Basic Instinct 2, also known as Basic Instinct 2: Risk Addiction, is a 2006 German/British/American/Spanish thriller film, being the sequel to 1992'sBasic Instinct. The film was directed by Michael Caton-Jones and produced by Mario Kassar, Joel B. Michaels, and Andrew G. Vajna. The screenplay was by Leora Barish and Henry Bean. It stars Sharon Stone, who reprises her role of Catherine Tramell from the original, as well as David Morrissey and David Thewlis.
The film follows novelist and suspected serial killer Catherine Tramell, who is once again in trouble with the authorities. Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her after a man in Tramell's presence dies. As with Detective Nick Curran in the first film, Glass becomes a victim of Tramell's seductive games.
After being in development hell for a number of years, the film was shot in London from April to August 2005, and was released on March 31, 2006. After numerous cuts, it was released with an R rating for "strong sexuality, nudity, violence, language, and some drug content." The film was not as well received as its predecessor and fell short of commercial expectations. Compared to its predecessor, Basic Instinct 2 is lighter in nature, but still contains graphic violence and sex.
Story:
Set in London, the film opens with American best-seller author Catherine Tramell (Sharon Stone) in a speeding car with her companion, a famous English football star. Tramell takes the man's hand and begins masturbating with it, all the while increasing her vehicle's speed. At the point of orgasm, Tramell veers off the road and crashes into the West India Docks in Canary Wharf. She attempts to save her partner but, as she says in the subsequent scene, "When it came down to it, I guess my life was more important to me than his."
Tramell is interrogated by Detective Supt. Roy Washburn (David Thewlis) of Scotland Yard. He claims that D-Tubocurarine (a neuromuscular blocking agent used to relax muscles during general anesthesia) was found in her car, and that a man named "Dicky Pep" said that he sold Tramell "15 milliliters of DTC last Thursday." Tramell counters by saying that this Dicky Pep must be lying because "you’ve got him on some other charge and he's trying to deal his way out, if he even exists."
Tramell begins therapy sessions with Dr. Michael Glass (David Morrissey), who has conducted a court-ordered psychiatric exam and given testimony in her case. Glass strongly suspects that Catherine Tramell is a sociopath incapable of telling the difference between right and wrong. Tramell begins to play mind games with Glass, who becomes increasingly frustrated with, yet intrigued by, this mysterious woman. Soon, Glass's own life begins a spiral of destruction.
One night, Glass goes on a date with Michelle Broadwin (Flora Montgomery), and has rough, violent sex with her after dealings with Tramell. Glass receives a phone call from his ex-wife in a state of distress. Her partner, a journalist writing a negative story about Glass, has been found dead. Glass suspects that Tramell committed the murder and is attempting to frame him for it. More murders begin to surface around Glass as his obsession with Tramell grows and his career and life are threatened; eventually, he himself can no longer tell right from wrong.
The situations comes to a head during a confrontation between Glass and Tramell at her apartment where, after a struggle, Glass attempts to kill Tramell. Tramell gives Glass a copy of the draft of her next novel, titled "The Analyst". After reading it, he realizes that Catherine has novelized most of the recent events with herself and other people related to Dr. Glass, even himself, as characters. Then it turns out that the character based in herself is going to kill a therapist based on Glass's colleague, Dr. Gardosh (Charlotte Rampling).
Glass runs to Gardosh's apartment to warn her, finding Tramell there to his dismay. Gardosh tells him that he is not in charge with Tramell's therapy anymore and that he's going to have his license revoked, due to bad practice regarding Tramell's treatment. There is a struggle between Glass and Gardosh in which the latter is knocked out. Catherine then threatens Glass with a gun she carries, but Glass takes it away from her. When Detective Washburn arrives at the scene, Glass kills him because Tramell told him he had killed the girlfriend of one of Glass's patients just to "nail him".
In the final scene, Tramell pays a visit to Glass at a local mental hospital where he has been institutionalized, and learns from her that the subject of her latest best-selling novel was a man very much like him. Tramell claims that she manipulated Glass into committing all those murders for her own amusement. Tramell leaves with a wicked smirk on her face, while Glass continues to sit silently in his wheelchair, stymied by frustration and rage.
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