Review of Basic Instinct

Introduction

Basic Instinct is the movie that changed Sharon Stone from B list actress to major star, in fact one scene - the infamous interrogation scenes where she crosses her legs - resulted in her elevation to super-stardom.

The movie is in essence a highly sexed murder mystery, directed by Paul Verhoeven of Robocop, Total Recall and Starship Troopers fame.

Douglas plays a detective, with a history of alcoholism and drug abuse, investigating a series of brutal murders, all very similar to murders detailed in books by sexy novelist Sharon Stone. One of the victims was her boyfriend - San Francisco nightclub owner Johnny Boz - but is she a suspect, or is that just too obvious?

Video

This is a double-sided disc containing 2.35:1 non-anamorphic widescreen video on one side, with full-frame video on the other. I watched the widescreen version of the film.

The video is, in general, of above average quality - the lack of resolution from the letterbox print is noticeable on some scenes, as is some grain and dirt - particularly in the background the first time that Douglas meets stone at here coastal retreat. Colour saturation also seems high in some places, with an almost surreal look to a couple of scenes.

Visually the action centres on dialogue, sex and a couple of car chases - all of which are well shot and look good.

Audio

The soundtrack is presented in both Dolby Digital Stereo and Dolby Digital 5.1. I watched the film with the Dolby Digital 5.1 soundtrack, which seems more like a Dolby Pro-Logic transfer to DVD, with limited use made of the rear channels for anything other than spot effects and a little atmospheric noise.

The dialogue is always clear and understandable.

Features

A very dull disc, with just a trailer, cast/crew bios and production notes on offer.

The disc is packaged in a black Amaray case with a single sided card insert detailing the 50 chapter breaks.

Conclusion

Overall, Basic Instinct was a very good movie when seen for the first time - it relies heavily on the viewer being suspicious of all the characters, with the truth only being unveiled at the end. Watched again, the suspense is removed because you know who the murderer is, so the film becomes an average thriller, with some sex thrown in for good measure.

The cast all play their parts well, with Douglas good as the detective determined to get to the bottom of the case, and Stone always very sexy as the novelist/suspect.

Video and sound are only average, and there are no extras of note on the disc, so unless you can get this one cheap somewhere (in a second-hand shop like I did for example), it`s not really worth buying as the replay value is limited.