Basic Instinct
Dir: Paul
Verhoeven
Star: Sharon
Stone, Michael Douglas, Jeanne Tripplehorn, Leilani Sarelle
How can you resist a film which managed to piss off so many people? Especially, so many liberal people -- though they inevitably made the mistake of extrapolating from characters in a movie to some broad statement about humanity, where no such philosophy was intended. But it was not only gays and feminists (honorable exception Camille Paglia does a commentary on the DVD); the "moral majority" also railed against Verhoeven's frantic, sex-and-drug fuelled romp. This perhaps had more justification: the film has hardly any morals at all, the hero is a barely reformed coke fiend with a past record involving shooting innocent bystanders, while the heroine may (or may not...) be a multiple murderess.
But this lack of political correctness and traditional family values is just what you'd expect from Verhoeven (despite his SF reputation in Hollywood, most of the movies made before going there were earthy dramas), and here he's on top form, supported by a career-making performance from Stone, who's never been as superb anywhere else. It does drag slightly in the middle, but this is made up for by superb set pieces, not least the ice-pick-in-the-nose opening, and the church/nightclub. The film probably makes the best trailer of all time, and for once, the full version is no disappointment, even if the much-heralded "beaver shot" (right) was a triumph of hype over substance.
A+
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