First Take Classics: Basic Instinct- the movie that made pausing VHS tapes a big thing

SYNOPSIS: A violent police detective investigates a brutal murder that might involve a manipulative and seductive novelist.

During the recording of a Talking Smit episode a few weeks back, one of our many executive producers kind of provoked me into reviewing this movie. He claimed that there were *some* positives to be found in the 1992 movie that stunned the world. I can agree with him in some aspects, but damn, this movie hasn’t aged that well.

Paul Verhoeven is director on this one, and working to a script from Joe Ezsterhas, the two are able to make a 2 hour 7 minute film that just about works, but has elements that are quite firmly stuck in the 1990s. Archetypical characters, a hell of a lot of exposition, and of course, the 18 certificate worthy moments don’t really work well together in practice, but somehow they are able to pull it off. Behind the camera is Jan de Bont (who 7 years later would direct a version of The Haunting that was bettered by a group of students on not even 1% of the budget), and ever he does some good work, but it is really Jerry Goldsmith’s score that makes this movie come alive.

As for the cast, Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone are two very likable leads, and supporting them is Jeanne Tripplehorn, Bruce Young and many more, but watching this nearly 30 years on, it is difficult to see how this film appealed to cinemagoers aside from the now infamous sequence that legitimately got one of our podcasts blocked on YouTube. It’s become a film that has grabbed the attention of customers for all the wrong reasons.

THE VERDICT

It may look and feel like a film made in the 1990s, but if Basic Instinct hadn’t been a success, films like Gone Girl would never have been greenlit over 20 years later. Love it or hate it, this film changed Hollywood’s perception of the 18 certificate forever.

RATING: 3.5/5