First off, while Sharon Stone is a lovely woman, I thought she was a bit too old to play this character. Yes, Catherine Trammell is supposed to be a beautiful risk taker who anyone will gladly jump into bed with, but it just didn't feel right in this movie. I had a few of those "yeah, right" moments. Sharon Stone overacts in the beginning of the movie, painfully so, almost as if she isn't in the Catherine Trammell groove anymore, but is trying to find it. This quickly fades, however and she does slide back into the role. The movie begins with Stone speeding along the road in London at highly excessive speeds, a woozy man lolling his head in the passenger seat. We later find out he has been drugged, but isn't so out of it as to not be able to digitally manipulate Stone as she crashes her car into the river. The ultimate sexual experience for her, it appears. She frees herself from the car, but can't manage to release his seatbelt and leaves him to die. Such begins her courtroom saga. She is held in connection with the young man's murder, and Scotland Yard Detective Nick Curran (David Thewlis, most recently seen in The Omen) is so convinced she is a cold-blooded thrill killer, he orders her to be evaluated by psychologist Dr. Michael Glass.
Of course, she sets her sights on Dr. Glass (why, I don't know since he seems like quite the sap) and sets about to ruin his life. Or is he really using her as a convenient scapegoat?
At any rate, the body count rises the longer Trammell is around Dr. Glass - from his ex-wife, to the journalist trying to dig up Glass's past and more. Charlotte Rampling does turn in a good performance, as always, as Glass's colleague Dr. Milena Gardosh. But she doesn't help the movie. As things spiral out of control, one wants to slap Glass and say, why do you play into her hands this way? But as the film draws to a close and you are left hanging as to whether the true murderer was Trammell or whether she was just a smokescreen, it leaves you with similar confusion as the original, but somehow less satisfying. Deleted scenes and alternate endings were wise to be deleted, and as for the alternate ending, it's really the same ending with an extra line or so in it. You still have no true closure.
Yes, the film is rife with sexual scenes, but the movie seemed like more of an advertisement saying "Sharon Stone is still sexy!" and less of an actual thrilling movie experience. While Stone is attractive, I think she should choose her roles more wisely in the future. This one merely made her seem desparate, not appealing. See if it you must, but I don't recommend it. While I didn't scrape my eyes out during the movie, I definitely wouldn't suggest it to a friend. Basic Instinct 2 is better left on the shelf.
