Novelist Catherine Tramell is once again in trouble with the law, and Scotland Yard appoints psychiatrist Dr. Michael Glass to evaluate her. Though, like Detective Nick Curran before him, Glass is entranced by Tramell and lured into a seductive game.
Basic Instinct 2 has a stylish look and a few sexy moments, but the plot goes from confusing to implausible to absolutely ludicrous in the final sequence.
– Richard Roeper,
Ebert & Roeper,
3 Apr 2006
rotten:
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).
– Dennis Lim,
Village Voice,
4 Apr 2006
rotten:
Like many sequels this is actually a remake, and it suffers from the law of diminishing returns.
– Jonathan Rosenbaum,
Chicago Reader,
21 Apr 2006
rotten:
Stupefyingly lackluster.
– David Edelstein,
New York Magazine/Vulture,
21 Apr 2006
fresh:
As a stand-alone film, this doesn't work; but viewed through the prism of the original, it offers some twisted, self-conscious pleasures.