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Basic Instinct: Unrated SE
Artisan // R // September 18, 2001
List Price: $26.98 [Buy now and save at Amazon]
The Movie:
An infamous and controversial piece of work (which rode that controversy to 100 million) from director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas (who later collaborated on the unintentionally hilarious cult effort "Showgirls"), "Basic Instinct" stars Sharon Stone in her most famous performance as Catherine Tramell, a wealthy novelist whose rich, former rock-star boyfriend is murdered in the middle of sex as the movie begins. As she's just written a novel about the same thing and shows no remorse whatsoever, the police believe that she's an obvious suspect.
Douglas's detective becomes obsessed with finding out whether or not she's the one who did it. Meanwhile, she taunts both him and the authorities, playing mind-games and enjoying every minute of it. Douglas and Stone have several heated sequences, but the film keeps pulling the new twists out as it seeks out who's responsible.
The film really doesn't create much to care about in terms of the characters. There's not a sympathetic one in the bunch and it's hard to get a read on many of the supporting characters, who are underwritten. It's left up to the actors to take the character beyond the one-dimensional material - some of them succeed, some don't. It's especially suprising that Eszterhas got paid a record three million for the screenplay, which, aside from the nearly NC-17 bits of naughtiness, is simply a very routine police thriller, complete with cliched characters and dialogue. Still, aside from Verhoeven's strange fascination with sex and violence, I will admit, as I said about "Total Recall", that he at least knows how to keep things moving. With "Recall" editor Frank J. Urioste, the film moves at a rapid clip for all of its 129 minutes. Verhoeven also is working with gifted cinematographer Jan De Bont, who provides beautiful widescreen compositions.
"Basic Instinct" remains a slick, sleazy thriller that works as well as it does thanks to the performances of Douglas and especially Stone. Yet, there's little under the erotic surface. Note: there are both Unrated and R-rated versions released of this "Special Edition"; those who are seeking the "Unrated" version, make sure you stop and take note before purchasing.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Basic Instinct" was originally presented early in the format by Artisan in a 2.35:1 non-anamorphic transfer that was only decent at best. For this new edition, as with the new edition of director Verhoeven's "Total Recall" (which comes out the same week), a new 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is offered. The results are not terrible, but somewhat mildly flawed now and then. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, but inconsistent; some scenes appear slightly softer than others. Black level is rather weak at times, as well.
Mild edge enhancement also appears, as does a few trace instances of pixelation. The edge enhancement did become a bit of an irritant at a few points throughout the movie. Print flaws remained very minor - I noticed a couple of slight speckles here and there as well as a tiny mark or two, but no significant wear was seen.
Colors generally appeared rather cool and subdued throughout the movie, but seemed accurate and without any noticable problems. Flesh tones seemed slightly off, as well. Where the new transfer for Verhoeven's "Total Recall" has some problems regarding print flaws, this transfer has some problems of its own, as well.
SOUND: The film is also presented in a newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 edition. The results are generally okay, but nothing spectacular. Surround use does pop up with some minor ambient sounds, but again, as with Verhoeven's "Total Recall", the main element that gets surround distribution is Jerry Goldsmith's score, which I found more enjoyable than the composer's efforts for "Recall". Audio quality was good throughout the movie. Fidelity was solid and the score sounded rich and warm. Dialogue sounded clear and crisp, as well. Nothing particularly remarkable, but a decent re-working.
MENUS:: Artisan offered very well-animated main and sub-menus for their new "Total Recall" DVD. For their "Basic Instinct" edition, they have offered animated menus, but they're kind of silly. With an ice background, a pick comes in and takes out a chunk of whatever option one selects. As with the packaging for "Total Recall", the creative packaging for this "Basic Instinct" has some problems of its own. Although the icy plastic case is sturdier than the cardboard one that held the "Recall" tin, there's little holding the disc in place here. I'd recommend opening the disc on a flat surface, because it seemed to fall out often as I've opened it up so far. The icepick pen included is rather cheaply made, but an interesting addition. It also falls out, too, when you open the box.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jan De Bont. De Bont also has become a director in the years afterwards (Speed, Twister) and provided an entertaining commentary of his own for "Twister". After listening to Verhoeven with star Arnold Schwartzenegger for the "Recall" commentary, I was hoping for a bit more with this track and generally came away pleased. Joined by cinematographer De Bont, the track does have some periods where the discussion veers a little heavily towards technical and production discussion, but thankfully, the two also share some interesting stories about working with the actors. There's a few scenes where the two were simply discussing what is happening on-screen, but this happens far less than on the "Recall" commentary.
Commentary: This is another commentary, offering the analysis of feminist critic Camile Pagila. This is apparently one of her favorite pictures and she energetically goes into discussing her thoughts revolving around the protests that accompanied the picture as well as the motivations of the characters themselves. Some of this seemed simply like telling the viewer what was going on on-screen, but I found Pagila's thoughts about what makes the characters and story tick to be engaging. She does sound as if she's reading from notes at times, but at least that meant that she came prepared to talk about her feelings on the film. An interesting track, even though there are some spotty pauses of silence.
Blonde Poison: This is a newly done documentary, offering interviews with Verhoeven (who continues to compare the picture with Hitchcock), producer Alan Marshall and others. They discuss the general pre-production of the picture and rounding up the actors, the filming itself and the reaction to the picture. There's not an enormous deal of insight offered, but there's a few interesting tidbits thrown out during the 24 minute documentary.
Cleaning Up Basic Instinct: The recently released DVD of Brian Depalma's "Dressed To Kill" offered a terrific feature where the unrated and R-rated editions of the picture were compared in split-screen, then the picture showed the heavily-edited television version of the same scene. Here, for "Basic Instinct", we get a comparison of quite a few scenes of the theatrical cut and the television cut - one version plays, then the other.
Storyboard Comparisons: Three storyboard-to-scene comparisons - "Love Scene", "Car Chase" and "Elevator Murder".
Also: Photo gallery, theatrical trailer, cast/crew bios and production notes. There's an obvious easter egg on one of the menus which also shows some audition footage.
Final Thoughts: "Basic Instinct" may offer a couple of solid performances and some moments, but I don't think its the classic that some have seemed to attempt to make it out to be. As a special edition, the DVD is a somewhat mixed affair - the presentation is an improvement, but not an enormous one. The supplements, on the other hand, are generally informative and enjoyable. Fans of the picture will likely desire to upgrade and should be moderately pleased with the results of Artisan's effort.
An infamous and controversial piece of work (which rode that controversy to 100 million) from director Paul Verhoeven and writer Joe Eszterhas (who later collaborated on the unintentionally hilarious cult effort "Showgirls"), "Basic Instinct" stars Sharon Stone in her most famous performance as Catherine Tramell, a wealthy novelist whose rich, former rock-star boyfriend is murdered in the middle of sex as the movie begins. As she's just written a novel about the same thing and shows no remorse whatsoever, the police believe that she's an obvious suspect.
Douglas's detective becomes obsessed with finding out whether or not she's the one who did it. Meanwhile, she taunts both him and the authorities, playing mind-games and enjoying every minute of it. Douglas and Stone have several heated sequences, but the film keeps pulling the new twists out as it seeks out who's responsible.
The film really doesn't create much to care about in terms of the characters. There's not a sympathetic one in the bunch and it's hard to get a read on many of the supporting characters, who are underwritten. It's left up to the actors to take the character beyond the one-dimensional material - some of them succeed, some don't. It's especially suprising that Eszterhas got paid a record three million for the screenplay, which, aside from the nearly NC-17 bits of naughtiness, is simply a very routine police thriller, complete with cliched characters and dialogue. Still, aside from Verhoeven's strange fascination with sex and violence, I will admit, as I said about "Total Recall", that he at least knows how to keep things moving. With "Recall" editor Frank J. Urioste, the film moves at a rapid clip for all of its 129 minutes. Verhoeven also is working with gifted cinematographer Jan De Bont, who provides beautiful widescreen compositions.
"Basic Instinct" remains a slick, sleazy thriller that works as well as it does thanks to the performances of Douglas and especially Stone. Yet, there's little under the erotic surface. Note: there are both Unrated and R-rated versions released of this "Special Edition"; those who are seeking the "Unrated" version, make sure you stop and take note before purchasing.
The DVD
VIDEO: "Basic Instinct" was originally presented early in the format by Artisan in a 2.35:1 non-anamorphic transfer that was only decent at best. For this new edition, as with the new edition of director Verhoeven's "Total Recall" (which comes out the same week), a new 2.35:1 anamorphic transfer is offered. The results are not terrible, but somewhat mildly flawed now and then. Sharpness and detail are generally solid, but inconsistent; some scenes appear slightly softer than others. Black level is rather weak at times, as well.
Mild edge enhancement also appears, as does a few trace instances of pixelation. The edge enhancement did become a bit of an irritant at a few points throughout the movie. Print flaws remained very minor - I noticed a couple of slight speckles here and there as well as a tiny mark or two, but no significant wear was seen.
Colors generally appeared rather cool and subdued throughout the movie, but seemed accurate and without any noticable problems. Flesh tones seemed slightly off, as well. Where the new transfer for Verhoeven's "Total Recall" has some problems regarding print flaws, this transfer has some problems of its own, as well.
SOUND: The film is also presented in a newly remastered Dolby Digital 5.1 edition. The results are generally okay, but nothing spectacular. Surround use does pop up with some minor ambient sounds, but again, as with Verhoeven's "Total Recall", the main element that gets surround distribution is Jerry Goldsmith's score, which I found more enjoyable than the composer's efforts for "Recall". Audio quality was good throughout the movie. Fidelity was solid and the score sounded rich and warm. Dialogue sounded clear and crisp, as well. Nothing particularly remarkable, but a decent re-working.
MENUS:: Artisan offered very well-animated main and sub-menus for their new "Total Recall" DVD. For their "Basic Instinct" edition, they have offered animated menus, but they're kind of silly. With an ice background, a pick comes in and takes out a chunk of whatever option one selects. As with the packaging for "Total Recall", the creative packaging for this "Basic Instinct" has some problems of its own. Although the icy plastic case is sturdier than the cardboard one that held the "Recall" tin, there's little holding the disc in place here. I'd recommend opening the disc on a flat surface, because it seemed to fall out often as I've opened it up so far. The icepick pen included is rather cheaply made, but an interesting addition. It also falls out, too, when you open the box.
EXTRAS::
Commentary: This is a commentary from director Paul Verhoeven and cinematographer Jan De Bont. De Bont also has become a director in the years afterwards (Speed, Twister) and provided an entertaining commentary of his own for "Twister". After listening to Verhoeven with star Arnold Schwartzenegger for the "Recall" commentary, I was hoping for a bit more with this track and generally came away pleased. Joined by cinematographer De Bont, the track does have some periods where the discussion veers a little heavily towards technical and production discussion, but thankfully, the two also share some interesting stories about working with the actors. There's a few scenes where the two were simply discussing what is happening on-screen, but this happens far less than on the "Recall" commentary.
Commentary: This is another commentary, offering the analysis of feminist critic Camile Pagila. This is apparently one of her favorite pictures and she energetically goes into discussing her thoughts revolving around the protests that accompanied the picture as well as the motivations of the characters themselves. Some of this seemed simply like telling the viewer what was going on on-screen, but I found Pagila's thoughts about what makes the characters and story tick to be engaging. She does sound as if she's reading from notes at times, but at least that meant that she came prepared to talk about her feelings on the film. An interesting track, even though there are some spotty pauses of silence.
Blonde Poison: This is a newly done documentary, offering interviews with Verhoeven (who continues to compare the picture with Hitchcock), producer Alan Marshall and others. They discuss the general pre-production of the picture and rounding up the actors, the filming itself and the reaction to the picture. There's not an enormous deal of insight offered, but there's a few interesting tidbits thrown out during the 24 minute documentary.
Cleaning Up Basic Instinct: The recently released DVD of Brian Depalma's "Dressed To Kill" offered a terrific feature where the unrated and R-rated editions of the picture were compared in split-screen, then the picture showed the heavily-edited television version of the same scene. Here, for "Basic Instinct", we get a comparison of quite a few scenes of the theatrical cut and the television cut - one version plays, then the other.
Storyboard Comparisons: Three storyboard-to-scene comparisons - "Love Scene", "Car Chase" and "Elevator Murder".
Also: Photo gallery, theatrical trailer, cast/crew bios and production notes. There's an obvious easter egg on one of the menus which also shows some audition footage.
Final Thoughts: "Basic Instinct" may offer a couple of solid performances and some moments, but I don't think its the classic that some have seemed to attempt to make it out to be. As a special edition, the DVD is a somewhat mixed affair - the presentation is an improvement, but not an enormous one. The supplements, on the other hand, are generally informative and enjoyable. Fans of the picture will likely desire to upgrade and should be moderately pleased with the results of Artisan's effort.
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