Show I Basic Instinct appeals to fo many vv of our primitive desires j Andrew Wade Staff Writer THE controversy surrounding surrounding surrounding surround surround- ing the film Basic Instinct has created office box-office revenues that no ad campaign campaign campaign cam cam cam- could hope to achieve But for all the hype it seems the film cannot live up p to the media maelstrom Michael Douglas is Nick Curran Curran-a Curran a police detective who rides the edge between black and white with with- the occasional occasional occasional oc oc- oc- oc slip on the wrong side He is trying to quite smoking drinking doing drugs and accidentally killing people he is nicknamed shooter because of this Nick is wrestling with his vices rather well until he meets the white-hot white Catherine Tremmel Sharon Stone Apparently Tremmel writes murder mysteries that coincide wi with th actual homicides And in this particular particular particular par par- case which Nick is investigating investigating investigating in in- she happens to bethe be bethe bethe the last person to have been with the deceased How dowe do dowe dowe we know this Because Nick asked and she told him along with a particularly ribald description of that nights night's amorous activities The sales of white silk scarves should soar into the stratosphere after this film By this time it is no surprise that Nick and Catharine will embark on a destructive relationship In fact little about this film is unexpected unless of course you consider the 40 million budget One of the films positive positive positive tive traits is style Of that there is an abundance This film is extremely slick but the quality do does s not give the characters a place to o hide The lack of character depth gives us no incentive to care for them Even the sex scenes in the film seem drastic drastically lIy out of proportion to the amount of attention garnered in the press Reportedly 45 seconds of steam was removed for American audiences Perhaps it should be replaced replaced then then there might be a reason to see this this' film Director Paul has done much better with films like The Fourth Man and Total Recall While Basic Instinct is certain certain- ly a visual pleaser w with h the 3 likes of Michael Douglas and Sharon Stone Stone how how could it it not be it contains nothing 1 else of merit J JMichael Michael Douglas is making a 1 career out of this type of charac charac- 1 ter The kind that is barely redeemable and hardly sympathetic sympathetic sym sym- 1 p pathetic but he manages to to seduce our sensibilities into I I believing Nick deserves a chance Stone has made a shrewd 1 maybe even J career move by choosing Basic Instinct Her character is apparently merciless and icy She revels in Tremmel's dark dark- ness But she needs no flashlight flashlight flashlight flash flash- I light as she confidently ly negotiates her way through i Tremmel's twisted psyche and j multiple As for the ending gay ending gay activists ac ac- a activists visited theaters sporting sporting sporting sport sport- ing t-shirts t and dis distributing ng flyers that revealed the en en- ding After seeing Basic Instinct Instinct Instinct In In- you almost wish they r. r had done that in Salt Lake City to help dear clear up the ambiguity ambiguity ambiguity am am- of the films film's ment mente Maybe you will just breath a sigh of relief when the film finally ends |