BASIC INSTINCT - DVD review

Amidst plenty of controversy, Paul Verhoeven's second US film, "Basic Instinct" roared into theater houses in 1992. The film battled the MPAA for its Restricted rating and had to be trimmed to avoid receiving the new NC-17 rating that would have severely limited audiences. In addition to ratings problems, the film was targeted by GLAAD, an organization that defends homosexuality and was very livid about the manner in which gay citizens were being presented in Hollywood films. They had created a campaign that spoiled the ending of the film and did everything they could to get the film boycotted. Then, there was the little scene where you could debate whether or not you saw Sharon Stone's thigh or perhaps a small furry creature that likes to build dams.

All of the controversy and rage about "Basic Instinct" did nothing to hurt the films commercial value. If anything, it ignited a fire that quickly made "Basic Instinct" a must see film that had as much hype as any film ever released. The film carried a then-lofty $49 million budget. When the storm it created subsided and the film left theaters, it had registered $118 million domestic and $353 million worldwide. Paul Verhoeven became the hot director (only to move on to the ill-fated "Showgirls") and Sharon Stone became a household name.

In "Basic Instinct," Michael Douglas plays Nick "Shooter" Curran. Nick is a police officer that is going through some difficult times in his career. He is getting over an addiction to cocaine and was recently cleared of murder charges when he killed two tourists during a drug bust. He is under the therapy of Elizabeth Garner (Jeanne Tripplehorn). Their professional relationship as therapist/patient quickly evolved into more when they became lovers. That has passed and Beth is trying to win Nick back. Nicks partner is also his best and only friend, Gus (George Dzundza).

Nick's already complicated and stormy life magnifies in intensity when he meets Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone), the girlfriend of a rock and roll star who was found murdered in his apartment after a night of sex and drugs. Tramell is also known by her pseudoname, Catherine Woolf. She is a writer and had published a book about a rock and roll star who was murdered with an ice pick. Catherine quickly latches onto Nick and begins to write a new called Shooter. Nick, of course, is the latest person to model her lead character after. This instantly puts Nick into peril.

As Nick investigates the murder, he must spend time interrogating or trailing Catherine. This leads Nick down a road that has him falling in love with the femme fatale. Elizabeth and Gus attempt to warn Nick of the danger, but he pushes them off as jealous or unknowing. Catherine begins to capture Nick in a deadly game and alienate him from his friends and those that care. He has fallen in love with Catherine and placed himself in a position where Catherine could do as she pleases to him, as she writes the ending to her new book.

"Basic Instinct" is a good thriller that is essentially director Verhoeven's homage to Alfred Hitchcock and especially the film "Vertigo." "Basic Instinct" pushed the envelope of its time when it came to racy content. The film contained drug use, gory ice pick attacks, sex, lesbianism, murder and of course, sex. The style of the film shows its Hitchcockian influence and raises "Basic Instinct" to a level just above soft-core cable movies that generally star Shannon Tate and air on Cinemax after 11:00 every night. The sets, musical score and cast are all first rate and lend themselves perfectly to the story. As with most Joe Eszterhas penned films, the plot is not the strongest, but Verhoeven creates a solid film that never fails to captivate.

Video:
"Basic Instinct" sports a new anamorphic transfer that properly preserves the films 2.35:1 aspect ratio. I have not seen the previous DVD, but that release was not 16x9 enhanced. The new transfer is not a bad looking picture, but the picture is plagued with deficiencies. First and foremost, the picture is excessively soft in some scenes and detail suffers because of this. The first scene of the film shows this well when trying to make out details on Sharon Stone's body. Black levels are also a bit light. They could have been a shade or two darker. Colors and saturation are generally very good, but some scenes present too much red contrast. This is evident in the skin tones. As mentioned, the picture is excessively soft in some scenes. Other scenes are greatly improved over the Pioneer LaserDisc transfer and look incredible. In general, the picture is a solid improvement over the LaserDisc, but some scenes are only marginally better.

Audio:
In my review for "Total Recall: Special Limited Edition" I remarked how "Jerry Goldsmith's score is delivered nicely. The score is well done, but it is not of the memorable type." In "Basic Instinct," Goldsmith again works with Paul Verhoeven. This time, he improves upon his score and comes up with one of the best score's to ever be mated to a thriller. The theatrical score really sets the mood of the picture and is top notch in all aspects. The score is perfectly rendered with the new Dolby Digital 5.1 Surround mix recorded for the "Basic Instinct: Special Limited Edition."

The score is preserved nicely, as is the dialogue. Characters are intelligible and the film certainly does not sound like a bad ADR job. The sound effects of the picture are nicely done, such as the skin-piercing ice pick or the engines of a Lotus racing through the streets of San Francisco. The soundtrack is certainly not reference material, but it does not contain any scenes where the soundtrack is allowed to shine. Bass is permitted to rumble in some of the more intense scenes. The rear surrounds are utilized, but not consistently throughout the picture. Overall, the soundtrack is nicely done and fills in where the hobbled picture transfer falls flat.

In addition to the Dolby Digital 5.1 Multi-Channel Surround track, there is also a Dolby Digital 2.0 Surround track. This is included for receivers and home theater setups that are not equipped for six channels of discrete sound. It is assumed that this mix will sound much better on Pro-Logic systems than a downcoverted Dolby Digital track.

Extras:
"Basic Instinct" appears on DVD for the first time in its unrated form. Previously, the film appeared on DVD as a bare-bones edition of the R-rated theatrical cut. The last notable time that "Basic Instinct" appeared uncut on home video was on the Pioneer Special Edition LaserDisc. Costing $69.95, that disc was feature laden and featured a wonderfully entertaining commentary by director Paul Verhoeven. The disc was presented in CAV (Constant Angular Velocity) format for superior picture quality (Of course, there were only thirty minutes of film per side on a CAV disc). The disc contained a number of other features, including a nice "talking heads" style documentary interviewing principles involved in the picture. Verhoeven also provided an introduction to the film, with the memorable "Hello, I'm Paul Verhoven and this is my film, "Basic Instinct.""

The DVD has been released in an unrated and R-rated version. This particular edition is the unrated copy last feature on the Pioneer disc. The supplements featured on the Pioneer Laser are now gone, probably due to licensing issues. As Pioneer has ownership of those supplemental materials, Artisan Entertainment has provided a batch of all new supplements for us to enjoy.

Verhoeven is back for support and has recorded a brand new commentary with his Director of Photography, Jan De Bont. This commentary is inferior to the previous Verhoeven only track. Most of the material is technical in nature and scene specific. The previous track had Verhoeven ranting on Stone's erect nipples and how she was the Devil. Those moments are now sadly gone. The new track is not bad, just not the stand out the last track was. Verhoeven can be extremely entertaining, but was held in tow here.

The second audio track features "feminist" Camille Paglia. Paglia is extremely ecstatic and open admits to loving "Basic Instinct." She discusses the gay protests made against the film and offers many views on the film from a "feministic" point of view. Throughout the commentary, she comes across as very entertaining and it is intriguing to hear what a gay person has to say about this film. Compared to the Verhoeven/De Bont commentary, this is perhaps the better of the two to enjoy.

A documentary entitled "Blonde Poison" is included on the DVD and was created specifically for this release. This is another talking-heads style documentary that features the heads of Verhoeven, De Bont, producer Alan Marshal, composer Jerry Goldsmith, gay rights activists Jonathan Katz and Annette Gaurdino and others involved in the production of the film. The documentary runs for a hair less than a half an hour and features a look at the production of the film and what went around during that period on the sets. Verhoeven does go in-depth about the notorious Sharon Stone interrogation scene. This documentary does not have any fresh footage of Sharon Stone, and does not go into much depth about the characters or performances, but it does entertain.

"Basic Instinct: Special Limited Edition (Unrated)" does feature one of my favorite supplements of all time. It is called "Cleaning Up Basic Instinct." A few years ago, somebody thought it would be wise to show "Basic Instinct" on network television. Though it is more translatable than say, "Pulp Fiction," "Basic Instinct" required an above average number of dubs to show on TV. Apparently, not much work was done in finding voice matches for George Dzundza and Michael Douglas. The voice actors used to sub for them are horrendous. The language used to substitute for little four-letter words is side-splittingly funny. Though this only ran for five minutes, I have shown this supplement to a few others and everybody has laughed their respective arses off. I think a second disc should have been included with the entire network version and a second track with the original dialogue.

After the major supplements and the hilarious "Cleaning Up Basic Instinct," there are a few other supplements. Three storyboard comparisons are included. The first one features just the storyboards to the initial murder scene. The storyboards were much steamer than what was shot, and had they been shot as so, an R-rating would have been much harder to attain. The second two comparison features a Picture-in-Picture style presentation of the storyboards and the actual scene from the movie. There is also a photo gallery that runs for five minutes and shows twenty or so shots from the picture. Production Notes, Cast and Crew Information, and Theatrical Trailers are also provided. Digging around the disc will also reveal a few "Easter Eggs." I won't spoil them, but they are very easy to find.

Another piece of value added content is included with the disc in the plastic case. This is a pen that is shaped remotely like the famed ice pick from the film. The ink is blood red in color. Nifty, but mostly just to show off in the clear case that is molded a bit like ice broken with said pick. The case itself is downright lousy in design. The case is wider than usual to hold the ice pick. The disc is held in a round housing that features sharp edges all around the disc.

BE WARNED! This case should be opened perfectly flat. Also, the promotional coupon book should be kept out of the case to give the DVD more room to reside. The disc falls out easily, and the case is just waiting to scratch it up. My copy had found its way out of the housing during shipping and was scratched up so badly, it needed to be resurfaced to be watchable. You must be careful. I will probably take a photo of the package and place it into a new Amaray-style case.

Summary:
I have always enjoyed "Basic Instinct" and this was one of the films that pushed me into becoming a die-hard Paul Verhoeven fan. I was eagerly awaiting the release of this DVD, and had deeply hoped it would contain the excellent Pioneer Special Edition supplements. Sadly, it did not. The new supplements are rather nice, but not as entertaining as the previous ones. I believe they gave Verhoeven a sedative or something before he recorded the commentary. Artisan has included a nice amount of supplements and released the disc in both the unrated or R-rated versions.

"Basic Instinct" is a film that will appeal to many viewers, particularly those that are male. However, it has been my experience that female viewers also enjoy the film, particularly because of the evil and all-powerful Catherine Tramell. Had Verhoeven stopped after "Robocop," "Total Recall" and "Basic Instinct," he would have been a film god. This film lacks the special effects and ooh ahh factor of his other releases, but it is a mature effort that holds its own very well.

The film ends in a manner that allows for a possible sequel. Recently, Sharon Stone attempted to revive the chance for a sequel, but a male lead could not be found and other hardships caused the project to be canceled. Perhaps this is all for the better, and "Basic Instinct" will not be tarnished by a sub-par sequel designed solely for capitalization of a marquee original and whose purpose is to make a quick dollar. The original is here in a new special edition for enjoyment and is probably worth picking up.