	Catherine Tramell
David Morrissey	Dr. Michael Glass
Charlotte Rampling	Milena Gardosh
David Thewlis	Roy Washburn
Hugh Dancy	Adam Towers
Anne Caillon	Laney Ward
Iain Robertson	Peter Ristedes
Stan Collymore	Kevin Franks
Kata Dobó	Magda
Flora Montgomery	Michelle Broadwin
Jan Chappell	Angela

Background

Production

Basic Instinct 2 had been in "development hell" for the better part of a decade. In 2000, the film was announced as having a March 2002 release. However, casting for the male lead was long and troublesome, with male actors declining the role due to either the level of sexuality or the violently explicit nature of the film. When no acceptable male lead had been cast before the slated production start date of 2001, the project was cancelled. Stone immediately sued the producers for breach of contract.

In 2004, just before Stone's case was brought to trial, both sides settled for undisclosed terms. One of the conditions of the settlement that was made public was that the movie would be made as it had been originally planned. In April 2005, the filmmakers and Stone (who was a key element of her male co-star's casting), chose British actor David Morrissey, and production began.

Controversy

On February 6, 2006, several film news websites began circulating a short, leaked, and uncensored promotional reel that depicted scenes from the movie. The approximately four minute promo included clips of explicit love scenes from the movie. Two days after it had began circulating, the official trailer debuted.

More Leaks

On Sharon Stone's 48th birthday, March 10, 2006, several deleted scenes from the film appeared online at basicinstinct2.com. The scenes did not appear in the finished R-rated theatrical version of the film (nor in the Unrated DVD, oddly enough), and they are presumed to have been given an NC-17 rating by the MPAA, which would explain their absence. This website has been shut down and now redirects to Sony.

Like the original, the film was initially assigned an NC-17 rating by the MPAA; this was again because of the sexual content and graphic violence. Two scenes in particular were cited as the reason for the rating: At one point in the film, Sharon Stone's character is part of an orgy scene and gets raped by the main character in another scene. There was also a threesome scene as well. Eventually the orgy scene and threesome were cut from the film and an R rating was obtained. According to an interview of David Morrissey by MTV in November 2005, the subsequent DVD release of the film should have had all edited scenes restored. The uncut version was released theatrically outside the USA, including Canada; however, the US "Unrated Cut" DVD did not contain an extended orgy scene or any of the threesome scene, leaving many to wonder if these scenes will ever see the light of day outside of various obscure internet sources.

Critical

Upon release the film found little praise from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, a film review collection website, the film earned a 6% fresh rating, meaning that out of 105 reviews, only 7 were favorable. It recently received the 2006 "Moldy Tomato" award for being the worst-reviewed film of the year, and ranks at #70 as the worst critiqued movie ever

as tracked by Rotten Tomatoes. Although some critics approved of Stone's performance, it was the film's plot that became the main target of criticism. The film also suffered from comparison to the original Basic Instinct, which was more popular with critics.

Box Office

The film made a small debut and in its first weekend of release in the United States, accumulating (USD) $3,201,420, placing it 10th in top grossing movies of the weekend. Many considered this to fall very short of expectations, though the film did have a lot of competition with Ice Age: The Meltdown opening the same weekend, as well as films like V for Vendetta and Inside Man which were still in their first few weeks of their release.

The film found more success outside the United States, earning over 32 million dollars, giving Basic Instinct 2 a worldwide theatrical gross of nearly $39 million.

DVD rentals and sales

While the movie flopped at the American box office and made only a moderate dent in European and Australian cinemas, it was a minor success on DVD and video. Its first week of release (starting July 11, 2006), it placed third. Counting U.S. rentals alone, the film has collected $21.01 million. It took BI2 3 months and 10 days to be released on video and DVD.

Miscellanea

In the film, Sharon Stone drives a Spyker C8 Laviolette.
The only on location filming to take place outside of central London was at Royal Holloway, University of London, 32 km (20 miles) southwest of London in Egham, Surrey. This institution doubled as a hospital. It also features in the movie Howards End.
In the movie, Catherine Tramell's newest book is titled "Shooter" and is based upon Michael Douglas's character in the first movie.
Catherine would even mention Michael Douglas's character by name (Nick Curran) in one of her sessions with Dr. Glass following the "Shooter" book scene that Dr. Glass attends, and there seems to be a very subtle hint that Nick Curran was dead when she spoke during that scene to Dr. Glass.
The unrated version of the DVD is still missing footage. A scene featuring Michael Glass seducing Catherine Tramell in his office is missing and a scene featuring Michael involved in a threesome is also deleted. There are also some minor shots missing that appeared in the promo reel that include Catherine Tramell getting out of the hot tub, showing full frontal nudity and Catherine wearing a see-through outfit with no underwear on. The promo reel is still available on numerous websites.
Basic Instinct 2 left theaters in North America after only 17 days.
Of interest to architects, the office scenes all take place either outside or within 30 St. Mary Axe, also known as "The Gherkin", a famous office tower designed by Sir Norman Foster, Architect.
In the episode "My Conventional Wisdom" of Scrubs, Turk and J.D. say that buying tickets to Basic Instinct 2 was one of the worst mistakes of JD's life, implying that this may even have been a worse mistake than J.D.'s break up with his ex-girlfriend Elliot.
Despite a poor box office performance, the film managed to make a good profit in DVD sales and rentals.

Notes

External links

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Last updated on Sunday March 09, 2008 at 06:22:44 PDT (GMT -0700)
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