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Basic Instinct 2
Sony Pictures Entertainment


5.5

based on 33 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 38 votes
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FILM:

MPAA RATING: R for strong sexuality, nudity, violence, language and some drug content

Starring Sharon Stone, David Morrissey, Charlotte Rampling, David Thewlis, Hugh Dancy, Anne Caillon, Iain Robertson, and Stan Collymore

A slick psychological thriller, Basic Instinct 2 explores what happens when the darker side of human nature is uncovered. Has the intelligent, seductive and manipulative Catherine Tramell (Stone) finally met her match? (Sony Pictures Entertainment)

GENRE(S):	Crime \| Drama \| Mystery \| Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Leora Barish Henry Bean Joe Eszterhas (characters)
DIRECTED BY:	Michael Caton-Jones
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: July 11, 2006 Theatrical: March 31, 2006
RUNNING TIME:	114 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	Germany / Spain / UK / USA

Also known as "Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction"

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Basic Instinct 2 isn't bad, exactly, but it lacks the entertaining vulgarity of the first film; it's Basic Instinct redone with more ''class'' and less thrust.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

BI2 is packed with as much lust, nudity and sexual depravity as the first. So, why isn't it as much fun? What's lost in any sequel is the freshness of the first film, and was "BI1" ever fresh!

Variety Dennis Harvey

Those hoping for either a sizzling -- or an unintentionally hilarious -- good time will be disappointed by this inexplicably dull sequel.

Christian Science Monitor Peter Rainer

The movie isn't boring, exactly. It's too nutty for that.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

Like many sequels this is actually a remake, and it suffers from the law of diminishing returns.

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

It's turned Stone's Catherine Tramell from a warning sign for the dangers of wanton sex into the last thing you'd figure - a bore.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

A few bodies pile up. Surprisingly little sex is had. And given that Catherine's true nature was revealed at the end of the first "Basic," the mystery seems superfluous.

Salon.com Stephanie Zacharek

If you're trying to reinvigorate the art of the stylish thriller, the movie you come up with needs to be stylish and it needs to be thrilling. Basic Instinct 2, is neither.

Film Threat Stina Chyn

Fails as a sequel because we’re not in the 90s anymore. Gone are the days when characters could answer questions with questions and hypothetical situations and still sound clever and cool.

The Hollywood Reporter Kirk Honeycutt

Morrissey gives a stiff, awkward performance, while Stone moves dangerously close to overplaying the femme fatale. There is little if any intrigue in the story or the characters. Even the murders don't even seem to matter much.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Basic Instinct 2 pushes diligently along in a murder-and-mayhem-stuffed effort to demonstrate that (a) a sillier and more hackneyed movie than "Basic Instinct" is possible and (b) that shrinks have ids too, by golly.

Chicago Tribune Michael Phillips

Once the credits are done rolling it's a dour, enervated mystery, selling the old cat-and-mouse games.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Basic Instinct 2 is supposed to help Stone show it's possible for a woman to be sexy in her late 40s. But it's Rampling - who is 60 - who comes off as the more provocative and alluring. Stone's purring, snarling, bedroom kink is embarrassing.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

Basic Instinct 2 is double trouble -- the femme is to die for, the film is to die from.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

For all the sex and slicing, the most shocking thing about it is how dreary it is.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

It's a lot of things, but boring is not one of them. I cannot recommend the movie, but ... why the hell can't I? Just because it's godawful? What kind of reason is that for staying away from a movie? Godawful and boring, that would be a reason.

Los Angeles Times Carina Chocano

What we may very well be looking at here is another "Showgirls," a drag camp-fest for the "Baby Jane" crowd, fabulous fodder for future cabaret acts, and a pleasure probably best enjoyed in a crowd -- preferably a vocal one. Dead serious and stone idiotic, the only basic instinct in evidence here is desperation.

Village Voice Dennis Lim

Not content simply to examine the relationship between sex and death, BI2 ponderously blurs the boundaries between art and life, and the plot, already mired in nonsensical backstory, collapses with the late-inning introduction of a tired metafictional device (not to mention a wildly lunging "Usual Suspects" twist).

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

Basic Instinct 2 is pretty awful. Rarely has a meaningless thriller had so many meaningful glances, or such arch acting by good actors who know better.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

Where is the suspense part? There is no suspense part. Suspense demands clarity of motive and action, and this screenplay never provides it.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Nathan Rabin

Fortunately, as a showcase for Sharon Stone's physique, Basic Instinct 2 is a rousing success. In every other respect, it's a colossal failure.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

Few expected Basic Instinct 2 to be very good, but no one expected it to be this boring.

USA Today Claudia Puig

The 1992 phenomenon was creepy, tense and sexually charged in a bold yet tawdry way. This sequel lacks even a shred of those elements.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

In a better movie, this grand-dame performance might have been fun, but it's surrounded here by an impossibly dull and unsatisfying whodunit plot, unintentionally funny dialogue and such absurdities as having Catherine stay up late one night and whip out an entire novel.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

This film is unable to involve, entertain, or titillate. Basically, it stinks.

San Francisco Chronicle Ruthe Stein

The sequel is one big tease.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

The accidental comedy sensation of the year to date.

New York Magazine David Edelstein

Stupefyingly lackluster.

New York Post Kyle Smith

At this point, there are inflatable toys that are livelier than Stone, but how can you tell the difference? Basic Instinct 2 is not an erotic thriller. It's taxidermy.

Charlotte Observer Lawrence Toppman

This script by the husband-and-wife team of Leora Barish and Henry Bean is hopelessly contrived and takes forever to get to the point. (I warn you: The film does not absolutely identify the killer.)

The New York Times Manohla Dargis

A disaster of the highest or perhaps lowest order.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

The laughs to be had in this deliciously awful sequel are all unintentional. A bummer for film buffs, but a ball for fans of the misbegotten.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Stone still dazzles the eye, but this wholly unwarranted sequel is so outrageously preposterous (and so very chockablock with quotable examples of the fine art of bad dialogue) that the end result achieves a basement grandeur of near-epic proportions.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.5 (out of 10) based on 38 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Tony B. gave it a4:
Not nearly as bad as many critics hoped it would be, "Basic Instinct 2" moves along at a decent pace. Unfortunately, where it winds up is questionable. I would like an example of the"unintentionally hilarious dialog" that some say is to be found here.

Daz gave it an8:
Really enjoyed it. It wasn't as good as the first but what mattered for me was that i enjoyed the film. It didn't hurt that Sharon Stone looked AMAZING.

Victor G. gave it a7:
Watched it 2 times. First time was ok. 2nd time, I listened more and it was very good. Some times it was a bit much, but that's the director...not Sharon. The international touch was great! Trammel has sold a lot of books. Lastly...Sharon looks great and appears to be aging well. She has a great look. I would have loved to have her on my arm years ago and even more so now.

George S. gave it a1:
Brutal... couldn't sit threw it. Turned if off about 45 minutes in.

Hans B. gave it a6:
Sharon Stone is delightful to watch. The story was so so. The therapist was a bit unbelievable.

Alex V. gave it an8:
I think the reviewers all jumped on the bandwagon, i.e. it's OK to trash Sharon Stone. And a sequel? Even more reason. This movie was not bad at all, I was expecting some flop of a movie. And Sharon's still got it, she looks great. No one does the mean, mind-warped female character like she does. I don't know why I was comparing to Match Point, maybe because it takes place in London, but this was better than Match Point.

Aaron B. gave it a5:
This movie isn't horrible. Well, yes, it is. But listen . . . this might be a movie for you if you want to sit down and have a guilty pleasure. Sharon Stone works what she's got, and she's still got 'it'. She does what she can with the most laughable dialogue I have witnessed on screen in years. The supporting actors try to take themselves seriously, and do a decent job when all is said and done. This movie is bad, but it's not that bad. In fact, it is almost good. Well . . . almost.

Basic Instinct 2 Sony Pictures Entertainment

Basic Instinct 2
Sony Pictures Entertainment