Basic Instinct 2 (2006)

Following on from Showgirls last week, my appetite was whetted to sit down and watch the much-maligned sequel to Paul Verhoeven’s Basic Instinct. Unfairly so, it might not surprise you to hear. Michael Caton-Jones takes the directorial reigns here, shifting the action to rainy London from sunny San Francisco and casts David Morrissey as Michael Glass, a psychoanalyst who takes on Sharon Stone’s Catherine Tramell as a client after she is involved in a car accident that kills footballer Kevin Franks (hilariously played by real life footballer Stan Collymore). David Thewlis is cop Roy, desperate to take down Tramell as he’s convinced she’s guilty of Franks’ murder, and the whole thing is a blast from start to finish. Everyone involved knows exactly what they’re here to do; produce a piece of erotic thriller that’s as trashy as it is entertaining, and in this sense Basic Instinct 2 succeeds in buckets. If you’re watching this you should know exactly what you’re getting. 7.5/10